Tuesday’s Volleyball Results
Ball State 3, Toledo 0
Bowling Green 3, Miami 0
Buffalo 3, Akron 0
Western Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 0
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Ball State 3, Toledo 0
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Junior defensive specialist Kendall Seimet served up an ace to open the night and the Ball State women's volleyball team kept the service pressure on the entire match in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-21) sweep of Toledo Tuesday evening in Worthen Arena.
In picking up its tenth straight win, and improving to 9-0 in Mid-American Conference play, the Cardinals (12-8; 9-0 MAC) served up seven total aces led by three from Seimet. The effort was the difference in a close match with the Rockets (8-12; 6-3 MAC) who only served up one ace, but managed to hold the edge in both kills and digs.
Ball State served up four total aces in the opening set, keeping up enough pressure to battle to a 20-20 stalemate. From there, a kill from freshman outside Kendall Barnes and back-to-back blasts from fifth-year middle Marie Plitt helped the Cardinals go on a 4-0 run, before redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy closed the set at 25-22 with the third of her match-leading 15 kills.
With the score tied at 10-10 in the second set, a huge solo block from Plitt and Seimet's third ace of the night helped the Cardinals go on a 4-0 run to pull ahead for good in the frame. While Toledo would battle back within one, at 18-17, a costly service error and kills from Plitt and Barnes led to a pair of UT timeouts over the next three rallies as Ball State pulled ahead 21-17. Plitt would go on to end the frame at 25-21 with one of her 12 kills.
The Cardinals scored four of the first five points in the third set, only to see the Rockets fire back and pull ahead 15-14 at the media timeout. The teams would battle to a 19-19 tie before back-to-back markers from Kennedy gave BSU a little momentum. Plitt's final kill gave BSU match-point at 24-21, while fifth-year libero Havyn Gates followed a UT timeout with her second ace to seal the win.
Junior setter Megan Wielonski quarterbacked the Cardinals to a .232 (40-14-112) hitting percentage in the win, handing out 34 assists to go along with a team-high 10 digs for her 10th double-double of the season.
In addition to its win from the service line, Ball State also won the battle at the net with 8.0 total blocks. Plitt and sophomore opposite Madison Buckley led the with three each, while Plitt hit a match-high .600 (12-0-20) and Buckley added seven kills.
On the other side of the net, Izzy Granger and Taylor Alt tied for team-high honors with 11 kills apiece for the Rockets, while Ryann Jaqua was credited with a match-high 21 digs. Toledo managed to hit .241 (44-18-108).
The Ball State women's volleyball team will have another tough test this weekend, when it travels to MAC East Division leader Buffalo for a pair of matches. The teams will square off at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.
Bowling Green 3, Miami 0
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team registered their second straight win on Tuesday night (Oct. 17) with a 3-0 sweep over the Miami (OH) RedHawks inside Millett Hall. The Falcons were dominant on the attack, hitting .500 in the first set and .652 in the second to set up a match mark of .423, a season-best for the Orange and Brown. Early runs for the Falcons created leads in the first and second sets, setting up the victory in straight sets for Bowling Green.
Lauryn Hovey and Mia Tyler landed 13 and 11 kills, respectively, for the Falcons while every player with two or more attacks recorded a hitting percentage north of .300. Jaden Walz set the attack with 31 assists for the Orange and Brown while landing a team-high four aces, boosting the Falcons to a team total of eight aces in the match.
The RedHawks landed the first point of the match, but the Falcons answered with a 4-0 run to move in front 4-1, including an ace from Kat Mandly.
Miami (OH) was able to land a point, but the Falcons proceeded to put together another 3-0 run, making it a 7-1 stretch, to force a RedHawk timeout with a 7-2 lead.
The run carried through the timeout with BGSU recording another four points to bring the run to 7-0 to go along with an 11-1 stretch to push Bowling Green in front 11-2.
The Falcons and RedHawks traded points with the Falcons adding points here and there to their lead before Miami took their second timeout trailing 18-7.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons landed the next two points to make it a 4-0 run and a 20-7 advantage.
The Falcons were able to maintain the advantage through the end of the set, taking the 25-12 score to move ahead 1-0 for the match.
The second set began similarly to the first. BGSU started with a 3-0 run before the first Miami point. The Falcons proceeded to go on a 4-0 run, making it a 7-1 stretch to start the set and force a Miami timeout.
Out of timeout, the Falcons logged another point to push the run to 5-0 and the lead to 8-1 before the next RedHawk point.
The Orange and Brown soon tallied another 3-0 run to further their advantage to 13-3.
Bowling Green maintained their lead up to the next stoppage, being the second Miami timeout of the match with the score at 22-10 Falcons.
Miami logged two points out of the timeout, but the Orange and Brown closed out the set with a .652 hitting percentage in the set to go up 2-0.
The third set began back-and-forth before a 4-1 stretch in favor of the Falcons pushed BGSU in front 7-5.
Miami tallied a point, but the Falcons recorded another 3-0 run, making it a 7-2 stretch, to bring the score to a 10-6 lead and prompt a RedHawk timeout.
Soon after the timeout, Bowling Green put together a 8-0 run, including a trio of aces from Jaden Walz, to move the lead to 19-8 with the second Miami timeout of the set. Walz landed a fourth ace out of the timeout to make it a 20-8 lead.
