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Or if you prefer, NCAA Tournament Day Four – Bonus volleyball!
It's not really bonus volleyball — it's not like the second-day weather postponement in Lexington meant there's more actual matches in the tournament — but doesn't it feel like it? It's Sunday; there aren't supposed to be any matches today. So let's take in the unexpected volleyball like it's an early Christmas gift!
Chloe Reinig started the match off with a kill for the Spartans, and Alexis Mathews followed with a sharp-angle kill from the middle to make it 2-0. Kayla Tronick got the Wildcats on the board at 2-1, but Kentucky had no answer for Mathews in the early going. Her third kill of the match made it 5-2. Anni Thomasson's soft block was good enough on the 5-3 rally, making it a one-point margin again. A long hit from Alexandra Morgan put the Spartans back up three at 8-5. Reinig gave the point back on her hit at 10-8, making the margin one once more. Whitney Billings' swing on the 11-9 rally didn't seem to hit the Michigan State block when it rebounded out — it looked like it hit only the net — but the Spartans didn't protest. The Wildcats came even on the next rally and took the lead on the one after, with a double block for Billings and Morgan giving them a 12-11 edge. The double block by Mathews and Taylor Galloway put Sparty back ahead a point at 13-12. Kori Moster's tricky serve led to a bad pass, a bad set, and a bad hit that landed wide for 14-12. Allyssah Fitterer's kill on the next rally made it 15-12, and the horn blew for the media timeout.
The Wildcats took the first two points after the timeout, drawing within one again. A kill from the left side for Lauren O'Conner tied the score at 16-all. A hitting error from Wicinski, an odd angle as the ball bounced off the top of the net a little, put Kentucky ahead at 17-16. Wicinski got the point back, in a roundabout sort of way, with her excellent serve on 17-all that led to an overpass. Kelsey Kuipers was only too happy to put that ball away. This prompted Kentucky to call time.
The timeout did its thing, as Lauren Wicinski's serve went long. But the Spartans had no trouble re-establishing the lead, doing so at 20-18. A gorgeous dump from Kristen Kelsay made it 22-20. The Kentucky bench wanted a carry to be called, but no such luck. An ace for Galloway put them on the cusp of set point, and Kentucky called their second timeout. A sideout for Billings off the right-side slide made it 23-21, and a wicked little slap-serve from Kentucky libero Jackie Napper brought them within a point at 23-22. That prompted Michigan State to call time.
A double block for Wicinski and Mathews brought the Spartans to set point at 24-22. The rally was slightly contentious, as Kentucky wanted a ball-handling fault on Moster for an overhand set in front of the three-metre line, but no call came. Another big Spartan block, with the same two players in on it, ended set 1 at a 25-22 final.
Set 2 started off point-for-point. Michigan State took their first lead at 3-2 on a kill by Fitterer that replays appeared should not have been (phantom touch). A net violation on the next rally gave them their first sideout lead, and a double block for Wicinski made it 5-2. Another rejection, for Fitterer and Kuipers, made it 6-2. The Spartans nearly extended to a five-point lead, but the lob to the left side landed just about where the flagger stands — inches out of bounds. Kentucky brought Shelby Workman in as a sub at that point and she came up with a kill on serve at 6-3 to draw the Wildcats back within two. A rare unforced error from Michigan State's Reinig made it 8-7, and an overpass kill for Kentucky setter Morgan Bergren tied the set. Morgan sent over an innocent little free ball on the 8-all rally, and had it fall in as about four different Spartans all tried to get out of the way of the ball, evidently thinking someone else would play it. The Spartans called time as they trailed 9-8.
A quick first-ball sideout tied the score. Further ties happened at 10 and 11, before Michigan State edged ahead 13-11. The Wildcats took a cautious timeout there. Billings' hit into the block, and then back onto her before it fell out of bounds on her side of the net, made it 15-12 Spartans. Kuipers had a shot at an over-dig on the 15-13 rally, but her two-handed overhand cut shot from the middle (totally strange) landed out of bounds. Then Kuipers hit into Morgan and Borgren's double block, tying the score at 15-all. Kentucky then went on a little roll, going up two at 17-15 on a Spartan net fault and 18-15 on a wide hit from the left side. The Spartans called their last timeout there.
Billings' service run continued after the timeout, reaching seven straight points on a dump kill from Bergren. She very nearly had an eighth, as her serve clipped the top of the net and fell back on the Kentucky side. Fitterer won an awkward next rally, both teams out of system, slamming home the kill. A service error got Kentucky to 20 first at 20-17. Thomasson's kill on her own serve put the Wildcats up 21-17. The Spartans briefly drew back a point, but they gave it right back, and an ace for Bergren brought us to set point at 24-19. Reinig staved off one on sideout. Billings' wide hit on the slide attack made it 24-21, and Kentucky called time. A first-ball sideout for O'Conner on a soft little tip sent us to intermission with the teams tied a point apiece.
The teams traded points to open up set 3. It wasn't strictly sideout after sideout, as the lead changed hands a couple of times, but the first 'real' lead didn't come until 7-5 Kentucky, as Morgan and Bergren tossed up the double block against Fitterer. A silly little let-serve ace from Billings put the Wildcats up by three. A faulty swing from Kuipers, failing to clear the net, made it 11-7 Wildcats, and she rotated outin favour of Jazmine White there. Kentucky got their first five-point lead at 13-8, and the Spartans called time.
