BUFFALO, N.Y. - - The Ball State women's volleyball program pushed its winning streak versus Mid-American Conference opponents to 12 matches Thursday night with a dominating 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-16) victory at Buffalo's Alumni Arena.
 
In another solid all-around performance, the Cardinals (3-0, 3-0 MAC) offense connected for a season-high .345 (38-8-87) rate of success while the defense limited the Bulls (0-3, 0-3 MAC) to a .158 (30-15-95) attack percentage.
 
"I thought we played with good confidence on our side, and once we settled down early on, we were able to find a good rhythm on both offense and defense," said acting head coach Fritz Rosenberg. "Our defense started making some great digs to extend rallies and created some really good transition offense from our front row."
 
Freshman setter Kate Vinson (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown), the reigning MAC West Division Setter of the Week, and redshirt sophomore Esther Grussing (Willmar, Minn./Willmar) combined to set up the offense, handing out 16 and 17 assists, respectively. Their effort led the Cardinals to the .345 attack percentage, which is the team's best hitting mark over the current 12-match winning streak over league opponents.
 
They also helped six different Cardinals record at least three kills, paced by sophomore opposite Natalie Mitchem's (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) match-high 10 kills. Classmate Natalie Risi (Clarkston, Mich./Notre Dame Preparatory) was not far behind with nine.
 
In addition to her 10 kills, Mitchem hit a career-best .500 (10-2-16), while Risi hit a season-best .381 (9-1-21).
 
In the backcourt, sophomore libero Maggie Huber (Loveland, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) had another big night with 17 digs. She also handed out three assists. Sophomore Chloe Rickenbach (Avon, Ind./Avon)also collected double-digit digs with 10, while serving up a pair of aces.
 
"Maggie made some really good digs to help set the tone for our defense," Rosenberg added. "She helped us get going midway through the first set, and we never looked back."
 
Ball State and Buffalo will square off again Friday afternoon with a 2 p.m. first serve at Alumni Arena. The match will once again be streamed live on YouTube and live stats will be available at UBBulls.com.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Kent State earned an impressive 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-15) win against Mid-American Conference West Division favorite Central Michigan in the 2021 spring season opener at McGuirk Arena on Thursday evening.

Sophomore Taylor Heberle matcher her career-high with 20 kills while posting an efficient .438 hitting percentage to power the Golden Flashes' offense. Junior Melissa Kolurbasi added 10 kills and sophomore Savannah Matthews was right behind with nine. As a team, Kent State hit at a .295 clip. Redshirt sophomore Alex Haffner collected 38 assists and 10 digs for a double-double.

Junior Erin Gardner led a strong defensive effort that limited the Chippewas to a .148 hitting percentage. Matthews displayed her versatility with nine digs. Freshman Bryn Roberts and senior Kaeleigh Stang contributed seven digs apiece. The Flashes recorded seven blocks with junior Lana Strejcek contributing to four of them.

The teams split the first 32 points of the night, and the back-and-forth action included 11 ties and five lead changes. Danie Tyson'ssolo stuff evened it up and started a 6-1 run. Alex Haffner found a soft spot over the CMU blockers for a second-contact kill and a bad set forced the Chippewas to take timeout. The Flashes went wide on a swing on the ensuing point to make it 18-17. CMU was unable to take advantage of the side-out and served long to return momentum to Kent State. Each of the Flashes' next three swings went for kills, first by Melissa Kolurbasi and then consecutive points for Taylor Heberle, for their largest lead of the set. Savannah Matthews gave Kent State a 25-21 opening set victory with a kill a few points later.

Behind 12 kills from Heberle and Matthews, the Flashes posted a .406 hitting percentage and cruised to a 25-17 set two win. Matthews registered three of her four kills in the set as part of a six-point rally that gave Kent State a 9-3 lead. CMU took two of the next three points before the Flashes scored seven in a row, this time fueled by a trio of kills by Heberle, to take a commanding 17-5 lead. A late run allowed the Chippewas to get within 23-17, but a timeout allowed Kent State to regroup, and Heberle and Kolurbasi delivered big swings on the two points that followed to lead 2-0.

Kolurbasi added kills on the first two points in the third for a 2-0 lead that the Flashes would not relinquish. Host CMU stayed within a few points early and trailed 15-13 when Tyson found an open spot on the floor and then went on a seven-point serving run. Heberle got Kent State within a point of closing it out with her 20th kill of the night and followed with a tough serve that got the Chippewas out of system and resulted in a swing that grazed the antenna for a 25-15 Flashes victory.

Kent State will finish a two-match series against Central Michigan on Friday with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m.

Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program captured their second sweep in just three matches with a 3-0 victory over Western Michigan Thursday night (Jan. 28). The win pushes the Falcons to 3-0 on the season, their best start since the record-setting 12-0 beginning to the 2011 season. The two sweeps in the first three matches is also an achievement last reached by the Falcons in the 2011 campaign. The Falcons and Broncos will return to the court tomorrow at 6 p.m. to conclude the series. The match is set to be broadcasted on ESPN+.

In the first set the Falcons kept a slim cushion, but a 3-0 run to push the score to 11-7 extended that lead for Bowling Green early in the set. The Orange and Brown soon had another 3-0 run that made the score 14-8. Out of the media timeout that came at 15-9, Western Michigan worked to close the gap, including a 3-0 run that cut the lead down to 16-15 to force a timeout from the Falcons' bench. Before the end of the set, Bowling Green used another 3-0 run to create separation, seeing a Broncos' timeout with the score at 22-18. The Falcons were able to use that momentum to close out the set at 25-22. 

