Friday’s Volleyball Results
Akron 3, Miami 2
Ball State 3, Northern Illinois 1
Bowling Green 3, Buffalo 1
Eastern Michigan 3, Kent State 1
Ohio 3, Central Michigan 0
Western Michigan 3, Toledo 1
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Akron 3, Miami 2
Boxscore
OXFORD, OH --The Akron volleyball team rallied from two sets deficit to record a comeback five-set victory (19-25, 24-26, 25-20, 27-25, 16-14) over the Miami RedHawks Friday on the road at Millett Hall.
The conference win improved Akron's record to 12-15 overall and 7-9 in MAC play.
The Zips offense was paced by Lauren Baker, who finished with 19 kills on the day. Emanouela Christodoulou added 16 and Faith Johnson chipped in with 12 as part of a balanced Akron attack. Defensively, Akron had three players reach double figures in digs, including Vanessa Del Real's 15, 13 from Mia Thompson, and 12 more from Eliska Vytiskova. From the front row, Karleighana Jones contributed six blocks and Christodoulou added five rejections.
The Zips found themselves in an early deficit, dropping a tough first set 25-19. Akron trailed by as many as eight points as Miami grabbed the advantage for good at 8-7 in a set that was tied up four times before the RedHawks took control.
Akron then lost the second set 26-24 to fall behind in the match two sets to none. The Zips fell in a tight second set, losing in a stanza that was tied 10 times and had two lead changes.
Akron fought back to pull within a set, winning their first set of the match in the third stanza 25-20. Akron took the lead for good at 11-10 in a set that showcased four lead changes. Akron's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking six Miami attacks in the stanza and capitalizing on 12 RedHawk attacking errors on the way to victory.
Akron then kept the comeback train rolling, winning the fourth set 27-25 to bring the match level at two sets apiece. The Zips survived a back-and-forth set to win in a stanza that featured two lead changes and was tied 12 times. Neither team was able to grab a lead larger than four points along the way. The Akron win came in a stanza where 18 of their 27 points came via the kill.
Akron dropped the first two sets, but mounted an epic comeback to win the final three sets, culminating in a 16-14 fifth-set victory, and take the match 3-2. The Zips led from the opening point in the final set to secure the victory. Akron opened up as much as a four point lead at 6-2 before finishing off the set, totaling nine kills along the way. The Zips got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four Miami attacks in the stanza.
Ball State 3, Northern Illinois 1
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State women's volleyball team opened its final home weekend of the 2023 season with a 3-1 (25-17, 23-25, 25-15, 26-24) victory over Northern Illinois Friday evening inside Worthen Arena.
In a prelude to Saturday's senior night, the Cardinals (15-12; 12-4 Mid-American Conference) used big contributions from fifth-year middle Marie Plitt and fifth-year libero Havyn Gates to spark the win.
Plitt led all attackers and tied her season high with 17 kills, while hitting for a .615 (17-1-26) rate of success. The effort helped her raise her career attack percentage to .364, which is currently the best mark in program history. It also raised her season rate of success to .410 after she entered the night ranked 22nd nationally at .400.
Gates registered her 1,000th career dig at Ball State with her second of a match-high 21 digs. It is her team-leading fifth match with 20-or-more digs this season, and adding her 1,124 digs over her two-year career at Indiana Wesleyan, raised her collegiate dig total to 2,143.
While the Huskies 8-20 (6-10 MAC) held an early 3-2 edge in the opening set, Ball State answered with eight of the next 10 points to take control of the frame. The Cardinals would lead by as many as eight, at 17-9, before taking the set 25-17 on Plitt's sixth kill of the night.
NIU would respond with the first three points in the second set and would go on to pull ahead by seven at 16-9. Ball State would chip away at the lead, however, with one of freshman outside Kendall Barnes' career-high 14 kills tying the score at 21. Another Barnes blast kept the score tied at 23, but the Huskies would score the final two points to escape with the set win.
Ball State answered with the first three points out of the long break, thanks in part to a pair of kills from redshirt freshman outside Aniya Kennedy. The Cardinals would not let down in the frame, going on to win 25-15 thanks to back-to-back blasts from Plitt.
The fourth frame started with a 4-1 NIU run, but the Cardinals used a blast from sophomore right side Madison Buckley to spark a 6-0 stretch and give the hosts an 8-5 edge. Kills from Barnes and Plitt would extend Ball State's lead to six points, at 18-12, before it was NIU's turn to rally.
The Huskies would battle back to take a 23-22 edge before senior outside Cait Snyder was subbed in. Snyder would not disappoint, getting a kill on her first rally to even the score. Junior setter Megan Wielonski followed with a kill of her own, one of her four on the night, giving Ball State match point.
While a service error stopped the Cardinals momentarily, an NIU attack error followed. Kennedy would then smash her 14th and final kill to give BSU the 26-24 set win and the 3-1 match victory.
In addition to the three Cardinals with double-figure kills, freshman middle Camryn Wise turned in a strong effort, blasting eight kills and connecting for a match-best .700 (8-1-10) rate of success.
