Michigan State kept its perfect start rolling Tuesday night, outlasting Oakland in four sets at the Breslin Center and improving to 9-0 for the second straight season.
The Spartans handled the first, third and fourth sets by a 25-16, 25-16 and 25-21 margin, while Oakland grabbed the second set 26-24 to briefly even things up. MSU is 9-0 to open a season in back-to-back years for the first time since 1975-76.
Michigan State controlled the numbers in the categories that mattered most. The Spartans finished with a .247 hitting percentage and limited Oakland to .082.
They also led 57-42 in kills, 8-4 in service aces and 16-3 in total blocks. That block total was a season high.
Oakland finished with a 67-59 edge in digs.
Junior middle blocker Carmen Waye delivered the night’s biggest individual line. She put up her first-career double-double, finishing with team and career highs of 16 kills and 10 total blocks while hitting .552.
She also added a career-high seven digs and came within one dig of a triple-double. Her 10 blocks were the most by an MSU player in a match since Zuzanna Kulig had 12 against Illinois during the 2024 season.
MSU got plenty of help around her. Sophomore outside hitter Bianca Mumcular posted a season-high 12 kills and six digs.
Senior outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska added nine kills and 12 digs, while senior middle blocker Zora Hardison matched that nine-kill output and finished with six total blocks. Junior opposite Hayley Ogden chipped in eight kills and five total blocks.
Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long paced the offense with 46 assists and was one of five Spartans to record a service ace. Staniszewska, redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Vellucci and senior libero Lia Schneider each had two aces, and Schneider also turned in a team- and season-high 17 digs.
Michigan State set the tone early in the first set, using a 3-0 burst with kills from Hardison and Ogden and a Hardison solo block to build a 10-4 lead. Oakland answered with a quick run of its own, but MSU pushed the margin back out behind Mumcular’s swing and more pressure at the net. Hardison’s fourth kill of the set sent the Spartans to set point, and Waye finished it off 25-16.
The second set was the one Oakland stole. The Golden Grizzlies jumped ahead 8-4, then stretched the lead to 15-10 at the media timeout.
Michigan State kept clawing back, getting kills from Waye, Mumcular and Ogden, plus a Long ace, before a successful challenge helped spark a late push. The Spartans erased a 24-23 Oakland set point with a Waye-Ogden block, but Oakland answered with back-to-back kills to take it 26-24.
MSU responded well in the third. After a tight opening stretch, the Spartans used a dump from Long and a block from Waye and Mumcular to move in front 12-9, then opened up a 15-11 lead at the media timeout. They kept pulling away from there, reaching set point with help from a Mumcular-Hardison block and two Schneider aces, then closed it out on a Mumcular kill for a 25-16 win.
The fourth set brought more resistance from Oakland, which used a four-point swing to go up 10-7 and later grabbed a 20-19 lead. But Michigan State kept finding answers.
A Waye solo block, a Hardison-Ogden block and an Oakland error flipped the set back MSU’s way at 17-16. The Spartans tied it at 20-20 and 21-21, took the lead for good on an Oakland attack error, and then Mumcular and Waye helped finish the job.
Waye’s 16th kill sealed the match at 25-21.
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