Courtesy of MAC Sport Information Departments
Ball State 2, Wright State 3 // Box Score
Ball State 3, Missouri State 0 //Box Score
Powered by a season-high 11 service aces, the Ball State women's volleyball team closed play in the Active Ankle Challenge with a commanding 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16) sweep of Missouri State Saturday night in Worthen Arena.
After falling three points short in a five-set thriller, 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 20-25, 15-12), to a now 11-1 Wright State team in Saturday's opening match, the Cardinals (6-6) put pressure on the Bears (3-11) from start to finish in its final pre-conference match of the year.
With Ball State leading 6-4 early in the opening set against Missouri State, freshman Chloe Rickenbachentered to serve and made an immediate impact with back-to-back aces. She added two more aces later in the set and finished the night with a career-high six to lead a brilliant Ball State serving effort.
"Chloe has always been a great server," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "We really focused this week in practice on putting a ton of effort and emphasis on our service pressure. We're not the biggest blocking team, so we have to find ways to score points from the service line to be able to help out our defense. Chloe did a great job hitting zones and putting pressure on them consistently."
Aided by the strong service pressure, the Cardinals finished the match with a .267 (40-13-101) attack percentage, led by 12 kills from freshman opposite Allison Hamaker and 10 from freshman outside Natalie Risi.
"Wright State was really good defensively and we had trouble getting the ball to the floor, they just dug everything," Phillips said. "In tonight's match against Missouri State, we were in system more. We were able to handle their serve receive better, which allowed us to be a little bit more diverse offensively and ultimately led us to hitting a higher percentage."
Hamaker, who blasted 14 kills in Friday's win over Austin Peay and tied her career-high with 16 kills earlier in the day versus Wright State, was named to the Active Ankle Challenge All-Tournament Team for her play over the two days. Not only did she lead the Ball State offense with a 3.82 kills-per-set average during the tournament, but she also hit a team-best .337 (42-11-92). Her best effort came Saturday night, when she connected at a .526 (11-2-19) clip against the Bears.
Joining Hamaker on the all-tournament team for the Cardinals was senior libero Kate Avila, who led the Ball State defense with a 4.18 digs-per-set average. Her best effort came Saturday morning, when she corralled 31 digs versus the Raiders. It was the second time this season Avila has registered 30-or-more digs in a match.
In addition to Hamaker's 16 kills and Avila's 31 digs versus Wright State, senior setter Amber Seamancollected her first double-double of the year with 44 assists and 18 digs. The Cardinals also served up nine aces versus the Raiders, its highest mark of the season until Saturday night.
The Ball State women's volleyball team turns its attention to league play next, starting with a Thursday match at Toledo. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
"The goal is to continue to get better each and every week, and I feel like we accomplished that this week," Phillips said. "We also want to come out right at the get go, feeling confident and getting into an offensive rhythm early like we did tonight. Ultimately, we want to continuing to play better each and every week and just take it one opponent at a time, starting Thursday at Toledo."
Bowling Green 0, Cincinnati 3
Box Score
The Bowling Green State University volleyball program fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday by a score of 3-0. The Falcons stayed competitive in each set, holding onto a lead during the third, but a surge by the Bearcats sent the score to a final after three sets. The loss moves BGSU's record to 6-6 so far this season as they prepare to begin conference play within the MAC next weekend.
Set Scores
Set 1 - Cincinnati 25, Bowling Green 16
Set 2 - Cincinnati 25, Bowling Green 19
Set 3 - Cincinnati 25, Bowling Green 16
Play-By-Play Notes
The Falcons remained close in the first set, going back-and-forth with the Bearcats, but Cincinnati was able to string together more points to take the first set.
In the second set, the Falcons kept the score close, seeing multiple ties throughout before the Bearcats pulled away for 25-19 win.
In the third set, the Falcons jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, holding the lead into the set before Cincinnati took over mid-set, winning 25-16 to capture the match.
Strong Individual Performances
Once again, Isabelle Marciniak led Bowling Green in the assists column, tallying 16 over the course of the match.
Jacqueline Askin was atop of the team statistics for kills, registering 11 for the Falcons against the Bearcats.
For digs, Julia Walz notched the most for the match, totaling 12 for BGSU.
Four different Falcons had two block assists against Cincinnati, being Petra Indrova, Katie Kidwell, Nikolija Katanic and Askin.
Up Next
Bowling Green will next face Ohio as they begin conference play on Sept. 27. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. first serve in Athens, Ohio.
