Nov. 23, 2007

East Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team wraps up the 2007 regular season this weekend with a pair of home contests. On Friday, the Spartans (17-13, 8-10) welcome Purdue (17-12, 10-8) to Jenison Field House for a 6:30 p.m. first serve. MSU will honor its four seniors (Jessica Hohl, Katie Johnson, Ashley Schatzle and Miken Trogdon) on Saturday before the 6:30 p.m. start with Indiana (15-15, 6-12).

Michigan State vs. Purdue
Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 • 6:30 p.m. ET
East Lansing, Mich. • Jenison Field House
Radio: www.msuspartans.com [John Kreger (play-by-play)]
Live stats: www.msuspartans.com

Michigan State vs. Indiana
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 • 6:30 p.m. ET
East Lansing, Mich. • Jenison Field House
TV: Comcast- East Lansing (TD) [Mike Sinnod (play-by-play); Mike Grabemeyer (color)]
Radio: www.msuspartans.com [John Kreger (play-by-play)]
Live stats: www.msuspartans.com

Game Notes - Purdue and Indiana

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
The Spartans have a 17-13 overall record and a 8-10 mark in the Big Ten (tied for sixth in the conference, only two matches out of third place) ... MSU is No. 33 in the latest RPI ranking (Nov. 16) ... All the Spartans losses are against teams in the top-75 of the latest RPI rankings ... MSU has five wins against RPI top-50 schools (No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 23 Michigan, No. 29 Minnesota, No. 32 Missouri State and No. 45 Indiana), including two on the road and has two left to play this weekend (Purdue and Indiana) ... The Green and White have received votes in the national poll two of last three weeks ... MSU has won three of its last four matches against nationally-ranked schools ... The Spartans won at No. 7 Wisconsin, marking the first win under three-year head coach Cathy George over a top-10 program and the first win over the Badgers since 2003 ... MSU broke two long losing streaks to conference opponents - 10 straight losses against Minnesota and seven-straight vs. Ohio State.

Schatzle leads the team and is third in the conference with 463 kills and is second on the Spartans with 324 digs, having posted 18 double-doubles. Her 4.45 kills per game average is sixth, while she is also eighth with 4.90 points per game. Schatzle moves up a spot in each category in conference play, averaging 4.54 kills and 4.89 points per game. Schatzle has been hot of late, posting seven double-doubles in the last eight matches and 16 straight double-digit kill efforts. In the last eight matches, she has averaged 5.0 kills and 3.9 digs per game.

Johnson meanwhile is second in kills behind Schatzle with 452 (4.39 kills per game average), seventh in the Big Ten. Her name also appears among the conference leaders in points per game (seventh; 5.07). Johnson has compiled double-digit kill efforts in the last nine matches, including setting a new season-high on two occasions (currently 26 kills - November 2, at Wisconsin). She is averaging 5.0 k/g in those nine matches.

THE O'REILLY FACTOR
Freshman Lauren O'Reilly has jumped right into her role in running the offense. The starting setter has posted 1,374 assists so far this season, averaging 13.21 assists/game, good for second in the Big Ten rankings. Her 13.21 a/g mark also ranks her 17th nationally and third among all freshmen setters. O'Reilly also leads the Spartan serving offense with 37 aces. She averages 0.36 aces per game, which ranks fourth among conference leaders.

Among past Spartan freshmen, O'Reilly is quickly rose to the top. Her 13.21 a/g mark is the best all-time, while her 1,374 assists passed Maggie Griffin (2004) on Friday at Minnesota for the most by a freshman in a single-season. In service aces, she is seventh with 37. Veronica Morales (1994) is next in line with 38.

As good as her season numbers are, O'Reilly has been even better of late. Over the last seven matches, she has over 50 assists in four of those contests, including a career-high 60 assists against Michigan. Against Ohio State on Nov. 9, she posted 56 assists, the third most in a three-game match in MSU history. Dating back to the Iowa home win, O'Reilly has dished out 508 assists in 10 matches, good for a 14.51 assist per game mark.

O'Reilly earned her first career Big Ten Player of the Week award on Oct. 22, guiding Michigan State to its first conference weekend sweep of the season with wins over Iowa and No. 13 Minnesota. She combined for 17 assists per game on the weekend with 48 against the Hawkeyes and 54 against the Golden Gophers; the latter ties for fourth in the MSU record book in assists in a three-game match.

CLIMBING THE CAREER LADDER
Both Katie Johnson and Ashley Schatzle are quickly darting up the MSU career kills list. Johnson moved into fourth place against Ohio State and currently has 1,723 kills, 93 shy of Kim Schram (2001-04) for third. Johnson's kills per game average of 4.24 is currently second on the all-time list. Meanwhile, Schatzle moved into the top-10 two weekends ago at Wisconsin and is currently in ninth with 1,329. Jenny Rood (2000-03) is next in her path with 1,374.

