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Friday’s Volleyball Results
Central Michigan 3, Canisius 0
#15 Tennessee 3, Western Michigan 1
Eastern Michigan 3, Indiana State 1
Ball State 3, Wright State 2
Miami 3, Xavier 0
Central Michigan 3, Duquesne 1
Ohio State 3, Bowling Green 1
Youngstown State 3, Kent State 0
Cleveland State 3, Akron 1
Ohio 3, Liberty 0
Northwestern 3, Northern Illinois 0
South Dakota State 3, Toledo 2
 
Central Michigan 3, Canisius 0 | Box Score
Central Michigan 3, Duquesne 1 | Box Score
Central Michigan earned two wins on the opening day of the Four Twelve Project Volleyball Invitational hosted by Robert Morris and Duquesne. CMU defeated Canisius 3-0 in their first game of the day and took down Duquesne 3-1 in the nightcap.

In the first game of the day, Central Michigan swept Canisius, 25-17, 25-16 and 25-16. The sweep was the second victory in the season that the Chippewas have earned in that fashion. The first was a 3-0 win over Bellarmine on the opening weekend of the season.

Izzy Swiercz found success in the match with the Golden Griffins, hitting. 286, killing nine balls. Natalia Rejment recorded ten kills as well for the Chippewas (.348), her fifth double-double of the season. CMU hit .306 collectively, their second-highest of the season, outside of their other sweep against Bellarmine.

Abby Olin added nine kills for the Chippewas and four block assists. Combined, Central Michigan charted 18 total block assists, marking their seventh game this season, reaching double digits in that category. Krystina Kasson blocked five, killed 7, and hit .313 for the first game. Grace Thomas also added four blocks.

In the nightcap, Central Michigan faced Duquesne in a four-set battle and walked away with a 3-1 win (22-25, 25-20, 25-23, and 25-2). In that second match of the day, CMU was led by their freshman outside hitter, Izzy Swiercz. Swiercz recorded 16 kills in the four-set match, hitting .387. Rejment recorded her fifth double-double of the season and her sixth double-digit kill game.

On the day, Izzy Swiercz recorded 25 kills, hitting .356. 
 
Eastern Michigan 3, Indiana State 1 | Box Score
The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team came back from down seven points in the second set to propel itself to a 3-1 match win over Indiana State University in the Eagles' first game of the Purdue Ft. Wayne Invitational, hosted by Purdue University-Ft. Wayne at the Gates Sports Center Friday, Sept. 20.

The non-conference win improved Eastern Michigan's overall record to 5-7 (0-0 Mid-American Conference).
Defensively, Hatteras Welker (Sunbury, Ohio/Sunbury) contributed ten blocks, the third-most in a four-set match in program history, while Taeley Mahler (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) added six rejections. Eastern had two players reach double figures in digs as Hannah Blaney(Saline, Mich./Saline/Rhode Island) had 21, and Ella Voorhees (Morgantown, W. Va./Morgantown/Southern Miss.) had 20.

Mackenzie Gross (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) finished with ten kills on the day to lead the Eagles’ offense while finishing with a hitting percentage of .350. Welker ended the match as Eastern's point leader with 15.

Match Notes 
» Eastern out-hit its foe (.178-.117) for the seventh time this season. After the win, the Eagles are 5-2 in such matches. Head Coach Kevin Foeman is now 9-4 in his EMU career when posting a better-hitting percentage than the opposition.
» The Green and White out-blocked its opponent for the eighth time in 2024. It is 5-3 when doing so. The match also marked the team's seventh time eclipsing the double-digit block mark.
» Eastern split the first two sets and went on to win the match, improving their total to 5-3 this season when splitting the first two frames and 7-3 when doing so in Foeman's tenure. The Eagles also had more digs than their opponent, with a 71-67 edge in the category. All five of Eastern's wins in 2024 have come when having more digs than its foe.
» After tallying more digs and blocks than the Sycamores in the win, all five of EMU's wins this season have come when totaling more digs and blocks than its opponent.
» Voorhees recorded her fourth double-double of the season and sixth of her career, as she notched 19 assists and 20 digs. The match went down as Voorhees' 10th of the season with double-digit helpers and 24th of her career, while her 20 digs were the fourth time she had done so this season and sixth in her career.  
» Maddie Stayer (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor/Southern Miss./Jacksonville State) also dished 19 assists, marking her fifth time doing so in 2024 and the eighth time in her collegiate career.
» Just 12 matches into the 2024 season, the Eagles have already tied their win total from the 2023 season (five).  
» Welker had 10 denials in the match. She leads an Eagles team with 65 blocks on the season, as the team ranks second in the nation and first in the MAC with 133.5 total blocks (TB). As an individual, Welker stands fifth in the country with 65 TB. Additionally, she tabbed 15 points for her third match with double-digit points in her career. Moreover, the freshman also set a career-high with nine kills.
» Gross recorded 11 kills for 11.5 points to lead the Eagles. Her performance marked her first of the season with 10+ kills and points while marking her third career game with double-digit kills and fourth with double-figure points.  
» Blaney posted 21 digs, marking her fourth time eclipsing the 20 mark this season and 14th occasion in her career.
» Mahler drilled a career-high five kills. The outside hitter also pitched in defensively with six block assists, totaling a career-best eight points.  


