Michigan State setter Malayah Long picked up Big Ten weekly honors Monday, landing the conference’s Setter of the Week award after steering the Spartans through a perfect road swing in California.
The redshirt sophomore from Lincoln, Nebraska, is earning her first Setter of the Week recognition and her third Big Ten weekly award overall. She was named Freshman of the Week twice last season.
Long is also the first Spartan to collect a Big Ten Player of the Week award this season, and the first MSU player to win B1G Setter of the Week since two-time All-American Rachel Minarick on Oct. 23, 2017.
Long’s play was central to Michigan State’s 2-0 Big Ten weekend, which included a 3-0 win at UCLA and a 3-2 victory at USC. Over those two matches, she guided the Spartans to a .316 hitting efficiency, second-best in the conference for last week’s action. Michigan State also finished third in the Big Ten in kills per set at 14.75.
Individually, Long averaged 12.13 assists per set to rank second in the conference for the week. Her biggest stat line came at USC, where she set a career-high with 65 assists, the most by a Spartan since Natalie Emro in 2009.
She nearly added a double-double with nine digs and also contributed three kills and a service ace. In the sweep at UCLA, Long totaled 32 assists, five digs, and two blocks and kills.
Michigan State checked in at No. 22 in this week’s AVCA Coaches Poll, giving the Spartans their first national ranking since the 2018 season.
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