Clemson Volleyball Travels to Spartan Invitational

Sept. 9, 2010

The Clemson volleyball team will travel to East Lansing, MI for the Spartan Invitation, hosted by Michigan State University. The Tigers (6-0) will play the Spartans (4-2) on Friday at 7:00 pm in Jenison Arena before taking on Eastern Michigan (8-0) and Eastern Illinois (3-1) on Saturday at 10:00am and 4:30 pm, respectively. Livestats are available at Clemsontigers.com.

The trip to Michigan marks Clemson’s northernmost matches since the 1999 Spartan Invitational. The Tigers won the match with the Spartans ,3-0, and went on to a 31-3 season and the ACC Regular Season Championship.

Clemson is off to a 6-0 start overall, its best undefeated start since that 1999 team. The Tigers face a tough test in this tournament, as the Spartans hold a 4-2 record, with both losses to AVCA top-ten teams. They garnered the 28th-most votes in the AVCA coaches poll.

The Spartans, ranked 17th at the time, defeated Clemson last season in a thrilling five-set match. Each of the five sets was decided by three or fewer points. The all-time series record stands at 1-1.

Although the teams don’t have much history against one another, they are very familiar. Jolene Jordan Hoover and Michigan State coach Cathy George were collegiate teammates at Illinois State University. Additionally, George has 453 career victories, while Hoover has 459 in her career, which gives the pair 912 wins combined.

Eastern Michigan is off to an 8-0 start, and will be playing just over an hour away from their campus, which is in a suburb of Detroit. The Eagles have dropped only one set all season, to Louisiana-Lafayette. Clemson and EMU have never met on the volleyball court.

Clemson and Eastern Illinois will play at 4:30 pm on Saturday, and it will be the first matchup between the teams since 1998. The all-time series is knotted at 2-2.

The Tigers have established themselves as a top defensive teams so far, ranking first in the ACC in blocking, opponent hitting percentage, and ranking second in digs per set.

Clemson opened the season with the Big Orange Bash, going 3-0, before traveling to Winthrop for the Carolina Challenge, again going 3-0. Sandra Adeleye was the BOB MVP, while Serenat Yaz was the Carolina Challenge MVP.