Despite having less than a year of collegiate volleyball under her belt, Lauren O'Reilly is first on the career assists per game list at 13.21. Last year's setter, Allison Ianni is second at 13.11 per game.

SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS
Purdue enters Jenison Field House having won two matches in a row and four of their last five to improve their record to 17-12 overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten, tying them for third. Danita Merlau leads the Boilermakers with 404 kills, while Stephanie Lynch is close behind with 395 of her own. Lynch leads the squad with 143 total blocks, the fourth highest total in the league. As a team, Purdue is second in the Big Ten with 17.96 digs per game and fourth in blocks, averaging 3.0 per game, good for 29th in the country.

SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS
Indiana is riding a two-match slide, having also dropped eight of their last nine contests, evening their record at 15-15 overall and 6-12 in the conference. Erica Short leads the offensive attack with 461 kills, the fourth highest total in the Big Ten. Ashley Benson is third on the Hoosiers in kills (250), but tops the team with 131 total blocks (12 BS, 119 BA). Indiana as a team is fourth in the conference with 157 service aces, led by two in the league's individual top-10 -- Juli Pierce fifth with 39 and Lauren Ditteon seventh with 38.

SERIES HISTORY
Purdue owns a 39-26 advantage over the Spartans in the all-time series and a 16-12 edge in East Lansing. With the 3-0 win earlier this season over MSU, the Boilermakers have won six of the last seven meetings. The last Michigan State win over Purdue at Jenison came on November 1, 2003, a 3-1 victory. From 1981 to 1993, the Boilermakers won 24-straight matches against MSU, but the Spartans followed by taking 18 of the next 19 contests from 1993 to 2002.

Michigan State hold a 38-24 lead in the head-to-head series with Indiana, including a 20-5 mark in Michigan. MSU won its ninth-consecutive match against the Hoosiers eariler this season in Bloomington. (3-0). During this current winning streak, the Spartans have only dropped four games. In addition, MSU has won 25 of the last 27 contests, dating back to the 1993 season. The last win for the Hoosiers in East Lansing was Oct. 4, 1991 (3-2), the first season of Jenison Field House, a span of 15 matches.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Spartans concluded the road portion of its 2007 regular season, splitting a pair of Big Ten match ups this weekend, falling 3-1 at Minnesota and sweeping Iowa, 3-0.

On Saturday, MSU snapped a short two-match slide, topping Iowa, 3-0 (30-22, 30-21, 30-27) at Carver Hawkeye Arena in front of 1,285 fans to win their seventh-straight over the Hawkeyes. Seniors Jessica Hohl, Ashley Schatzle and Katie Johnson each posted double-digit kill efforts, leading the offense in the victory. Hohl hit a career-best .750 in the match with 12 kills and no errors, Schatzle had her 18th double-double (16 kills, 12 digs) and Johnson added 12 kills. Sophomore Mischelle Nelson had her best performance of the season, posting eight kills with only one error on 13 attempts for a career-best .538 percentage. Senior Miken Trogdon and junior Heather McDaniel tied Schatzle for the team-high with 12 digs across the back row. Freshman Lauren O'Reilly dished out 49 assists.

The Spartans began the road trip by dropping a 3-1 contest (23-30, 30-24, 21-30, 18-30) to Minnesota on Friday in front of 3,853 at the Sports Pavilion. Schatzle posted her 17th double-double of the season in the loss with team-highs in kills (16) and digs (17). Freshman Jenilee Rathje tied her career-high with 13 kills, also adding four block assists, while sophomore Vanessa King tied her career-best with nine block assists of her own. With her 42 assists, O'Reilly broke the school's freshman assist record, passing Maggie Griffin (2004). O'Reilly also added 12 digs, tying her career-high, for her sixth double-double of the season. Johnson chipped in 13 kills, while Trogdon had 15 digs.

NOBODY DOES IT LIKE JENILEE
Topping the defensive effort at the net, freshman Jenilee Rathje set a Big Ten Conference record when she recorded 11 blocks in MSU's match against Harvard (Sept. 8). For her effort, Rathje was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 10. The conference record was previously held by teammate Vanessa King, who tallied 10 blocks against Purdue on Oct. 11, 2006. Rathje also posted her first career double-double in the win, adding 11 kills.

Rathje currently leads MSU with 119 total blocks (eight BS, 111 BA), averaging 1.17 b/g. She is currently third in both total blocks and block assists in the Spartan freshman record book. Jenny Whitehead (1996) stands in second on both lists with 128 TB and 112 BA.

