Oct. 29, 1997

Spartans Host Northwestern and Michigan

WHO'S NEXT?-
Oct. 31 Northwestern    7 p.m.  Jenison Field House, East Lansing, Mich. 
Nov. 2  Michigan        2 p.m.  Jenison Field House, East Lansing, Mich.    ('State Pride Night')

Television: The Michigan match will be televised in the Greater Lansing area. For the Media One Greater Lansing area, the match can be seen on channel 6/17 (old/rebuilt system). It can also be seen on TCI cable channel 13 and Horizon cable channel 11.

THE COACHES-
Michigan States Chuck Erbe (Cal State Fullerton, 1972) is 98-54 in his fifth season as head coach at Michigan State and 411-175-3 overall in his 17th year as a head coach.

Northwesterns Kevin Renshler (Ohio State, 1986) is 11-10 in his first year as Northwesterns head coach and 67-77 in his fifth year overall. Michigans Greg Giovanazzi (UCLA, 1981) is 85-93 in his sixth season as the Wolverines head coach and overall.

OPPONENT UPDATE-
The Wildcats of Northwestern are 11-10 overall, and tied for ninth in the Big Ten with a 2-8 conference record. Northwestern lost twice last weekend, falling to Ohio State on Oct. 24, 9-15, 13-15, 6-15 and giving Purdue its first Big Ten Conference win of the season, 15-4, 15-8, 15-3. The Wildcats host Michigan on Wednesday.

Michigan's Wolverines are currently third in the Big Ten Conference with a 14-7 overall record and a 7-3 conference mark. Michigan defeated Purdue on Oct. 24, 15-8, 15-7, 15-3 but fell to Ohio State on Oct. 26, 7-15, 13-15, 15-13, 9-15. Michigan travels to Northwestern on Wednesday.

SERIES RECORDS-
Northwestern leads the series 25-9. On Oct. 5, Michigan State defeated the Wildcats in Evanston, 3-1 (15-6, 12-15, 15-10, 15-6). Michigan State leads the series over Michigan, 34-20-1. The Wolverines were victorious in Ann Arbor on Oct. 3, 1-3 (15-13, 9-15, 3-15, 9-15).

HALFWAY THERE-
After last weekends matches, the Big Ten season is halfway over. The Northwestern match on Oct. 31 marks the second time around all Big Ten teams will meet this season.

WHAT AILS THEM?-
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 was diagnosed with a stress fracture to her left tibia. The injury was revealed during a bone scan on Oct. 9. She may see limited action against Northwestern and Michigan this weekend.

THE KILLING FIELDS-
Okay, theyre really courts, but it doesnt matter to Jenna Wrobel. She has tallied 20 kills or more in each of the last five matches, including a season-high 28 and a match-high 23 versus Indiana and Penn State, respectively.

FIVE MORE-
MSU raised its record to 2-0 in matches of five games or more with its win over Indiana, 3-2, on Oct. 24. In the Spartans season-opener, on Aug. 29, MSU defeated Duke, 3-2.

STATE WINS MARATHON OVER IU, FALLS TO NO. 1 PENN STATE-
The Spartans raised their record to 2-0 in five-game matches with a marathon victory over Indiana, 3-2, on Oct. 24. Down 2-0, MSU rallied to win the last three games to take the match. Jenna Wrobel hit .333 with a match-high 28 kills to lead State, while Lindsey Clayton, Christie Landry and Veronica Morales all had double-digit kills with 16, 15 and 15, respectively. Landry tallied a career-high 25 kills. That is also an MSU season-high. Vicki Basil had 69 assists, tying a career and season high. Penn State once again proved they were the best team in the land by easily defeating Michigan State on Oct. 25, 3-0. The Nittany Lions scored the first seven points in both games two and three and were dominating at the net. Wrobel had a match-high 23 kills but the next highest Spartan, Clayton, had only seven.

IRONWOMEN-
The Spartans went nearly three matches with no subtitutions. Only six players saw action in MSUs win over Minnesota on Oct. 18 and the Spartans victory over Indiana on Oct. 24. Tammy Vonderheide and Corie Richard were entered into the Penn State match in game two, ending the streak at nine games.

TV GUIDE-
Five more Michigan State volleyball matches will be televised this season: November 2 vs. Michigan (TCI, 2 p.m. EST), November 7 vs. Ohio State (TCI, 7 p.m. EST), 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 2-4 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. MSU lost at No. 1 Penn State on Oct. 25.

RECORDS WATCH
With her 20 digs last weekend, Veronica Morales still stands in the No. 2 spot on the all-time digs chart with 1,326 career saves. She needs 141 digs to overtake first place, currently held by Jill Krumm with 1,466. *Jenna Wrobel is fourth on the all-time kills chart with 1,402 career kills after her 51 kills last weekend versus Indiana and Penn State. She needs 117 kills to move into No. 3, currently held by Val Sterk with 1,518. *Wrobel holds the No. 4 spot on the all-time attempts chart with 3,339 career attempts, after totaling 107 last weekend. She needs 297 attempts to move into the number three spot.

STATE PRIDE-
To celebrate the in-state volleyball rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State, the two state of Michigan Big Ten Conference institutions sponsor a State Pride series with each University hosting a State Pride Night when the teams meet during the regular season. A state of Michigan flag bearing the motto Tuebor or I will defend, serves as a symbol of the volleyball rivalry with the winner of the seasons face-to-face matches retaining possession of the flag for a year. In addition to the State flag, each schools winning year is listed on its half of a special Michigan State-Michigan banner.

Criteria:
The school that wins both matches will be declared the State Pride winner.

* If one team does not win both matches, the school that wins the greatest number of games will be declared the State Pride winner.

*If both teams have won the same number of games, the school with the most total points is the State Pride winner.

Past Winners:
1990-Michigan (total games, 5-4)
1991-Michigan (total points, 130-117)
1992-Michigan (matches, 2-0)
1993-Michigan State (total games, 5-3) 
1994-Michigan State (total games, 8-6) 
1995-Michigan State (matches, 2-0)
1996-Michigan State (matches, 2-0)

1997 Update:
In the first meeting this season, Michigan won 3-1. Michigan also leads in total points, 58-36.

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