The Falcons will then face another MAC East opponent in Kent State on Sept. 28 with a 5 p.m. first serve.
Buffalo 3, Canisius 2
Box Score
The University at Buffalo volleyball team used a little five-set magic on Saturday afternoon as the Bulls came back to defeat Canisius, 3-2, in the final match of the Blue and White Classic.
Buffalo took the contest 24-26, 18-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-11 as UB narrowly outhit Canisius, .285 to .282. The first set was a tight one that saw the Bulls take a 19-16 lead following a kill from freshman Abby Leigh. UB continued to lead 22-19 when Canisius went on a 4-1 run to tie it up at 23-23. Buffalo went back ahead 24-23, but Canisius fought off the set point and scored three straight to take it.
The Griffs then took a 2-0 lead in the match following a 25-18 victory, but the Bulls were up for the challenge as they tried to force a fifth set. Canisius led 16-13 in the third when the Bulls went on a 4-0 run capped off on a kill from senior setter Scout McLerran, giving Buffalo the 17-16 lead. UB opened up a 22-18 advantage following a block from Lexi Nordmann and Rachel Sanks and back to back kills from Sanks clinched the set.
In the fourth set, Buffalo held on to a 13-12 lead when the Bulls went on a 7-2 run as a kill from senior Kristina Nievesopened a 20-14 lead. Buffalo clinched the set 25-20 following a kill from Polina Prokudina to force a fifth set. It was the second straight five-set match for UB and its fifth of the year.
The Bulls had some serious work cut out for them in the fifth as Canisius scored the first six points and held on to a 7-1 lead before UB began to make a run. Buffalo rattled off five straight points as a block from Prokudina and Nieves pulled the Bulls within one. Tied at 9-9, Buffalo scored two straight to go ahead. Canisius would pull back within one at 12-11, but it would be their final point of the afternoon as UB scored the final three, two of those coming from Sanks, including the match winner.
"I wish we didn't always have to make things so interesting, but I was really proud of the way we competed and came back in that match today," said head coach Scott Smith. "I thought we passed the ball really well and our energy was much better in the later sets this afternoon."
Buffalo had four players in double figures in kills led by 18 from Sanks. Prokudina had 15 with 11 of those coming over the final three sets. Leigh and Nieves also finished with 11 each, as Nieves hit .474. Nordmann added seven kills.
McLerran had 48 assists, while she was one of five players with two aces in the match. Sanks, Nordmann, Monika Simkova, and libero Paige Beck each also finished with a pair of aces.
Defensively, Beck led the Bulls with 20 digs as she was named to the All-Tournament team after match, joining Nieves, who also earned All-Tournament honors.
McLerran had 11 digs, while Emma Puzausky, Hannah Watson, and Sanks each had seven. UB finished with 8.0 blocks, led by five from Nieves and three a piece from Nordmann and Sanks.
The Bulls will now open MAC play with a pair of home matches beginning on Thursday night when Buffalo hosts Akron at 6pm.
Central Michigan 3, Youngstown State 0
Box Score
The Central Michigan volleyball team won the final game of the Red & White Invitational on Saturday when it topped host Youngstown State in straight sets to finish the weekend 3-0.
CMU improved to 10-2, and extended its win streak to five games.
CMU won nine straight sets over the weekend after dropping the first two sets to Eastern Illinois in its tournament opener on Friday.
How It Happened
CMU defeated Youngstown State, 25-18, 25-18, 25-22, finishing with a .235 attack percentage to the Penguins' .120.
Kalina Smith led CMU in kills with 12. Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez followed with eight kills and had a hitting percentage of .500. Grace Butler led in assists with 20, Kendall Braate followed with 15. Megan Kern led in digs with 17.
"I thought we played a really great match from start to finish," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "Sometimes, we give up a two-, three-, or four-point run, but I felt like we never hit the panic button. We stayed pretty poised, and confident, even when things weren't going our way."
Gawlik said that when the Chippewas hit a lull, it didn't last for long.
"We got back to work," he said. "I'm pleased that was the response we had, instead of 'what if we lose?'
"We want to be the aggressor. Overall, I was pleased with the ability to keep the constant pressure on Youngstown State, who was 2-0 on the weekend (prior to our game). We never allowed them to build enough momentum for them to get going. That was a good product of us putting on pressure from start to finish."
All-Tournament Team
Smith earned the tournament Most Valuable Player Award. She finished with 44 kills, 33 digs, two aces, and a hitting percentage of .171 in CMU's three games.