Wielonski dished out 49 total assists in the win, helping guide the Ball State offense to a .264 (61-23-144) hitting percentage. She also collected 10 digs for her 14th assist/dig double-double of the season.
Also chipping in double figure digs were junior defensive specialist Kendall Seimet and senior defensive specialist Kate Vinson with 13 and 11, respectively. Seimet also served up a career-high four aces, as BSU held a 9-to-4 edge in the category for the match.
Overall, the Ball State defense limited the NIU attack to a .163 (45-22-141) hitting percentage, with Nikolette Nedic leading the squad with 12 kills. Nazli Guvener led the Huskies with 15 digs.
The Ball State women's volleyball team closes the home portion of its 2023 slate Saturday with another 6 p.m. first serve versus NIU. The match will serve as Senior Night for the Cardinals who will honor Gates, Plitt, Vinson, Zoe Conway, Lauren Gilliland and Addie Halverson following the contest.
Bowling Green 3, Buffalo 1
Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team bested the Buffalo Bulls on Friday night (Nov. 10) in four sets for a 3-1 victory. The Falcons and Bulls played a close first set, nearly needing extra points, but from there on it was Bowling Green's match. A 25-12 second set score set the tone for BGSU before taking the third and fourth sets for the win. BGSU moves to 15-12 on the season with the win, including a 9-7 MAC record and a 7-4 home standing.
Jaden Walz and Lauryn Hovey both posted strong stat lines. Walz led the team with her ninth double-double of the season, logging a team-leading 46 assists and 13 digs. She also paced the team in aces with three while recording a career-high five blocks. Walz's stat line completed with three kills. As for Hovey, she landed a team-high 26 kills for her second 20-kill match of the season while maintaining a .380 hitting percentage. Hovey added nine digs, three blocks, two aces and an assist to her stats.
The match started back-and-forth before a 3-0 run pushed Buffalo in front 9-7. The Falcons soon tied it up at 11-11.
The Falcons were able to notch back-to-back points to take the lead at the media timeout, 15-14, following a Lauryn Hovey ace.
The ties continued after the timeout as far as 20-20 with a 3-0 Buffalo run giving them a 22-20 lead with a BGSU timeout.
Bowling Green landed the first point out of the timeout, but two more Bulls points forced the second timeout by the Falcons of the set with the score at 24-21.
BGSU landed the next two points to bring the score to 24-23 with Buffalo taking a timeout this time.
After the timeout, Buffalo landed the next point to take the first set 25-23.
The Falcons came out swinging in the set, landing three straight kills to take a 3-0 lead. Buffalo, though, responded with a 3-0 run to tie it up and start a trend of ties in the set.
Bowling Green put together a 5-0 run later in the set to move up 11-6 and force a Buffalo timeout.
Buffalo tallied a 3-0 run of their own out of the timeout to trim the BGSU lead to 11-9, but the Falcons quickly registered another big run, this time 6-0, to move their lead to 18-10 and force the second Buffalo timeout of the set
Out of the timeout, the Falcons landed two more points to push the run to 8-0 and the lead to 20-10.
BGSU was able to maintain the advantage to take the set 25-12 and even the match.
The Falcons landed the first point of the third set, but Buffalo responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead.
A 3-0 BGSU run began to trim the lead, cutting it down to 6-5 before tying it up at 7-7.
A 5-0 run for the Falcons pushed them to the lead, up 12-9, before taking a 15-11 advantage into the media timeout.
A 5-0 Buffalo run after the media timeout swung the score back to the Bulls at 16-15 before a few ties followed.
The Falcons were able to tally a 3-0 run to force a Buffalo timeout with the score at 20-18. The run continued to 6-0 before the second timeout at 23-18. The Falcons finished off the set with an 8-0 run for the 25-18 score.
Buffalo landed the first point of the fourth set, but the Falcons were able to go on a 4-0 run in response to take a 4-1 lead.
A 3-0 run later in the set increased the BGSU advantage to 10-6 before another 3-0 run made it a 15-9 Bowling Green lead at the media timeout.
Buffalo utilized a 3-0 run to trim the lead down to 20-15 before taking a timeout down 22-16. The Bulls challenged late, but the Falcons held their lead for a 25-19 set win to secure the match 3-1.
Eastern Michigan 3, Kent State 1
Boxscore
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team was triumphant in a four-set match against the Golden Flashes of Kent State University Friday, Nov. 10, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. The Mid-American Conference victory marked the second of the season and the fourth overall win under first-year head coach Kevin Foeman.
The Eagles were led by a double-double from Callie Minshew (Brandon, Miss./Brandon/Mississippi State), who registered a career-high 28 kills and 11 digs on the day. Samantha Basham (Granville, Ohio/Newark Catholic) also added 15 kills to help the offense. Both setters Hannah Kivett (Chandler, Ind./Castle/Florida Gulf Coast) and Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri-Valley) registered double-doubles with Kivett securing 28 assists and 10 digs while McLoughlin landed with 16 helpers and 10 digs. On the defensive end, Emma McMahon (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont) chipped in with 20 digs to go with two blocks from Abigail Stanford (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri-Valley/Ashland).
