Michigan State volleyball opens its 2026 season this weekend at the Breslin Center with a demanding two-match slate, welcoming a pair of 2025 NCAA Tournament teams in Miami on Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. and LIU on Aug. 29 at 3 p.m.
Both matches will stream on B1G+, and Friday’s opener will also have a free stream on the Big Ten Network YouTube channel as part of BTN’s B1G+ Free Friday. John Kreger will have the call on MSUSpartans.com and through the Michigan State Athletics app for both contests.
The Spartans bring plenty back from a 2025 team that finished 18-12, good for the program’s most wins since 2017. Michigan State also posted its best numbers in several key categories since that same season, including a .222 team hitting efficiency, 12.83 kills per set, 11.99 assists per set and 1.71 service aces per set.
Kristen Kelsay enters her second season as head coach after a first year that set the standard for a debut MSU volleyball coach. The Spartans went a perfect 10-0 in non-conference play under her direction. On the court, then-junior Karolina Staniszewska earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors and AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region recognition, while setter Malayah Long picked up Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors twice.
Michigan State’s roster also has six newcomers: transfers Hayley Ogden, Alanna Bankston and Zora Hardison, plus freshmen Madi Andrews, Colbie McKenna and Alana Whitfield.
The returnees give MSU a strong foundation. Staniszewska and sophomore pin Bianca Mumcular are back as the team’s top two scorers, while Long returns as the assists leader with 983 and 8.7 per set.
Lia Schneider is back after leading the Spartans in digs with 343, and Long also paced the team with 31 service aces. The only starter lost from last season is Evie Doezema, who graduated.
Michigan State also got a preseason nod from the AVCA Coaches Poll, receiving votes in the Aug. 10 release. It marks the first time MSU has received votes in the poll since 2018, which was also the last time the Spartans were ranked in the top 25.
Miami arrives in East Lansing after a 27-6 season in 2025 and a 16-4 mark in the ACC. The Hurricanes made their fifth straight NCAA Tournament, beat Tulsa in the first round and then lost to Kansas in the round of 32 as the No. 5 seed.
Redshirt junior setter Ariana Rodgriguez was named First Team All-ACC and AVCA South Region, and she also earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America recognition. Miami was picked seventh in the ACC preseason coaches poll and, like Michigan State, received votes in the AVCA preseason poll.
Friday’s matchup will be the third all-time meeting between MSU and Miami and the first since 2006. The Spartans are 2-0 in the series, including a sweep in East Lansing on Sept.
2, 2006. Michigan State also won the first meeting, a 3-1 result in Coral Gables on Sept.
17, 2005.
LIU also brings postseason experience into the weekend after finishing 20-9 overall and 15-1 in Northeast Conference play last season. The Sharks won the NEC regular-season title and the NEC Tournament before falling to Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
They return four all-conference selections from that team: senior outside hitter Sara van Gisteren, senior middle blocker Yasmeen Muhammad, junior libero Miabella Musignac and junior outside hitter Bella Correia. Musignac was the NEC Defensive Player of the Year.
The Sharks own the only previous meeting with Michigan State, winning in five sets in East Lansing on Sept. 19, 2014, when the program was still known as LIU-Brooklyn.
Tony Trifonov is in his second season as LIU’s head coach.
After the weekend in East Lansing, Michigan State heads to Ann Arbor for a pair of neutral-site matches in Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week. The Spartans play LSU on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 4:30 p.m. on BTN, then face South Carolina on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. Both matches will be held at Michigan’s Crisler Center.
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Tom Izzos Long Fight On Eligibility Just Got New Life
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For Tom Izzo, who has long been vocal about professional athletes finding ways to exploit loopholes, the decision reads like a win for a position he has argued for publicly. The bigger question now is whether the conference will widen that approach beyond football, with basketball among the sports under consideration, which would make the ripple effect on college athletics even more significant. [Read more 🡒]