Muncie, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program continued their historic start with their sixth sweep of the season on Friday night (Feb. 12) in a 3-0 final over Ball State. The win moves the Falcons to 8-0 on the season, tying the conference start during the 2012 season.
The back-to-back sweeps over Ball State also mark the first pair of consecutive sweeps over the Cardinals since the 2006-07 season.
The Falcons will bring their 8-0 record back to the Stroh Center next week to host Ohio on Feb. 18 and 19 with both matches set to be broadcasted on ESPN platforms.
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State volleyball team showed great resiliency in overcoming seven-point deficits in two sets to take down rival Akron, 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 27-25) for the second night in a row Friday at the Basketball and Volleyball Development Center.
The Golden Flashes are 6-0 in Mid-American Conference play for the first time in program history and captured a full point in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge standings with the victory, tying the rivalry competition 2.0-2.0.
"Today was probably one of the most amazing matches I've been a part of," said head coach Don Gromala. "I'm super proud of the belief our players had in what they were doing and in each other to make things happen and create something out of nothing."
Sophomore Morgan Copley was big in just her second match of the season and finished with a team-best 15 kills. Classmate Savannah Matthews had 13 kills and two huge solo blocks in the fourth set. Junior Lana Strejcek was outstanding in the middle with 11 kills on just 19 swings and four solo stuffs. Redshirt junior Alex Haffner totaled 48 assists, 15 digs, four kills and three aces in a stat-stuffing performance.
Junior Erin Gardner paced the defense with 21 digs. Senior Kaeleigh Stang tallied 11 digs and Matthews added nine.
Kent State will host Eastern Michigan on Monday, February 15 in a match that was originally scheduled for January 22
Western Michigan 3, Central Michigan 1
BoxscoreKALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team continued its winning ways and extended its winning streak to four with a four-set victory (25-19, 25-19, 24-26, 25-18) over in-state rival Central Michigan on Friday afternoon.
Western Michigan had three players with double digit kills led by sophomore Maggie King with 17. King was followed by senior Rachel Bontrager with 16 and junior Meredith Phillips with 15. King's 17 kills were two shy of her career-high while also hitting .244 with two digs and five blocks.
Bontrager posted 16 kills, marking the fifth straight match the senior outside hitter has recorded double digit kills. Bontrager registered a .209 attack percentage and had one assist, one service ace, seven digs and three blocks.
Rounding out the double digit trio was Meredith Phillips with 15 kills and a team-high .387 attack percentage. Phillips also registered two digs with one block against Central Michigan. Western Michigan had a trio of players in Logan Case, Janell Williams and Charley Andrews with four kills followed by Sammi Labolle with one.
Freshman Logan Case registered 51 assists on Friday afternoon, marking the third straight match the freshman setter has had at least 50 assists. Case nearly earned a double-double with eight digs while also having four kills and one block.
Leading the way defensively was senior Kaley Smith with 27 digs. Smith also had two assists with one service ace. Behind Smith was freshman Andelyn Simkins with 10 digs to go along with a team-high two service aces.
As a team the Broncos hit .274 on Friday and held CMU to a .175 attack percentage. For the second straight match WMU had double digit blocks with 11 and had seven service aces to CMU's six.
Western Michigan has now won four straight matches and has an overall and Mid-American Conference record of 6-2. The 6-2 conference start for the Broncos is the best start since going 8-2 to begin MAC play during the 2017-18 campaign. WMU returns to the court next week for a pair of matches on the road at Miami, Feb. 18-19.
Northern Illinois 3, Eastern Michigan 1
Boxscore
DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team earned a split of its two-match series against the Eastern Michigan Eagles Friday afternoon with a 3-1 (25-22, 28-26, 29-31, 26-24) win at Victor E. Court.
"I'm super excited we were able to get a split at home and defend our home court," said head coach Ray Gooden. "I think both of our teams are really continuing to try to find ways to win. We had a good second night for the first time this season and put ourselves in a spot where we could find success tonight."
Kennedy Wallace (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) led NIU with 17 kills, hitting. 364 with six digs and four blocks. Jasmine Kemp (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) had 15 kills and led the Huskies with five blocks. Kaitlyn Bell (De Soto, Kan./De Soto) added 12 kills as Katie Jablonski (Elburn, Ill./New Hampshire) had a double-double on the day with 10 kills and 12 digs. Samantha Juarez (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) led all players with 21 digs.
NIU (2-6, 2-6 MAC) got off to a fast start with a 5-1 run in the opening set capped by a block from Wallace and JoDee Kovanda (Lockport, Ill./West Florida). The lead grew to six at 9-3 on back-to-back Jablonski kills. NIU led 19-13 when an Alayna Jansky kill sparked a 7-2 Eastern Michigan run that got the Eagles within two, 21-20. The Huskies hit .250 in the opening set and won it 25-22 on a Bell kill.
