Mid-American Conference

OXFORD, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team made history at the Mid-American Conference Championship Sunday, Nov. 18, topping No. 2 seed and host Miami University, 3-2, in Millett Hall to earn its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

EMU (21-13) fell down in the first set, 25-19, but rallied back to take the second 25-21. After Miami (22-8) took the third set 25-19, Eastern came back to dominate the fourth, 25-15. In the decisive fifth set, the Eagles ran away with a 15-8 victory to secure the program's first-ever MAC Tournament title.

Redshirt junior Cassie Haut (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary's Central Catholic) was named the MAC Tournament MVP, while seniors Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) and Alyssa LaFace (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) were named to the all-tournament team.

The Eagles got another dominant performance from Haut, who crushed 19 kills and hit .429 for the match, while Smith finished with 16 kills, and sophomore April Houston (Minneapolis, Minn.-Southwest) added 10.

Defense was once again the name of the game for the Eagles, as four players finished the match with double-figure digs. LaFace put up a match-high 31, and redshirt senior Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) had 14 to go along with a match-high 30 assists. Also racking up 14 digs in the match was sophomore Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan), while junior Riley Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind.-Perry Meridian) joined in on the double-double party with 24 assists and 10 digs.

As a team, the Eagles outhit the RedHawks (.222 to .192), had more digs (95 to 82), kills (66 to 57), and assists (61 to 56), and finished even in blocks (8 to 8). The disparity was even greater between the two teams in the final two sets as Eastern hit an eye-popping .524 to even the match in the fourth while holding Miami to .227. In the decisive fifth set the Eagles hit .320 while holding the RedHawks to just .138.

The win marks the first MAC championship in EMU volleyball history. Eastern finds out its NCAA Tournament destiny Sunday, Nov. 25, at 8:30 p.m.