EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball fell in its season finale on Saturday afternoon, losing to Iowa in a close five-setter, 3-2 (23-25, 25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 9-15). The Spartans honored their three seniors after the match as Rebecka Poljan, Emma Monks and Zoe Nunez played their final game in the green and white.
MSU out-hit the Hawkeyes .320 to .214 and tallied a season-best 16 blocks to Iowa’s 10, but 12 service errors proved to be a deciding factor. Five Spartans finished in double-figure kills for the second consecutive match.
Sophomore Aliyah Moore had 17 kills to lead MSU and turned in a season-best .520 hitting percentage for the Spartan offense. Fifth year Rebecka Poljan finished her career with a 14-kill performance, one off from tying a career high. Freshman Evie Doezema had 11 kills for Michigan State.
Freshman Maradith O’Gorman had 13 kills for MSU to move into 9th all-time for kills by an MSU freshman with 13 on Saturday, passing the previous mark of 249 set by Naya Gros in 2018. Senior Emma Monks had 12 kills to conclude her career with five consecutive games in double figures. Monks hit .354 this season to rank 9th all-time at MSU for single season hitting.
Monks and O’Gorman each tied previous season-highs in blocks with eight and seven respectively.
Iosia tallied her 1,000th career dig in set two and finishes her season with 467 digs. With a double-double on Saturday, Iosia bookended her season with double-doubles after she had 10 assists and 23 digs against Louisiana in the season opener. Iosia had 13 assists and 26 digs against Iowa to tie her career-high in digs set against VCU earlier this season. Nunez concluded her career with a 52-assist performance against the Hawkeyes in addition to eight digs.
Michigan State controlled a majority of set one, leading the Hawkeyes late by a score of 21-17. A late Hawkeye run stung the Spartans however as Iowa used a 7-1 run to take the set, 25-23.
The Spartans controlled the second set throughout, taking the lead early after a brief 6-5 Hawkeye lead. With the set tied at 8-8, the Spartans went on a 9-2 run to build a 17-10 lead over Iowa. The Hawkeyes brought the lead down to just five, but MSU closed the set out in strong fashion scoring five of the final six points…
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