Michigan State volleyball kept rolling Friday night in Los Angeles, and this time the Spartans made it look clean.
MSU swept UCLA 25-16, 25-19, 25-14 inside Pauley Pavilion for its first conference road sweep since 2024. The win pushed Michigan State to 12-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, while UCLA fell to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
It was also the Spartans’ first road B1G sweep since a 3-0 win at Iowa on Nov. 17, 2024.
The numbers told the story fast. Michigan State hit .284 and held UCLA to .039, while outdoing the Bruins in kills, 40-28, service aces, 4-1, digs, 39-31, and total blocks, 10-7.
Senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston paced the attack with 15 kills on .323 hitting, giving her 10 matches with double-digit kills in 2026. She also finished with five digs and two blocks.
Junior middle blocker Carmen Waye was sharp all night, going for eight kills on 10 swings with just one error for a .700 hitting percentage. She added two aces and matched senior middle blocker Zora Hardison for the team lead with five total blocks.
Freshman outside hitter Madi Andrews chipped in six kills and eight digs.
Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long ran the offense with 32 assists and added five digs and two blocks. Senior libero Lia Schneider led the back row with 13 digs, her seventh double-digit dig match of the season, and also served an ace. Senior Taylah Holdem had one ace and six digs.
Michigan State grabbed control early in the opening set and never really let go. After a Hardison solo block, a Hardison kill and a UCLA attack error sparked a 3-0 burst, the Spartans built an 8-3 edge and forced the Bruins to call timeout.
MSU kept pressing from there, stretching the lead to 15-6 at the media timeout after a pair of Bankston kills helped finish a 5-2 run. UCLA briefly trimmed the gap to eight, but the Spartans answered with kills from Hardison and Long and then closed the set on Bankston’s sixth kill of the frame, 25-16.
The second set was tighter at the start, with neither side pulling away by more than two points until UCLA put together a 6-1 run for a 10-7 lead and forced an MSU timeout. The Spartans responded well, tying it at 10-10 on kills from Waye and Hayley Ogden plus a Bruin error.
From there, MSU kept leaning on Waye and Ogden, and Waye’s solo block helped push the Spartans ahead 13-11. UCLA tied it twice more, but a Holdem ace gave MSU a 15-14 edge at the media break.
The Spartans then widened the gap with an ace from Holdem, kills from Andrews and Hardison, and a 4-0 run capped by a Waye and Long block, Long kill and Schneider ace to make it 22-17. An Ogden kill got MSU to set point, and a UCLA error finished it off 25-19.
The third set followed a similar script early before Michigan State pulled away decisively. Waye and Bankston helped the Spartans build a 10-7 lead, and after UCLA answered with two straight kills to get within one, MSU turned up the pressure again.
Two Ogden kills, a block from Ogden and Waye, and back-to-back Waye aces fueled a 5-1 run that made it 15-10 at the media timeout. Later, after a pair of Bruin errors and another Bankston kill pushed the lead to 19-12, Michigan State finished the night with a final 4-0 run.
A Bankston and Waye block, followed by three UCLA errors, ended the set and the match at 25-14.
In Other News...
Michigan State Suddenly Has Bigger Questions Than Just One Ugly Loss
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On the other side of the ball, Wisconsins run-heavy approach kept Michigan State on its heels and turned the game into a long, frustrating slog. That puts more attention on defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, whose group has to show it can handle exactly the kind of physical, methodical plan the Badgers used to control the afternoon. And with Cam Fancher leaving with a non-contact leg injury, the Spartans may soon have even fewer answers to work with as they try to regroup. [Read more 🡒]
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There were still a couple of bright spots tucked inside the mess, most notably interior defensive lineman Eli Coenen and center Trent Fraley, who were among the few players to come away with a strong grade. Even so, Michigan States margin for error has disappeared, and the coaching choices only added to the frustration as the offense stalled and the game management came under scrutiny. The final score told one story, but the questions left behind may be more damaging than the loss itself. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State's Cam Edwards Problem Looked Bigger Than Ever In Madison
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The trouble did not stop on offense. Michigan States defense had no clean answer for Wisconsins ability to stay on schedule, with the Badgers repeatedly extending drives on third down and getting production from Colton Joseph as both a passer and a runner. For the Spartans, the larger concern is whether the ground game can hold up without Edwards, because the version that showed up in Madison had too few answers on either side of the ball. [Read more 🡒]