Eastern Michigan (1-3, 1-3 MAC) opened the second set on a 5-0 run, getting three kills from April Houston. The Eagles' lead grew to nine when a block by Jansky and Abbey Kearney put Eastern Michigan ahead 15-6. Down 19-14, NIU went on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 19 on a kill by Grace Balensiefer (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon). The two sides traded points up to 26-26 when an Eagles service error and a Kemp kill put the Huskies up 2-0 in the match with a 28-26 win.
The third set was the longest of the season for NIU, featuring 23 ties and nine lead changes. Eastern Michigan took the largest lead of the set when a block by Kearney and Jansky capped a 4-0 run that put the Eagles up 16-13. NIU then won five of the next seven points with back-to-back kills from Jablonski and Bell tying the set at 18. The Eagles earned set point at 24-22 on a block by Houston and Samantha Basham. The Huskies responded with three straight points to have set point themselves at 25-24 on a Jablonski kill. NIU had set point three times but could not finish off Eastern Michigan. Down 29-28, Eastern Michigan won the last three points to win the set 31-29 and stay alive in the match.
NIU had an early 4-3 lead in the fourth but a Samantha Basham kill started a 7-1 Eagles run that put the visitors ahead 10-5. Eastern Michigan led 15-8 when a Kovanda kill parked a 4-0 NIU run that got the Huskies within three, 15-12. The Huskies used another 4-0 run later in the set to tie it at 18. NIU took back the lead at 23-22 following kills from Kemp and Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan). After not converting on match point at 24-23, the Huskies took the set 26-24 and the match on a Wallace kill and a Kennedy Shelley (Burlington, Colo./Lewis-Palmer) service ace.
The Huskies had 70 kills in the match and hit .254 to Eastern Michigan's .227. NIU also held a 9.0-8.0 edge in blocks. Franki Strefling led the Eagles with 19 kills and added 17 digs.
NIU goes on the road Feb. 18-19 to take on Ball State in a two-match series.
Ohio 3, Buffalo 0
Boxscore
ATHENS, Ohio -- For the second match in a row, strong performances by junior outside hitter/right side hitter Lauren Park (Millersburg, Ohio) and redshirt freshman middle blocker Caitlin O'Farrell (Suwanee, Ga.) powered the Ohio volleyball team (4-2, 4-2 MAC) to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-20) sweep of Buffalo (0-8, 0-8 MAC) on Friday (February 12) at the Convocation Center.
The Bobcats swept the season series from the Bulls courtesy of six-straight set victories. On Thursday (February 11), Ohio recorded a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-23) triumph over Buffalo.
"Until today, we hadn't chained together two really good sets in a row," said head coach Deane Webb. "Our first two sets today were really good offensively and were good defensively. In the third set, we weren't as good offensively, but we were outstanding defensively."
Friday's win saw Ohio hit .318 whilie limiting Buffalo to an attack percentage of just .101. The Bobcats followed up an 11-point win in the opening set with a 12-point victory in the second. Ohio never trailed in either of the first two sets, closing out the first set on a 7-0 run and opening the second by scoring 10 of the first 13 points, including the first four. The Bulls held an early 3-2 lead in the third set, but a kill by Park broke a four-all tie, and Ohio maintained control the rest of the way.
Park led the match with 14 kills while O'Farrell hit a blistering .579 with 12 kills. She also recorded three block assists.
Junior outside hitter Mariana Rodrigues (Santana De Parnaiba, Brazil) just missed out on a double-double with eight kills and 15 digs. She matched senior libero/defensive specialist Macy Reihing (Lexington, Ky.) for the match lead with two service aces. Reihing also compiled 14 digs, trailing only freshman defensive specialist/libero Sam Steele (Omaha, Neb.), totaled a match-high 18.
Senior setter Vera Giacomazzi (San Vendemiano, Italy) directed Ohio's attack with a match-high 33 assists.
"I think it was a more balanced attack today," said Webb. "A number of players attacked at a high level. Caitlin and Mariana really hit for great numbers. Mariana was over .400 as an outside hitter, and Caitlin was close to .600. Caitlin really had a great weekend. Today she was really efficient in the way she attacked the ball. Both of them really had a great weekend."
Ohio will look to continue its winning ways next weekend when it visits Bowling Green. The Bobcats and Falcons will square off at the Stroh Center on Thursday (February 18) at 6 p.m. ET and again on Friday (February 19) at 5 p.m. ET.