Sivertsen and Kern were named to the all-tournament team. Sivertsen had 19 kills, and finished the weekend with a .270 hitting percentage. Kern had 78 digs and three aces.
Next
Mid-American Conference action kicks off for CMU next weekend, starting on Friday, Sept. 27 (7 p.m.), in DeKalb, Ill. against Northern Illinois. On Saturday, Sept. 28 (5 p.m.), CMU plays at rival Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.
Eastern Michigan 1, No. 21 Purdue 3
Box Score
The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team gave No. 21-ranked Purdue University a run for its money Saturday, Sept. 21, falling 3-1 to the Boilermakers at Halloway Gymnasium.
Redshirt senior Cassie Haut (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary Central Catholic) led the Eagles with an outstanding 19-kill performance, setting a new high for the 2019 season. The middle blocker hit .351 in the match and added six total blocks (one solo, five assist). Junior Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) was the only other member of the Green and White to register double-digit kills, finishing the match with 10 while hitting .308.
The senior duo of setter Riley Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind.-Perry Meridian) and libero Camille Schomer (Rochester, Mich.-Oakland Christian) led Eastern in the respective categories, with Taylor distributing 27 assists and Schomer putting up 13 digs. Joining Haut at the EMU block party was junior April Houston (Minneapolis, Minn.-Southwest), who had six block assists in the match to go along with four kills.
Eastern took Purdue by surprise in the first set, setting back the home team 25-21. The set loss was the first of the weekend for No. 21-ranked Purdue, and was just the second set it has dropped in Halloway Gymnasium this season.
EMU kicks off Mid-American Conference play Friday, Sept. 27 with a trip west to take on Western Michigan Friday, Sept. 27, and Northern Illinois Saturday, Sept. 28. The Eagles and Broncos will begin at 7 p.m. ET, and Eastern and Northern begin at 7 p.m. CT.
Kent State 3, Niagara 2
Box Score
Outstanding offensive performances from several players lifted Kent State past Niagara, 3-2 (25-13, 24-26, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9), in Saturday afternoon's non-conference finale at M.A.C. Center, which was part of this weekend's Golden-Viking Invitational co-hosted with Cleveland State.
The Golden Flashes (7-5) hit .331 and totaled 76 kills, the most in more than four years, as five players reached double-figures. Sophomore Danie Tyson led the way with 17 kills and a season-best .615 hitting percentage. Senior Ashley Makruski matched her career-high with 16 kills and hit at a solid .359 clip from the pin. Both players earned a spot on the all-tournament team.
Freshmen Morgan Copley and Savannah Matthews tallied 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Senior Myla King had her best match of the season with 10 kills and a .571 hitting percentage.
"This was an interesting match. When you control the hitting stat like we did, which is usually one of most important parts, you expect that it won't go five sets," said head coach Don Gromala. "Our middles played great offensively, and that was a big part of our success on offense. Our setters did a really good job of putting them in good positions to score."
Junior Natalie Tagala and redshirt sophomore Alex Haffner each posted a double-double while splitting setter duties as part of Kent State's 6-2 offense. Starting for the second night in a row, Tagala had a season-best 39 assists and career-best 21 digs. Haffner added 27 assists and 13 digs.
The Flashes' defense held Niagara to a .130 hitting percentage. Sophomore Erin Gardner tied for the team-high with 21 digs. Matthews registered 18 digs for her fifth double-double.
Kent State will play its first three Mid-American Conference matches at the M.A.C. Center, beginning with matchups against 2018 co-regular season champions Miami (Sept. 27) and Bowling Green (Sept. 28) next weekend.
Northern Illinois 0, Bradley 3
Box Score
The Northern Illinois University volleyball team wrapped up its non-conference schedule Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 loss (17-25, 20-25, 13-25) at Renaissance Coliseum in the final match of the CEFCU Classic.
"There's a lot to take from all the matches in the non-conference season," said head coach Ray Gooden. "It's now time to put all of that into action as we prepare for conference play."
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led NIU with eight kills and three blocks on the day. Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) had six kills and hit .417 with Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) adding six kills as well. Miranda Karlen (Evansville, Wis./Evansville) had 10 digs and a match-high two aces as Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) dished out 22 assists.
