Mid-American Conference

OXFORD, Ohio -- No. 5 Eastern Michigan topped No. 8 Kent State in straight sets in the opening match of the 2018 MAC Volleyball Championship. The Eagles will move on to the MAC Quarterfinals and will take on No. 4 Buffalo at 4:30 PM ET tomorrow afternoon. With the loss, the Golden Flashes have been eliminated from this year's championship.

EMU and KSU locked in a tight match from the beginning, but ultimately Eastern was able to pull away and knock out the Golden Flashes, 28-26, 25-19, 25-20.

Senior Jordan Smith continued her recent hot streak, pounding 18 kills on 51 attempts while also contributing four total blocks and an ace. In her last three matches, Smith is averaging 20 kills per match, 5.45 kills per set, and is hitting .242.

Eastern received a balanced scoring effort from the rest of the roster, as sophomore Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) was the only other Eagle with double-digit kills, finishing with 10. The outside hitter added 13 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

The defense was spectacular for the Green and White, with libero Alyssa LaFace leading four players in double figure digs with 26. Junior Riley Taylor tied Strefling for the second-most with 13, and redshirt senior setter Mallory Rajewski turned in 10 to go along with 39 assists and six kills.

Rajewski's 39 helpers pushed her past the 3,000 assist mark for her career. She is just the sixth player to reach that mark, and is the fifth to have 3000+ assists and 1,000+ digs.

Overall, the Eagles controlled all of the important team categories, finishing with a higher attack percentage (.203 to .089), more kills (52 to 30), more assists (46 to 23), more blocks (9 to 4), and more service aces (5 to 3).