EAST LANSING— Friday and Saturday’s scheduled volleyball matchups between Michigan State and Duke and North Carolina will not be played due to health and safety protocol concerns, the university announced on Tuesday evening.

The games will not be rescheduled for this season.

MSU, who is 4-2 on the season with wins over Western Michigan, Canisius, Dixie State and Weber State, were set to duel the Tar Heels on Friday at 7 p.m. and Duke on Saturday at 6 p.m. Recently, the Spartans traveled to Provo, Utah, for the Brigham Young Invitational where they swept Dixie and Weber State in three sets before being swept by perennial power BYU in three sets.

Michigan State’s other loss of the 2021 season came at home on Aug. 28 in a hotly-contested five-set affair to Wright State.

In 2020, MSU had seven overall scheduled matches postponed due to health and safety protocols, including a six-game span against Illinois, Northwestern and Purdue that stretched from Feb. 27 to March 14.  The scheduled one-game set against Michigan in Ann Arbor on Jan. 30, 2021 was also postponed.

The Spartans will now have a nine-day break before taking on Oakland at home on Sept. 17 and IUPUI and Central Michigan on Sept. 18 before heading out on a four-game road trip to Indiana on Sept. 24 that begins Big Ten play.