NIU (3-11) bounced back from an early 4-1 opening set deficit to tie it at five on a pair of Wallace kills. Bradley regained the lead with a 5-2 run capped off by kills from Lida Kastanou and Rachel Pranger to take a 10-7 lead. The Huskies responded in kind, as kills by Wallace and Bell leveled the set at 13. The Braves then won six of the next seven points, getting three kills from Pranger, to go up 19-14. That was as close as the Huskies would get. Bradley got two kills from Hannah Thompson to win the first set 25-17 and go up 1-0 in the match.
The Huskies got off to a fast start in the second set. Powered by kills from Brinley Milbrath (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/John F. Kennedy), Peyton Tilly (Barrington, Ill./Barrington), and two from Wallace, NIU built an early 6-1 lead. NIU led 9-4 when a pair of Huskie errors sparked a 4-1 Bradley run that put the Braves within two at 10-8. The Braves used a four-point run to take a 12-11 lead on back-to-back Pranger kills. The Huskies took the lead back with 4-1 run punctuated by a Tilly kill to make the score 15-13. Bradley then made another run, winning five of the next seven points to take an 18-17 lead. NIU was able to tie the set at 19, but the Braves won six of the last seven points as a Pranger ace gave Bradley the second set 25-20 and a 2-0 lead.
Bradley (4-7) erased an early 3-2 NIU lead in the third with a 9-0 run, capped off by two Thompson kills, to take an 11-3 lead. An Amanda Rullan Vilanova (Bayamon, Puerto Rico/Savannah State) kill got the Huskies back on the scoreboard, but another Thompson kill and a block by Raeann Bergman and Kat Poore started a 6-0 Braves run to give Bradley a 17-4 lead. The Braves hit .400 in the final set and held NIU to a -.030 mark to win the set 25-13 and the match 3-0.
NIU was held to a .085 hitting percentage as Bradley hit .390. The Braves also held a 48-41 advantage in digs and a 10-4 edge in blocks. Pranger led all players with 14 kills as Thompson added 13 and a match-high 16 digs.
The Huskies open Mid-American Conference play at Victor E. Court on Friday, Sept. 26 against Central Michigan. First serve is at 6 p.m.
Ohio 0, North Texas 3
Box Score
The Ohio volleyball team (8-5) fell in the final match of the North Texas Challenge to North Texas (6-6), 3-0 (25-21. 25-20, 25-21), on Saturday afternoon at the North Texas Volleyball Center.
"It was a tough match for us today, particularly on the defensive end," head coach Deane Webb said. "It will be a focus for us this week. Despite the loss today, I was happy to see our team win the tournament. We're looking forward to getting back in the gym and preparing for MAC play."
Ohio was named the tournament champion while junior middle blocker Tia Jimerson (Sugar Hill, Ga.) was named the North Texas Challenge Most Valuable Player. Jimerson had a team-best 46 kills throughout the tournament and hit .452. On defense, she averaged 1.36 blocks per set.
Junior setter Vera Giacomazzi (San Vendemiano, Italy) and graduate transfer Shayla Phillip (Columbia, S.C.) were named North Texas Challenge All-Tournament.
Jimerson led the way with 14 kills on 23 swings and hit .522. Senior outside hitter Lizzie Stephens (Dallas, Texas) had nine kills on 23 attempts and had a .304 attacking clip. Freshman outside hitter Olivia Margolies (Galena, Ohio) had eight hammers and hit .269. Junior opposite Maggie Nedoma (Brook Park, Ohio) while graduate transfer Shayla Phillip (Columbia, S.C.) had five kills.
Junior setter Vera Giacomazzi (San Vendemiano, Italy) had 36 assists and guided the offense to a .234 attacking clip with 43 kills. Giacomazzi recorded a double-double after leading the team with 19 digs. Junior libero Macy Reihing (Lexington, Ky.) had 14 digs while Nedoma came up with 10. Nedoma has hit double-digit digs six times this season.
Ohio had three team aces, with Nedoma producing two of them and Stephens had one.
The Bobcats had two team blocks. Jimerson had two assisted stuffs while Giacomazzi and Nedoma each had one.
Overall, Ohio had 43 kills compared to UNT's 50. The Mean Green hit .374 while Ohio hit .244. UNT had 59digs compared to Ohio's 51.
Ohio will be back in action to begin Mid-American Conference play on Friday, Sep. 27. OU will face Bowling Green at 7 p.m.
Toledo 3, North Alabama 0
Box Score
The University of Toledo women's volleyball team wrapped up its weekend at the Beale Street Challenge with a three-set sweep of North Alabama on Saturday.
