Thursday’s MAC Volleyball Results
Bowling Green 3, Central Michigan 0
Western Michigan 3, Buffalo 2
Ball State 3, Ohio 2
Kent State 3, Miami 0
 
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
 
 
Bowling Green 3, Central Michigan 0
Box Score
 
Mount Pleasant, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program picked up their record-tying 12th straight win of the season on Thursday (March 4) with a 3-0 sweep over Central Michigan. The win puts the Falcons at 12-0 on the season, tying the record for the best start to a season in program history, matching that of the 2011 team.
 
It is believed that this squad is just the fifth team in BGSU Athletics history to reach 12-0 or better. The win for Bowling Green came from an all-around team effort that filled the stat sheet.

With the win, the Falcons move to 12-0 on the season which ties the program record for wins to begin a season. The Falcons also began 12-0 during the 2011 season, a streak that ended with the first MAC match of the season. 

On the attack, Katelyn Meyer led the way for the Falcons with 12 kills while Katie Kidwell wasn't far behind with nine of her own.
Kidwell also landed one of five team aces, seeing Julia Walz and Petra Indrova each land one as well while Taylor Haberland tallied two.

As for the rest of the stat sheet, Walz led the way in digs with 18 while Hanna Laube paced the team in assists with 29 and Madelynn Luebcke had seven total blocks, including two solos.

The Orange and Brown will look to continue the historic start tomorrow against Central Michigan as the two teams close out the series with a 12 p.m. start. The match is also set to be streamed on ESPN3. 
 

Western Michigan 3, Buffalo 2
Box Score
 
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team won in dramatic fashion on Thursday night inside University Arena, erasing a 2-0 deficit to defeat Buffalo (24-26, 25-27, 25-16, 25-11, 15-6) for its eighth Mid-American Conference win of the season.

The Broncos had three players reach double digit kills and two earn double-doubles in the five-set victory. WMU was led by senior outside hitter Rachel Bontrager with a career-high 30 kills and a .473 attack percentage. Bontrager also registered her team-high fourth double-double of the season.

Bontrager's 30 kills marks the fifth most in a five-set match in school history. The senior outside hitter becomes the first Bronco to reach the 30-kill mark since Shaylen Jackson did so back in 2005. The Valparaiso, Ind., native is now just 46 kills away from becoming the third Bronco in school history to eclipse 1,500 career kills.

Fellow senior Kaley Smith reached a career milestone on Thursday night, becoming the 10^th player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career digs. Smith ended the night with a career-high 36 digs and four assists.

The senior libero/defensive specialist has recorded double-digit digs in nine of the 11 matches this season. Smith's 36 digs are tied for the fourth most in a five-set match in school history.

Notching her third double-double of the season was freshman Andelyn Simkins with 10 kills and 11 digs. Simkins' 10 kills matched her career-high as the freshman outside hitter registered a .346 attack percentage to go along with four service aces and three blocks.

Sophomore Maggie King ranked second on the team with 18 kills, the fifth match this season King has registered double-digit kills. King had a .432 attack percentage against the Bulls to go along with two digs and two blocks.

Freshman Logan Case paced the Broncos with 57 assists and nearly recorded a double-double with seven digs. Case's 57 assists were two shy of her career-high. Case has had over 40 assists in each of the past six matches with four 50-assist performances.

As a team the Broncos recorded a .342 attack percentage while holding Buffalo to a .229 attack percentage. Defensively the Broncos had 86 digs and had 10 blocks with redshirt junior Janell Williams leading the way with six. From behind the line WMU had nine service aces with Simkins lead the Brown & Gold with four.

With the win Western Michigan now owns an overall and conference record of 8-3. The Broncos are back in action on Friday, March 5 against Buffalo. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m.
 
 
Ball State 3, Ohio 2
Box Score
 
ATHENS, Ohio - - Despite being down 2-0 in the match, there was no panic on the Ball State women's volleyball bench Thursday evening in an important Mid-American Conference match at Ohio.
 
Instead, the Cardinals (6-5, 6-5 MAC) broke a 14-set losing streak with a dominating 25-13 third set win. Then, Ball State survived three Bobcats (4-4, 4-4 MAC) set points in the fourth before eventually earning a 3-2 (25-27, 21-25, 25-13, 28-26, 15-11) victory at OU's Convocation Center.

In addition to snapping the 14-set losing streak, the Cardinals also snapped a four-match losing streak and were able to pick up a crucial win in the race to qualify for the four-team MAC Tournament at the beginning of April.
 
One streak that was not snapped however, Ball State's now five-match winning streak over Ohio which includes two MAC Tournament quarterfinal victories and two wins in Athens. Ball State will look to extend that streak Friday, with a 2 p.m. first serve against the Bobcats.
 
The area the Cardinals shined the most in tonight's win, offense. Ball State connected for an impressive .348 (67-13-155) attack percentage, including hitting .417 in both the first and third sets. In fact, the Cardinals did not log their first attack error until 10 points into the second set.
 
Redshirt sophomore setter Esther Grussing dished out a season-high 52 assists in the win, helping four Cardinals blast double-figure kills. She also logged a season-high 11 digs for her first double-double of 2021.
 
Sophomore opposite Natalie Mitchem led the Ball State offense with 16 kills, including the match winner. She also led Ball State's main attackers with a .412 (16-2-34) attack percentage.
 
Not far behind were sophomore middle Marie Plitt and senior outside Kia Holder with 15 apiece. Plitt's 15 kills were a career-high and she also collected three total blocks.
 
Sophomore outside Natalie Risi was the fourth Ball State attacker in double figures, scoring 10 kills to go along with a team-high 15 digs for her third double-double of the season.
 
At the net, freshman Lauren Gilliland led the charge with a match-high five total blocks, helping the Cardinals hold a 9-8 advantage in the category for the night.
 
Other key contributors on defense were sophomore libero Maggie Huber and freshman defensive specialist Kate Vinsonwith 12 and 10 digs, respectively. Combined, Ball State's defense held Ohio to a .257 (70-26-171) to help claim the win.
 
Lauren Park led the Ohio attack with 28 kills, while Sam Steele recorded a match-best 16 digs.
 
 
Kent State 3, Miami 0
Box Score
 
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State volleyball team defeated Miami, 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24), Thursday evening at the Basketball and Development Center.

The Golden Flashes (9-3) made their guest earn points throughout the night and finished with a season-low eight attack errors compared to 22 hitting mistakes for the RedHawks. Kent State had a hand in causing some of those miscues and finished with seven blocks. Junior Lana Strejcek total six blocks, including the team's only solo stuff.

Junior Melissa Kolurbasi continued her strong play by hitting .423 with 12 kills, three service aces and two block assists for a match-high 16 points. Sophomore Savannah Matthews added eight kills and eight digs.

Redshirt junior Alex Haffner collected 25 assists running the Flashes' offense and tallied a team-high 10 digs on defense. Freshmen Amelia Perdue and Bryn Roberts were right behind with nine digs each.

Kent State will attempt to beat Miami twice in the same season for the first time since 2010 when the teams meet again at 5 p.m. on Friday.