Oct. 20, 1997

MSU Hits the Road to Battle Indiana, No. 1 Penn State

WHO'S NEXT-
Oct. 24 Indiana University Gymnasium, Bloomington, Ind. Oct. 25 Penn State Rec Hall, University Park, Pa.

THE COACHES-
Michigan State's Chuck Erbe (Cal State Fullerton, 1972) is 97-53 in his fifth season as head coach at Michigan State and 410-174-3 overall in his 17th year as a head coach.

Indiana's Katie Weismiller (Texas-Arlington, 1988) is 73-75 in her fifth season as head coach. In her seventh year overall as a head coach, her record stands at 121-89.

Penn State's Russ Rose is 605-117 in his 19th season as head coach and overall.

OPPONENT UPDATE-
Indiana lost twice last weekend. On Friday, the Hoosiers were defeated by Northwestern, 16-14, 4-15, 8-15, 15-6, 11-15. On Saturday, Indiana fell to Michigan, 15-6, 17-15, 15-10. The Hoosiers are 16-5 overall, 3-5 in the Big Ten conference.

Penn State continued its perfect season with a win over Michigan on Friday (15-5, 15-7, 15-7) and a thriller victory over Northwestern on Sunday, 15-3, 15-11, 7-15, 13-15, 16-14. The Nittany Lions' record is 19-0 overall and 8-0 in Big Ten conference play.

SERIES RECORDS-
Indiana leads the series with the Spartans, 22-19. In the teams last meeting on Nov. 30, 1996, State won 3-0. Penn State leads the series over Michigan State, 9-4. In the last meeting, the Nittany Lions were victorious, 3-1 (Big Ten scoring format for TV).

Jenna Wrobel

JENNA WROBEL NAMED CO-BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK-
Junior Jenna Wrobel was named co-Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday with Northwestern's Carmen Durbach. Wrobel tallied 50 kills, seven blocks and 18 digs in Michigan State's two victories over Iowa and Minnesota last weekend. The averages work out to 8.3 kills per game, 3.0 digs per game and 1.0 blocks per game and a .389 hitting percentage last weekend. Wrobel's 28 kills against Iowa ties a season high. Versus Minnesota, Wrobel had 13 kills in 20 attempts before making her first error.

MSU HUNTING UPDATE:
SPARTANS SHOOT DOWN HAWKEYES & KILL GOPHERS-
Michigan State destroyed Minnesota on Saturday night, 15-1, 15-3, 15-8. Jenna Wrobel hit 22 kills with only five errors on 40 attempts for a .425 hitting percentage. She also had four blocks. Veronica Morales had 15 kills for a .483 hitting percentage. She had only one error all weekend. Jessica Sanborn contributed seven blocks and nine digs, while Lindsey Clayton had eight kills, 10 digs and three blocks.

Lindsey Clayton

The Spartans defeated Iowa Friday night, 15-6, 15-7, 15-8 in Jenison Field House. Wrobel tied her season high with 28 kills. She also had 10 digs and three blocks. Morales moved into the number two spot on MSU's all-time digs list with 1,297 career digs. She had 22 on the night. Sanborn added five kills, seven blocks and nine digs. Morales had an error free night on offense, hitting .448 with 13 kills on 29 attempts.

SICKBAY-
Sophomore middle hitter Jenny Whitehead was lost for the season on Oct. 9, suffering a non-union fibular fracture in her right leg. She underwent surgery on Mon., Oct. 13.

Freshman middle hitter Sarah Gustin, who has seen substantial playing time this season, will be sidelined for at least another week with a stress fracture to her left tibia. The injury was revealed during a bone scan on Oct. 9.

HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?-
Michigan State held Minnesota to a total of 12 points in the entire match on Saturday. That's the fewest amount of points State has allowed scored on them this season. The Spartans allowed only eight points in a match twice last season (15-0, 15-0, 15-8 vs. West Virginia on 9/13; 15-1, 15-3, 15-4 vs. Cleveland State on 9/14).

TV GUIDE-
Three more Michigan State volleyball matches will be televised this season: November 14 at Illinois (ESPN2; 8 p.m. CDT); Nov. 16 at Wisconsin (SportsChannel; 4 p.m. CST); and Nov. 28 vs. Penn State (ESPN2; TBA).

MSU VERSUS TOP 25
No. 25 Michigan State has a 2-3 record against ranked opponents this season. MSU lost to then No. 15 Southern California on Aug. 30 and fell to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 12. On Sept. 26, MSU lost to No. 11 Wisconsin. The Spartans' victories came against No. 15 Loyola Marymount on Sept. 13 and No. 25 Illinois on Sept. 28. The Spartans face No. 1 Penn State on Oct. 25.

RECORDS WATCH

Wrobel holds the No. 4 spot on the all-time attempts chart with 3,232 career attempts, after totaling 95 last weekend. She needs 404 attempts to move into the number three spot.

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