The Rockets tallied 18 service aces as a team, the most since 2008 when they had 19 in a match against Buffalo. Senior Zoe Birnbrich led the way offensively, hitting .667 (8/0/12) and junior Emma Swope added a match-high 14 kills as well. Swope had seven service aces, the 15th time a Toledo player had at least that many in a match and the first such occurrence since 2008. Sophomore Elise Wilcox added six aces to the cause.
"I think we did a good job of bouncing back after a disappointing day yesterday," head coach Jason Oliver said. "There are definitely still things we need to work on, but it was nice to end the weekend with a win. We're going to have days like yesterday, so it was encouraging to see us come back and respond with a win today."
Birnbrich was the Rockets' All-Tournament Team selection. She hit .397 and averaged 3.09 kills/set while adding 0.55 blocks/set and 1.36 digs/set.
Toledo (7-5) opens up MAC play this week with a home match against Ball State on Thursday, Sept. 26 and a road contest at Buffalo on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Set 1 (Toledo, 25-19)
Toledo took a 1-0 lead in the match by winning the first set, 25-19. The Rockets hit .343, which included five kills from Birnbrich and four from freshman Olivia Vance. North Alabama led very early on, at 5-4, but six straight points from the Rockets put an end to that and swung the momentum into Toledo's favor. Swope baffled UNA with her serve, tallying six aces in the first set alone, including five in a row at one point. The last time a Rocket had at least six serves in a match was Shannon Strachan against Buffalo on Nov. 8, 2008.
Set 2 (Toledo, 25-16)
The Rockets hit .412 in the second set, their highest of the match. The only time North Alabama led during the set was when it took a 1-0 lead on a Toledo service error. From that point on, the Rockets went on a 14-6 run to double up the Lions and take a 14-7 lead. Wilcox registered five of her six aces in the second set, including a stretch of four in a row.
Set 3 (Toledo, 25-23)
The closest set of the day, Toledo and North Alabama fought to eight tie scores, with the Rockets eventually pulling ahead in the end to clinch the sweep. Swope logged nine of her 14 kills in the final frame and sophomore Maddie Fogg tallied 12 of her 13 assists in set three. UNA led as late as 20-19 and looked to be pushing the Rockets towards a fourth set. But big kills from Swope and redshirt freshman Liz Beasley put the Midnight Blue and Gold ahead by two, 22-20. The Lions would tie the score at 23-23, but an attacking error and kill from freshman Ryann Jaqua sealed the deal in Toledo's win.
Western Michigan 0, Michigan State 3
Box Score
In its final non-conference match of the regular season at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center Tournament, Western Michigan volleyball fell to Michigan State in three sets (19-25, 24-26, 14-25) on Saturday night.
Against the Spartans the Broncos had three players with double digit kills with WMU's newest 1,000 career kill club member Rachel Bontrager leading the way with 12. Bontrager led the Brown & Gold on the weekend with 40 kills, averaging 3.64 per set.
Sophomore Meredith Phillips and freshman Maggie Kingeach had 10 kills against Michigan State with Phillips recording a .286 attack percentage. Junior Mary Marzo had 33 assists on the night to go along with five digs and one service ace. For the weekend, Marzo collected a staggering 90 assists, averaging 8.18 per set.
Senior Kathleen Reilly posted 10 digs on the night and is now just 15 away from becoming the third Bronco in program history to eclipse 2,000 career digs. Reilly led WMU with 55 digs over the weekend en route to earning Delta Hotels by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center All-Tournament honors.
Rounding out non-conference play the Broncos finished with an overall record of 9-3. WMU begins Mid-American Conference play next weekend, Sept. 27-28 at home against in-state rivals Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.
The first set saw both teams trade points early on before Michigan State embarked on a 5-0 run to grab a 12-8 lead. WMU and MSU traded points once again midway through the set before the Spartans ended the first set scoring four of the final five points to earn the 25-19 victory.
In the second set, WMU used a 7-2 run to take a 17-14 lead after Phillips connected on one of her four kills in the second. Michigan State rallied back late and tied the game at 22-22 after back-to-back kills. The two teams went back and forth late in the second before being knotted at 24-24. The Spartans earned the final two points of the set on a kill followed by a WMU attack error.
Michigan State got off to a fast start in the third set, earning a 7-3 lead and ultimately going on a 6-1 run midway through to grab an 18-8 advantage. MSU scored three of the final four points after WMU cut its deficit down to 10 to win the third set and the match. The Spartans in the third set recorded a .345 attack percentage and had three blocks to WMU's one.
