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Thursday Volleyball results
Toledo 3, Akron 1
Bowling Green 3, Buffalo 0
Central Michigan 3, Western Michigan 0
Eastern Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 2
 
Toledo 3, Akron 1 | Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – Senior Taylor Alt shattered the Mid-American Conference's all-time kill record. Toledo moved into first place in the MAC as the Rockets defeated Akron, 3-1, in a road match on Thursday night.

The win was the fourth straight for Toledo (13-7, 6-2 MAC), now lodged in a five-way tie at the top of the MAC.

Alt, an outside hitter, registered 20 kills to give her 1,993 for her career and move past Ohio University's Ellen Herman, who had 1,984 kills from 2006-09. The Ottawa, Ohio native broke the Toledo kills record nearly a year ago in a 3-2 win at Akron on Oct. 20, 2023.

Toledo saw two other players reach double-figure kills on Thursday. Junior Izzy Granger followed Alt with 11 kills and a career-best five assists. Redshirt freshman Sierra Pertzborn poured in 10 kills with a .500 hitting percentage while adding five blocks.

Freshman libero Grace Freiberger recorded a team-high 30 digs, totaling her second match with 30-plus digs on the season. Sophomore setter Macy Hatkevich totaled 43 assists and 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and 14th of her career.
 
Bowling Green 3, Buffalo 0 | Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team swept the first-place Buffalo Bulls Thursday night (Oct. 17), taking a 3-0 final to secure the team's 12th-straight win over the Bulls. The Falcons held Buffalo to a .030 hitting percentage for the match and didn't allow them to reach 20 points in the set on their way to the sweep. Bowling Green is now 11-8 overall while being 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference.

Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille, Mia Tyler (7)
Assists: Amanda Otten (26)
Digs: Lauryn Hovey, Lindsey LaPinta (10)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (3)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (5)

As a team, the Falcons held Buffalo to a .030 hitting percentage, the second sub-.100-hitting percentage for a BGSU opponent in MAC play. BGSU previously held Ball State to a .021 mark, which also came on the road. Alexis Mettille logged a team-high five blocks for Bowling Green, consisting of one solo and four assists. Lauryn Hovey finished with 10 digs, tying for the team lead in the match with Lindsey LaPinta. Hovey now has 183 digs this season, setting a new single-season high for her BGSU career. 
 
Central Michigan 3, Western Michigan 0 | Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. –Grace Thomas had a career-high 16 kills on Thursday as the Central Michigan volleyball team swept Western Michigan in a Mid-American Conference match at McGuirk Arena.

The Chippewas won 25-23, 25-18, 25-21 to improve to 15-5, 6-2 MAC. They share first place with Toledo, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, and Buffalo and entertain Northern Illinois (3-14, 1-6) on Friday (6 p.m.) at McGuirk.

It was a big win for the Chippewas over their rival and defending MAC-champion Broncos.

CMU has won three of its last four matches. Two of those wins were five-setters over Bowling Green and Ball State.
 
Led by Thomas, the Chippewas hit .298 against the Broncos.

Eastern Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 2 | Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team stormed back from down two sets to top Northern Illinois University, 3-2, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center Thursday, Oct. 17.  

The match marked the third reverse sweep of the season for the Eagles, the most from the program in a single season since it also accomplished the feat three times in the 2014 campaign. 

The conference victory improved Eastern Michigan's record to 12-10 overall and 6-2 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) action.

The Eagles offense was paced by Abby Stanford, who finished with a career-high 18 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .533, and by Kaili Doctor, who had 13 while hitting .313. 

Defensively, Eastern had four players reach double figures in digs, highlighted by Hannah Blaney's 18, 14 from Ava Siefke, and 10 more from Taylor Smith,  who secured her third double-double of the season, as she added 17 assists offensively. Joining Smith with a double-double was Ella Voorhees, who secured her team-leading seventh of the season off 30 assists and 10 digs.

From the front row, Hatteras Welker contributed eight blocks, and Maddie Stayer added five rejections.