The second set began close as both teams traded points before Western Michigan used a 4-0 run to take a 12-10 lead and force a Bowling Green timeout.  The Falcons soon responded with a run of their own to return the score to a tie at 14-14. The run continued and extended to 7-0 before a timeout from WMU and then 10-0 before another timeout with the run ending soon after at 11-0.  The set would end 25-18 after a 15-4 run to close out the set for the Falcons and give them a 2-0 advantage. 

In the third set, Western Michigan saw a 4-0 run give them a 7-3 lead early in the set that forced a timeout from the Falcons.  Later in the set Bowling Green was able to use a 4-0 run of their own to get back into the set with the score at 11-10 WMU.  Another 3-0 run by the Falcons would tie the set score at 18-18 and force a timeout by the Broncos. Western Michigan battled back, but another 3-0 run granted Bowling Green an eventual 22-21 lead before another timeout. The run would stretch to 5-0 before WMU landed a point. 
 

AKRON, Ohio - The University of Akron women's volleyball team registered a come-from-behind 3-2 (19-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 15-8) triumph past Miami University (2-1, 2-1 MAC) in its home opener on Thursday, Jan. 28, at James A. Rhodes Arena.
 
The victory marked the first for the Zips (1-2, 1-2 MAC) over the RedHawks at home since a five-set decision in 2012.
 
Senior Alexis Adleta (West Chester, Ohio) directed Akron's attack with a 14-kill and 11-dig performance, while senior Shelby Fulmer (Perrysburg, Ohio) and junior Teagan Ochaya (Mentor, Ohio) added 12 kills apiece. Senior Emily Weigand (Burton, Ohio) registered a match-high 34 assists for the Zips, while senior Taylor Sharrits (Concord, Ohio) recorded a match-best 27 digs.
 
Miami took the opening set by a score of 19-25 as the RedHawks connected at a .200 clip, while limiting the Zips to a .087 hitting percentage.
 
Spurred by nine consecutive points served by Weigand in the second set, Akron erased a 18-15 deficit en route to moving within one point of winning the set. The Zips closed out the set with a kill by Adleta.
 
Miami regained the advantage claiming the third set, 25-21, despite only posting .053 hitting percentage.
 
Akron squared the match at two sets apiece earning a 25-22 triumph in the fourth frame.
 
In the deciding set, the Zips registered seven kills against zero errors and garnered the triumph hitting .333 in the frame.
 
The two teams close out their two-match series on Friday, Jan. 29, with a 7 p.m. tilt at James A. Rhodes Arena.
 

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team won its first match of the season Thursday night at Victor E. Court, defeating the Toledo Rockets 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-13).
 
Sophomore outside hitter Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) led all players in the match with 20 kills, hitting .319. Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutchen) had her second straight double-double with 43 assists and 11 digs. Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led NIU with seven blocks and added seven kills. Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) tied her career-high with 25 digs.
 
"These two teams tonight are trying to show all the good work they've been doing so far," said head coach Ray Gooden. "Toledo's got a really good team and battles hard. It was a good west division battle and good for us to be able to have ebb and flow and still come up on the good side tonight."
 
Toledo won three of the first four points in the final set behind kills from Chloee Kleespies and Rachel Pierce. Down 6-4, the Huskies got three kills from Brianna Scuric (East Troy, Wis./East Troy) in a 4-0 run to take an 8-6 lead. NIU led 9-7 when the Rockets won three straight points to go up 10-9. Jablonski then put down three kills over the next four points to give the hosts a 12-11 lead. Taylor Alt tied the set at 12 for Toledo, then the Rockets took a 13-12 advantage on an NIU error. That would be the Rockets last point of the match. Kills from Jablonski and Wallace, as well as a block by Wallace and Jasmine Kemp(DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) on match point, gave the Huskies the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
 
NIU (1-2, 1-2 MAC) came out firing in the first set, hitting .423 with 14 kills to only three errors. The Huskies took a 16-11 lead after a 4-1 run on kills from Wallace, Balensiefer and JoDee Kovanda(Lockport, Ill./West Florida). NIU earned set point at 24-18 following a Jablonski kill and Wallace solo block. The Rockets fought off one set point put Jablonski's third kill gave the Huskies' the opening set 25-19.
 
"I think that it was good for us to have some positives," Gooden said about the start to the match for NIU. "It was nice to see some of our people get out to a good start and do a nice job. We got some more balance and it really helped us out a lot."
 
Toledo returned the favor in set two, hitting .333 while holding NIU to .029 to win it 25-18 and tie the match at one set all. NIU ran out to a 7-3 lead in set three behind kills from Kovanda, Jablonski and Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) as well as a block from Kovanda and Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb). The Rockets came back with a 10-3 run, highlighted by a pair of Kleespies blocks, to go up 14-11. NIU battled back to tie the set at 16 on a Wallace block. Toledo then ran off three straight points to break an 18-18 tie and go up 21-18. Sparked by a Scuric kill, the Huskies ran off four straight points to take a 22-21 lead. Toledo got up 23-22, but the Huskies won the final three points to take the set 25-23 and go up 2-1 in the match.
 
The two teams traded points to start the fourth set, playing to a 9-9 tie. Toledo broke the tie in a big way, rattling off 15 straight points off the serve of Abby Ray to take a 24-9 lead. The Huskies did run off seven straight points to get to 24-16 but a Kleespies kill gave the Rockets the set 25-16 to force a fifth and deciding set.
 
NIU hit .163 for the match to Toledo's .239. The Rockets also held a 75-67 advantage in digs and a 14.0-12.0 edge in blocks. Kleespies led Toledo with 17 kills and Rachel Pierce added 15.
 
The Huskies and Rockets conclude their series Friday at 4 p.m.