Bergren's serve after the timeout drilled the net, as so many first serves after timeouts seem to. A nice tip shot from Fitterer took back a point for the Spartans, drawing them within three at 14-11. A wild rally at 15-12 went to Michigan State to make the margin two again, as the Spartans claimed the point despite Wicinski falling flat on her backside at one point while the ball was still live. A lift call against the Wildcats, to the chagrin of everyone partisan to Kentucky (the players themselves, the coaches, the home crowd, the announcers). They protested, and a yellow card was assessed to Kentucky libero Napper, their floor captain. The score was 16-15. The play certainly looked odd in real time, as the Wildcats sent the ball over bump-set-spike….only to have the whistle be blown right there.
The Spartans took the first rally after the timeout, tying the set at 16-all. Further ties occurred at 17, 18, and 19, and a service ace from Galloway put the Spartans back up a point. Wicinski's kill made it a two-point set, and Kentucky called time. At 22-20, Kentucky turned to Kelsey Wolf as a serving sub, replacing O'Conner. That struck me as a little odd, because it's O'Conner who's always in rotation as Kentucky's first server to begin sets. Isn't that your strongest server? The Spartans got her off the line after just one serve, keeping the sideout string going. A kill for Mathews made it 24-21 and set point Michigan State. After a Kentucky sideout, Fitterer got it back for a 25-22 final.
Michigan State ran out of the blocks in set 4, claiming five of the first six points with some tenacious defence leading the way. It looked like Kentucky were going to call time there — even the players thought so, running toward their coach — but they didn't. An ace for Moster on the next serve made it 6-1 Sparty. She missed her next serve short, but Thomasson gave the service error right back on her subsequent serve. A kill for Galloway made it 8-2 Michigan State, and Kentucky called time.
The Wildcats went to work after the timeout, claiming three straight to make it 8-5 before Fitterer sided back out. A bad unforced error by Galloway — a tip shot that still managed to land about 5 feet wide — prompted Michigan State's timeout. Their lead had been narrowed to 9-7. A kill up the middle for White found blissfully undefended court (no Wildcat was within 2 feet in any direction), getting Sparty their sideout.
On the 10-8 rally, Spartan libero Moster was a digs machine, getting no fewer than three of them in one rally, all in very different spots on the court. She also ran a good 20 feet off the court to track down a wayward ball at one point. It was beyond impressive seeing someone 5-foot-4 being basically everywhere at once. Fitterer's 15th kill of the match, tying a career high, made it 14-10. At 17-14, Wolfe again entered for O'Conner as a serving sub, and this time she claimed one on serve, getting the Wildcats back within two. Her next serve flew long, though, to keep the Spartans up by three. A kill from Billings energised the crowd and drew Kentucky within two points. The Spartans called timeout to quell the cheering fans, still leading 18-16.
Wicinski's kill got the Spartans to 20 first at 20-17. While Michigan State were surely content to sideout the rest of the way, a hitting error from Billings propped them up to a four-point lead at 21-17. Kentucky called their last timeout there.
It really didn't matter, as Michigan State got to a five-point lead at 23-18, with a kill from White putting them on the cusp of match point. A service error sided the Wildcats out, but Galloway's kill brought us to match point at 24-19. Thomasson kept the Wildcats alive at 24-20, but Wicinski put the last ball away from the back row to advance Michigan State to the second weekend.
Michigan State d. #15 Kentucky (25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20)
It's damned impressive what the Big Ten have done in this tournament. Seven of their eight tournament entries are through to the Sweet 16, which is a record. You have to wonder how Michigan might have fared in round 2 had they closed out the LSU Tigers in round 1 (they led 2-0 at one point). Could the Big Ten have had half the Sweet 16? Probably not. Probably Washington still would have emerged from that pod. But it's fun to think about, isn't it?
And it's tough to call this match an upset. By the seedlines it is, but I think the better team won. Michigan State's middles are absolute monsters. They're gonna give matchup troubles to anyone, period. Where the Spartans might struggle against Penn State, their Sweet 16 opponents, is on the pins. Wicinski needs to not have an off night, and needs to be joined by Galloway, Reinig, or ideally both at full strength, too. That'll give the Spartans a good chance against the Nittany Lions. Remember, they did beat them once this season (the teams split in the regular season, each winning on the other's home court).
Billings led all scorers with 18 kills. But look past that and you see part of the issue — Kentucky's next-highest scorer was O'Conner with 7. On the other side of the stat sheet, we find Wicinski with 16, Fitterer with 15, Mathews with 12, and Reinig with 10. Wicinski got the most sets — 50 — but the ball was nicely distributed among all secondary options, with Fitterer, Mathews, Reinig, and Galloway all taking between 20 and 30 swings. You can't cheat as a blocker when it's spread around that well. And of course Moster was fabulous on the back line, but it's worth pointing out that Wicinski, Galloway, and Halle Peterson (listed as a setter, but functioned more as a DS tonight) all notched double-figure digs, too. Big team effort all around.
So, the Big Ten hegemony slows next week, as they have to feast on their own (in addition to Michigan State/Penn State, we've also got Illinois/Purdue). But that ought to mean it's very good volleyball. Can't wait.
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