Strong Serving Leads Volleyball to Sweep of Maryland

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball had six service aces in set two and eight in the match on Friday night, defeating Maryland 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-22) inside the Breslin Center. Junior setter Rachel Muisenga had a career-high four aces and freshman outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska tied her season-high of three.
 
“I thought our serving did a good job of putting them out of system all night,” Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson said. “Our middles were unreal tonight. Zuzanna (Kulig) hit .583 and Amani (McArthur) hit .412. They took huge volume and carried the weight for us offensively.”
 
The Spartans improve to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in B1G play with the victory. Seven conference victories are the most by Michigan State since 2017 when the team went 14-6. Maryland drops to 15-10 overall and 5-8 in conference action.
 

Shelled out 8 aces in our win tonight 🤌🏼#GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/QJ58zE5kGT

— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) November 4, 2023

 
Michigan State’s offense was led by its middles as fifth year Amani McArthur and freshman Zuzanna Kulig combined to hit .500 (15-1-28). McArthur had eight kills and Kulig added seven on no errors. Freshman outside hitter Taylah Holdem led all players with 10 kills and posted her eighth double-double with 10 digs.
 
Senior Nalani Iosia led all players with 17 digs and McArthur posted a match-high six blocks. Muisenga led with 16 assists and junior setter Julia Bishop had 14.
 
MSU got strong performances from its middles in a dominant first set of play. McArthur finished with five kills and Kulig added four in the frame as Michigan State hit .370. Maryland led by three early, 7-4, before the Spartans stormed back to score 13 of the next 15 points. A 13-2 MSU run put them up 17-9 over the Terrapins and they never looked back. A 3-1 Maryland run cut the lead to six, but MSU responded with a 6-1 run that put them on set point, where they’d eventually clinch it 25-14.
 
Set two also started in favor of the Terps, who opened up an 9-3 advantage over the Spartans before MSU started their comeback. Trailing by six, Michigan State went on a 13-1 run to take a 16-10 lead over Maryland. The serve and receive game was a big part on MSU’s run which featured five service aces and a…