Sept. 4, 2010

Final Stats

HONOLULU - Junior All-American outside hitter Alex Jupiter (Paris, France/Redondo Union HS) posted 17 kills with six blocks Saturday as the No. 10 USC Women of Troy swept the Michigan State Spartans, 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-15), in Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic action. Jupiter hit .483 (17-3-29) as the Women of Troy hit a sparking .407 for the match.

Freshman outside hitter Falyn Fonoimoana added 10 kills while hitting .381 (10-2-21) with junior setter Kendall Bateman registering two kills, 41 assists and two blocks for USC (5-0). The Trojans outblocked the Spartans by an 11.5-7.5 margin, holding their opponents to a .210 hitting percentage for the match.

Becca Zlbais led the Spartans (4-2) with nine kills and seven digs.

Back-to-back hitting errors by the Spartans gave USC the 13-8 lead in the first set before Zbalis knocked down an overpass as three straight made it a 13-11 score. Jupiter tallied an ace, followed by Katie Fuller's kill for a five-point lead, 16-11. Bateman snuck a kill to push the advantage to seven, 20-13. MSU added three straight on its own, but USC used consecutive blocks to take charge of the set as Jupiter closed it out for the 1-0 lead.

Fonoimoana started three straight points as USC led, 16-13, in the second set. Jupiter chipped in two kills as USC went up, 21-17, but the Spartans rallied. Three points from MSU brought the deficit to one at 21-20. A service error and net violation kept USC ahead at 23-20, but the Spartans kept USC on its toes as Natalie Emro tied it at 23-23 with the kill. USC called its final timeout and Jupiter took advantage after the break with a kill. Fonoimoana finished for the Women of Troy to stave off the MSU rally.

A key 5-1 run early in the third set paved the way for the Trojan sweep as they took the 12-6 lead and went on to record the win.

The tournament concludes tomorrow as USC plays No. 4 Hawai'i at 5 p.m. Honolulu time with live stats available online (sidearmstats.com/hawaii/wvball).

Notes: USC now leads the all-time series with Michigan State by a 7-1 margin...the lone loss in the series came last season in East Lansing, Michigan...middle blocker Lauren Williams is hitting .545 on the season...Alex Jupiter's .483 hitting percentage is a personal season high...Katie Fuller had a season-high eight kills in the match.

USC	  25-25-25
MSU	  17-23-15
Records: USC (5-0), Michigan State (4-2)
Kills: Alex Jupiter 17 (USC), Becca Zlabis 9 (MSU)
Team:	USC	MSU
1	.444	.125
2	.367	.458
3	.414	.091
Match	.407	.210