Ball State 3, Wright State 2 | Box Score
After playing its first ten regular season matches on the road, the Ball State women's volleyball team gave its 1,220 fans in attendance a show Friday night in Worthen Arena, topping a talented Wright State squad by a final score of 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 14-25, 15-8).

In its final non-conference match of the season, the Cardinals (7-4) left it all on the new Taraflex court, hitting the gas at just the right time in the fifth set. Up by just one at the 8-7 mark, kills from sophomore middle Camryn Wise and junior opposite Madison Buckley forced a Raiders (7-3) timeout.

Moments later, a kill from freshman outside Carson Tyler gave Ball State an 11-8 edge and sent senior defensive specialist Kendall Seimet to the service line. Seimet would proceed to serve out the match, keeping a WSU serve to receive off balance and helping BSU secure the night's final four points.

The Raiders, who received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll after topping 20th-ranked Miami (Fla.) last weekend, could not stop Tyler in her Worthen Arena regular season debut. Tyler smashed a career-high 25 kills and hit a solid .327 (25-9-49) in the win. She was just as solid in the backcourt, boasting a .919 reception percentage on a match-high 34 attempts while collecting seven digs.

Joining Tyler in double-digit kills were sophomore outside Kendall Barnes with 11 and Buckley with 10. Led by their efforts and the setting of senior Megan Wielsonski, the Cardinals hit .225 (62-26-160) off one of the nation's top defensive teams. The Raiders entered the night, holding opponents to a .185 rate of success.
Ball State was just as solid on defense, limiting a WSU attack that entered the night, hitting .247 to just a .181 (58-28-166) mark. It was Wright State's second-lowest hitting effort of the season.

In addition to running the offense and handing out 50 assists, Wielonski led the Cardinals’ defense with 19 digs. It was her fourth double-double of the season. She also was credited with four kills and three block assists.

At the net, graduate middle Aayinde Smith came up huge, with a Ball State career-high seven total blocks. The effort included three solo blocks, including a momentum builder to give Ball State an 8-5 lead at the court switch in the fifth set.

Sam Ott led the Wright State offense with 16 kills, while Jenny Wessling collected a match-high 25 digs.
 
Miami 3, Xavier 0 | Box Score
The Miami University volleyball team (6-4) captured a three-set victory (25-17, 25-21, 25-19) over Xavier (2-8) on Friday evening in the Groen Family McDonald's Invitational (hosted by Northern Kentucky). Ava Francis led all players with 14 kills, and Sophie Crawford recorded 36 assists to lead each team. Gentry Warrick brought it on the defensive end for the RedHawks, totaling a match-high seven blocks.

NOTES:

• Crawford and Warrick each recorded two service aces (match-high).
• Miami led the match in assists (40), digs (48), kills (41), service aces (seven) and total Blocks (11).

 
Ohio 3, Liberty 0 | Box Score
The Ohio volleyball team (4-5, 0-0 MAC) swept Liberty (5-6, 0-0 C-USA) 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-15) in its first competition of the Green & White Invitational on Friday, Sept. 20.

The Bobcats were led by sophomore Kam Hunt (Sylvania, Ohio) who tallied a game-high 14 kills, with seven kills coming in set one alone. Junior Anna Kharchynska (Kyiv, Ukraine) contributed with 11 kills, a game-high .579 hit percentage, four digs, and three blocks. Sophomore Olivia Gardner (Macomb, Mich.) led the game with a career-high six blocks and totaled six kills.

Sophomore Kendall Hickey (Fishers, Ind) led the game in digs with 10, followed by freshman Darbi Ricketts (Cincinnati, Ohio) with eight.

Set one began with the Bobcats taking an early lead until the Flames tied the set at 7-7. After the two teams went back and forth, Hunt tallied her sixth kill to cap off a 5-1 run, giving Ohio the 20-17 advantage. The Bobcats forced set point, then Kharchynska got the kill for Ohio to win set one, 25-22. 

Liberty took an early 7-2 lead to begin set two. The Bobcats rallied from behind and put together a 16-4 run, including eight unanswered, for an 18-11 advantage over the Flames. Liberty was able to get within four points, but Ohio pulled away for a 25-17 win in the second set.

The Bobcats took control of set three. After an early 10-7 lead, Ohio tallied a 5-1 run, followed by a 7-1 run to go up double digits. The Bobcats forced set point, then won the third 25-15 off a service error for the sweep over the Flames.