Women’s Volleyball Wins Over Michigan State In Five Games – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/12/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 12, 1999
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State (13-9 overall, 7-8 Big Ten) women’s volleyball held off Michigan State (18-9, 8-7) to capture a 3-2 win in front of 1,215 fans in St. John Arena. The 17-15, 13-15, 15-7, 4-15, 15-11 victory was led by OSU’s Jen Flynn who had a team-high 17 kills. Four other Buckeyes (Dana Stearns 15, Suzie Stiling 13, Anne Botica 12, Shelly Draeger 11) scored double-figure kills. Michigan State’s Sarah Gustin scored a match-high 19 kills with Jessica Sanborn and Angela Morley adding 12 and Erin Harley 10.
Game one saw the two teams stay within two points the entire game. The Spartans held a 12-10 lead but OSU tied the game with kills by Suzie Stiling. An OSU error gave MSU a 13-12 lead. A kill by Maren Witzel put the Spartans at game point, 14-12. The Buckeyes responded with a MSU error and a kill by Jen Flynn to tie the game at 14. An OSU hitting error set game point again for Michigan State, but a kill by Dana Stearns was good for the side out. On two Michigan State errors, the Buckeyes tied the game at 15 and reached game point at 16-15. Anne Botica’s kill closed the game for OSU at 17-15. For the game OSU hit .185 to .143 for MSU. Shelly Draeger had five kills and Suzie Stiling and Jen Flynn, four each for OSU while Sarah Gustin collected eight kills in the game.
Game two saw Ohio State hold two three-point leads, five to two and 13 to 10. The Spartans scored the next five points at 13-10 to take the game. After an OSU error cut the lead to 13-11, a kill by Erin Harley made the score 13-12. Jessica Sanborn’s kill tied the game at 13 and two OSU ball handling errors closed the game for the Spartans at 15-13. The Buckeyes outhit Michigan State for the game, .196 to .167. The Spartans’ Jessica Sanborn had seven kills in the game along with five from Angela Morley. OSU received six kills from Jen Flynn and five from Anne Botica who came in off the bench.
Michigan opened game three with a 2-0 lead expanding it to 4-1. An ace serve by Shelly Draeger, a kill by Suzie Stiling and a MSU error tied the game at four. The Buckeyes then collected points off an ace serve by Stiling, a Katie Virtue kill, a block by Virtue and Dana Stearns and a MSU error before the Spartans called time out with OSU up 8-4. Ohio State pushed the lead to 12-4. Michigan State responded with kills by Angela Morley and Sarah Gustin and an OSU error to cut the lead to 12-7. Ohio State came back with an ace serve by Virtue and two kills by Jen Flynn to take the game 15-7. Ohio State hit .433 for the game to .190 for Michigan State. OSU’s Suzie Stiling and Anne Botica had four kills each in the game with Dana Stearns and Jen Flynn adding three apiece. Spartan Sarah Gusin had a team-high six kills in the game. Michigan State opened game four with a 6-0 lead. The Spartans held a 10-4 edge before closing the game at 15-4. Eight Michigan State points came off Ohio State errors in the game. Sarah Gustin sealed the win with two final kills for points. The Spartans hit .379 for the game to .103 for Ohio State. Michigan State got four kills from Maren Witzel and Angela Morley in the game and three from Gustin. Dana Stearns led OSU with four kills and Jenn Flynn added three.
From a two-two tie in game five (rally scoring), the Spartans took a 3-2 lead off an OSU service error. Two MSU hitting errors and a block by Rosie Snow and Dana Stearns put Ohio State ahead, 6-3. An OSU service error and an ace serve by Erin Hartley cut the OSU lead to 6-5. OSU scored the next five points, a kill by Rosie Snow, two by Dana Stearns and two blocks by Stearns and Shelly Draeger, to take an 11-5 lead. A kill by Jessica Sanborn and an OSU error closed the lead to 11-7. OSU’s Flynn scored on a kill making the lead 12-7, but an OSU error put the score at 12-8. The Buckeyes made it 13-8 on a Draeger kill and reached match point (14-8) off a block by Jen Flynn and Suzie Stiling. The Spartans responded with a Angela Morley kill (14-9) and a block by Maren Witzel and Morley (14-10). An OSU error put the Buckeye lead at 14-11, but Suzie Stiling’s kill ended the game at 15-11. Ohio State hit .294 for the game to -.250 for Michigan State. Four OSU players scored two kills each in the game while Dana Stearns had thee assist blocks and Shelly Draeger two. The Spartans produced only three kills, two aces and one block in the game.
For the match, Ohio State hit .220 to .171 for Michigan State. The Buckeyes had a 78 to 65 advantage in kills. OSU outblocked MSU 16 to 10. The 16 blocks by OSU represents a team-high for the season. Dana Stearns had a match-high nine blocks with Jen Flynn adding six. MSU’s Angela Morley had a team-high six blocks (1-5). The Buckeyes had a 5-4 edge in ace serves and a 75-63 margin in digs. Six Buckeyes (Rosie Snow 14, Nikki Cisco 13, Katie Virtue 11, Suzie Stiling 11, Shelly Draeger 11, Jen Flynn 10) recorded double-figure digs while MSU’s Jessica Sanborn had a team-high 14.
The Spartans travel to Penn State (25-1, 15-0) for a match Saturday while Ohio State will host Michigan (12-12, 4-11) Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. That match will be televised by Fox Sports Chicago at 5 p.m. Eastern Sunday. Michigan lost at Penn State tonight 2-15, 11-15, 6-15.