TROGDON IN THE TRENCHES
Starting libero Miken Trogdon continues to hold down the back court for Michigan State, leading the Spartans in total digs (345) and digs per game (3.48). Her 3.48 mark is currently the eighth best single-season average in Spartan history. The senior has paces the Spartans' defensive statistics, tallying 18 matches with digs in double digits, including a streak of nine consecutive bouts that was snapped on Saturday. In her last 12 contests, Trogdon has averaged 4.41 digs per game. She broke her career-high in digs in three straight matches, concluding with 22 saves against Ohio State on Nov. 9. The 22 digs vs. OSU was the fourth most in MSU history for a three-game match. Her strong play of late in Big Ten play has moved her into the top-10 in digs per game (3.71) in conference match ups.

KING OF THE NET
Sophomore middle blocker Vanessa King has sparked the Spartan's defense at the net since beginning Big Ten action. In league play, King has posted a team-high 77 blocks (two solo, 75 assist) in 60 games, averaging 1.28 b/g, compared to 28 blocks (one solo, 27 assist) in 39 non-conference games, averaging 0.72 b/g.

In her last six matches, King is averaging 1.59 b/g (35 BA), including tying her career-high with nine block assists in the Spartans' loss at Minnesota on Friday.

In 2006, King posted one of the best defensive performances by a freshman in Michigan State history. She saw action in all 31 matches, and finished the year ranked third with 87 block assists and tied for fifth with 1.00 blocks per game in the MSU freshman record book.

THE INCREDIBLE HOHLK
Senior outside hitter Jessica Hohl paces the starters' hitting percentage category at .296. Hohl has 184 kills on 412 attempts with 62 hitting errors. This Saturday at Iowa, Hohl tied her career best hitting percentage, hitting .750 with 12 kills on 16 attempts, failing to post an error.

AS A WHOLE
The Spartans are among the national leaders in both kills and assists per game. Their 16.57 kills per game are 19th nationally and second in the Big Ten, while the 15.29 assists per game average is 27th in the country and also third in the conference. In conference matches, MSU moves up to second in the league in both categories with averages of 16.90 and 15.68, respectively. Michigan State's hitting percentage of .244 overall, 48th in the nation, and .235 in Big Ten play are both third in the 11-team league.

Among past Spartan teams, the 2007 version is second in assists per game at 15.29 and tied for fifth in kills per game at 16.57. This year's squad also currently is 10th in hitting percentage (.244) and tied for 10th in blocks per game (2.65).

MILESTONES
Head coach Cathy George picked up her 400th career win against Wofford on September 7, 2007 at the Harvard Invitational. George is now 413-267 all-time. George entered her third season with the Spartans with a 396-254 record, accumulated in more than 20 years worth of coaching at North Dakota State, Texas-Arlington, Western Michigan and MSU.

COACH GEORGE
Third-year head coach Cathy George entered the 2007 campaign riding high on last year's successes. Guiding MSU to the 2006 NCAA Tournament in just her second season at the helm of the Spartan program, George has quickly led the Green and White back to its place as a nationally-prominent program. George led a rebuilding Spartan squad to a 19-12 overall record, including a 10-10 (6th) Big Ten Conference mark in 2006, and its first trip to postseason play since 2003. During her first season with the Spartans (2005), George directed MSU to a 12-18 record, including a 5-15, ninth-place finish in the conference standings. Overall, George holds an MSU overall record of 48-43 and conference mark of 23-35.

GREEN AND WHITE ATTENDANCE
As years past, the Spartans continue to attract fans to Jenison Field House for home matches. At the Spartan Invitational, 3,106 fans attended MSU's three weekend matches, helping State sweep their opponents to win the tournament. The 13th Annual Jam Jenison event on October 27 against Michigan, brought 2,286 fans to Jenison, setting a new season-high. So far in 2007, a total of 18,023 fans have attended matches in Jenison Field House. Michigan State averages 1,502 attendees a match, which ranks 24th nationally.

MSU drew its largest crowd in recent history on November 22, 2006, when it hosted cross-state rival Michigan. 2,812 fans watched the Spartans sweep the match and ultimately the 2006 series.

36 AND COUNTING
MSU's 2007 campaign marks the beginning of the 36th season of Spartan volleyball. Carol Davis was the first head coach in the history of the program during the 1972 season and led the Spartans through the 1973 campaign. Current head coach Cathy George is the fifth head coach in MSU volleyball history. Before calling Jenison Field House its home prior to the 1991 season, Spartan volleyball played its home contests at IM West.