The RedHawks registered a 5-0 run late in the set to trim the BGSU lead down to 21-14, forcing the first Bowling Green timeout of the night.
Coming out of the timeout, the Falcons were able to close out the set and the match for the 3-0 victory.
After playing three consecutive matches on the road, the Falcons will briefly return home this weekend before going back on the road for another four contests. BGSU is set to host Kent State this weekend at the Stroh Center on Friday (Oct. 20) and Saturday (Oct. 21) with both matches set for 6 p.m. starts. Friday's match will be Dig Pink and Saturday will be Family Weekend.
Buffalo 3, Akron 0
Boxscore
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (17-4, 7-2 MAC) zipped passed by the Akron Zips (10-10, 5-4 MAC) in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-15. The Bulls are now 7-2 in MAC play and hold the third spot in the standings.
UB dominated the Zips from the first serve as they earned their ninth sweeping victory on the season. In the first two sets, the Bulls never trailed. Although UB's defense only racked up five blocks on the night, they forced 16 attack errors. This led to the Zips hitting .080 on the evening compared to UB's .250.
Katrin Trebichavska had a match high 15.5 points as Abby Leigh added 12.0. A. Leigh has now reached 1,000 career points with the Bulls, joining teammate Emma Gielas. Heading into the match, Maria Futey was five digs shy of 1,000 in her career. Halfway through the second set, she reached this milestone that only 10 other Bulls have accomplished.
The Bulls offense was clicking early as they got off to a 4-0 start in the first set. The Zips tied the set at seven, but that was the closest they got as the Bulls ran away with it. Trebichavska had seven kills in the set which was two more than what Akron earned. The Bulls finished with an astounding 20 first set kills.
The Bulls momentum carried over to the second set as they won, 25-20. The Zips kept the score close in the early stages but used a timeout to stop the Bulls after taking a 10-5 lead. Both teams traded points as the Bulls maintained their five-point lead. UB outhit the Zips, .229 to .114.
Akron earned their first lead of the night in the third set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. The Bulls were not phased as they went on a 4-0 run to take a 4-3 lead. After UB took a 9-8 lead, they didn't trail the rest of the way. The Bulls held the Zips to hit a match-low .038. Lauren Otten got in on the #MACtion for the Bulls and had three kills on three attacks. UB won the set, 25-15.
The Bulls edged the Zips with four aces to one as A Leigh finished with three. Courtney Okwara finished with eight kills as both Manoela Forlin and A. Leigh had seven each. Stacia Gollogly chipped in and had six kills. Reining MAC East Setter of the Week Mandy Leigh averaged 11.67 assists per set.
The Bulls are back in action for a crucial series against Ball State (12-8, 9-0 MAC) starting on Friday at 6 p.m.
Western Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 0
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan senior setter Logan Case became the program's all-time leader in career assists on Tuesday night as the Broncos dispatched Northern Illinois in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-19). With the win, WMU remains undefeated in the MAC (9-0). Its nine-match winning streak is the team's longest since it had a 10-match run in 2011.
On her record-setting night, Case handed out 43 assists, pushing her past Mary Murphy (2015-18) into first-place all-time at WMU. Case has racked up 4,538 assists for the Brown and Gold.
Case's 43 assists helped Western Michigan hit .303, the team's seventh contest this season hitting .300 or better, and set up three different Broncos for double-digit kills. Anna Calcagno led the charge by putting down a match-high 17 kills, one shy of her career high, while hitting .375. Maggie King (12) and Keona Salesman (11) were also in double-figures for WMU. With her 12 kills, King broke a tie with former teammate Rachel Bontrager (2017-20), for second on Western Michigan's all-time kills list. King has recorded 1,668 kills as a Bronco.
Western Michigan's defensive effort was spearheaded by Andelyn Simkins and Reeghan Boyer, who registered 13 and 11 digs, respectively. Tuesday marked the seventh consecutive match in which both Simkins and Boyer notched double-digit digs.
Seven consecutive points helped the Broncos get out to a 9-4 advantage in the first set. NIU worked its way back to within three several times, including at 19-16, but Western Michigan responded with three in a row to stretch the margin out to 22-16. The Huskies closed the gap to three again at 24-21, but Mary Clare Brusek hammered down a kill to seal the first set for the Brown and Gold.
In the second set, WMU used a 5-1 run to break a 3-3 tie and open up an 8-4 lead. Northern Illinois worked its way back to within one, 11-10, before a 4-1 spurt extended the margin back to 16-12. The Huskies stayed within striking distance, and shrunk the margin to a single point on several occasions, the last of which came at 23-22. A Salesman kill brought Western Michigan to set point, and Brusek once again delivered the decisive point, this time serving up an ace, to send the Broncos into the break ahead 2-0.
WMU got out to a quick start in the third frame, rolling out to an 8-3 advantage. The Broncos then used a 7-2 stretch to build the margin to nine, 16-7. Western Michigan held a lead of no less than five for the remainder of the frame, and Calcagno fired home her 17th kill of the night to clinch the victory for the Brown and Gold.
Western Michigan hits the road this weekend for a pair of matches at Eastern Michigan. First serve for Friday's series opener against the Eagles is set for 6 pm on ESPN+.
