2018 Michigan State vs Iowa | Big Ten Women's Volleyball

Coach's Take: Cathy George Previews Michigan State-Iowa

Coach's Take: Cathy George Previews Michigan State-Iowa

Michigan State head coach Cathy George helps us breakdown her team's matchup vs. Iowa.

Sep 20, 2018 by Megan Kaplon
B1G Volleyball Lives On FloVolleyball

Michigan State head coach Cathy George knows what to expect across the net when she and her team face Iowa in the Big Ten opener on Friday: Dominant play from pin hitters Taylor Louis, Cali Hoye, and Reghan Coyle, and skillful, smart setting from sophomore setter Brie Orr. 

George’s own team, however, remains much more of a mystery. 

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Michigan State fielded a starting lineup of six seniors last season, and among this year’s returners, only libero Jamye Cox and defensive specialist Samantha McClean played with any regularity.

Add to that a number of early-season injuries, and uncertainty and possibilities abound in East Lansing. Only outsides Alyssa Chronowski and Molly Johnson and middle Naya Gros started all 13 pre-conference matches, but every single player on the roster, with the exception of outside hitter Lauren Swartz, has seen the floor. 

“We definitely played a lot of matches,” George said, “so we had a lot of opportunity to look at our team and play a lot of different players to get a gauge of where we are and what we need to do in order to move into the Big Ten.”

All six of George’s true freshman received significant playing time in the the Spartan’s 12-1 preseason showing. In particular, Gros, Johnson, and middle Rebecka Poljan impressed the 14-year MSU head coach. 

“I didn’t expect to see [Molly] in our games this early,” George said, “but she was kind of forced in due to injury. I was pleased with the way that she went about her business, and both of our freshmen middles really took charge and did a nice job throughout the pre-conference.”

Sophomore Chronowski leads the offense with 138 kills and earned the title of Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational MVP in the final weekend of preseason competition. Freshman Elena Shklyar and junior Maggie Midgette have shared setting duties. Cox, the only returning starter, has scooped up 139 digs in the libero jersey.

Statistically, Michigan State has excelled at serving and blocking, ranking fourth in NCAA Division I with 2.18 aces per set and ninth with 2.91 blocks per set as a team. George said her team scores about 5.5 points per set off of its serving and blocking.

“We know that has been strong for us,” she said, “but will that continue in the Big Ten?”

MSU’s first conference opponent enters Friday’s match with a 8-3 record, riding a six-match win streak. Louis, Hoye, and Coyle, all upperclassmen, lead the offense, with a pair of freshmen, Amiya Jones and Hannah Clayton, earning the starting nod in the middle. Setter Orr has quarterbacked the Hawkeyes to a .254 overall hitting percentage, which ranks in the top 50 nationally.

“Their pin play is just really solid, so what’s our block going to look like, what are we going to do to challenge that,” George said of her team’s game plan against Iowa.

Perhaps with so many question marks in the lineup (George admitted she wouldn’t know if certain injured players would be cleared to play until game day), Michigan State holds a bit of an advantage. While MSU plans their block around the play of Louis, Coyle, and Hoye, the Hawkeyes don’t know for sure who they’ll see across the net. 

“If I was Iowa, I’d know exactly what my players would bring me because you’ve seen them for a very long time,” George said. “It’s different in that we’re continuing to expand what [our] strengths are, and I think those are all in process but they are continuing to grow and learn.”

First serve will launch inside Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 7 PM CT on Friday, Sept. 21, and you can watch the match live, right here on FloVolleyball.