The Eagles fell behind early, losing a tough first set, 25-18. Eastern Michigan trailed by as many as eight points as Kent State never surrendered the lead.
Eastern Michigan evened the match at 1-1 following a 28-26 set-two win. The Eagles persevered in a back-and-forth set to win in a stanza that featured three lead changes and was tied 11 times. Neither team led by more than four points along the way. Eastern racked up 17 kills throughout the set.
EMU grabbed another win in set three to make it a 2-1 match. The Eagles came out on top of a close battle, winning 31-29 in a set that was tied seven times and had three lead changes. The Eastern Michigan offense also got a boost from three aces in the stanza.
The Green and White earned a match win with a 25-22 fourth-set victory, winning their third straight set. The Eagles took the lead for good at 21-20 in a set that featured eight ties and five lead changes.
The Eagles will conclude its two-match series against the Kent State Golden Flashes Saturday, Nov. 11. First serve is set to begin at 6 p.m. Fans can follow live stats on EMUEagles.com/livestats and can watch on ESPN+.
Ohio 3, Central Michigan 0
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Ohio volleyball team (16-12, 11-5 MAC) earned its third-straight win with a 3-0 victory (25-17, 25-21, 25-21) at Central Michigan (14-14, 8-8 MAC) on Friday, Nov. 10.
Graduate student Caitlin O'Farrell (Suwanee, Ga.) was Ohio's top performer, recording 13 kills, a .632 hitting percentage and 14 points. Sophomore Anna Kharchynska also shined for the Bobcats as she tallied 11 kills, three blocks and 14.5 points. Senior Tria McLean (Battle Creek, Neb.) also contributed to Ohio's offense, totaling 24 assists and four kills.
Ohio dominated the first set, earning a 25-25-17. The Bobcats led for most of the set and achieved an eight-point lead over Central Michigan at one point in the set.
The Bobcats gain a 2-0 lead over Central Michigan with a 25-21 victory in the second set. Central Michigan challenged Ohio, making it a much closer competition than the first set. The two teams were tied at 21-21 before Ohio went on a four-point run to win the set.
Ohio secured its victory with 25-21 win in the third and final set. Similar to the second set, it was a close matchup between the two teams. The Bobcats and Central Michigan were tied at 20-20 before Ohio reached set point with a four-point scoring run. Kharchynska recorded the match-winning point with a kill assisted by McLean.
The Bobcats will conclude its conference series at Central Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. ET.
Western Michigan 3, Toledo 1
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team dropped the first set on Friday night, but came back to win the next three to dispatch Toledo in four (21-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20) for its 16th consecutive victory. Having already secured at least a share of the MAC Regular Season Title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Volleyball Championship last weekend, Friday's victory assured WMU of the outright regular season league title.
Logan Case registered her third consecutive double-double, posting 44 assists and 11 digs for her team-leading eighth of the season. Keona Salesman was the main beneficiary of Case's distribution, as the senior hammered down 18 kills while hitting .533. Maggie King was also in double-figures with 11 kills. Mary Clare Brusek and Anna Calcagno delivered eight kills apiece. The service line was a weapon for WMU as well, as the Brown and Gold notched nine aces, including three apiece from King and Andelyn Simkins.
Western Michigan's defense boasted four with double-digit digs, led by Simkins with 17. Calcagno, Case and Reeghan Boyer each chipped in 11 digs to help limit Toledo's attack to a .156 hitting percentage for the evening.
In the opening frame, four straight points put Toledo out in front, 10-7. A short while later, the hosts ripped off another four in a row to extend the margin to 16-10. The Broncos used a three-point spurt to shrink the gap to three, 22-19, but that was as close as they got, as the Rockets grabbed the first set.
Trailing 6-4 in the second, Western Michigan notched five of the next six to take a 9-7 advantage. After Toledo got the next point, the Broncos rattled off five in a row to begin a 9-1 surge which boosted their lead to 18-9. The Rockets worked the margin down to six, 21-15, before the Brown and Gold put the frame away with four straight points, evening the match at one set apiece.
A 6-1 run helped WMU break a 3-3 deadlock and open up a 9-4 cushion in the third set. The Rockets closed the gap to two at 12-10, but the Broncos responded with four of the next five to restore their five-point edge, 16-11. Toledo again worked its way back to within two, 19-17, but the Brown and Gold again had an answer, using a five-point outburst to put the frame beyond reach.
Western Michigan tallied seven of the first 10 points to begin the fourth set. The Broncos maintained a lead of between two and five until a 6-1 stretch brought WMU's advantage to eight, 21-13. The Rockets countered with a 6-1 run of their own to get back to within three, 23-20. Western Michigan halted the rally there, as kills by Brusek and King sealed the victory for the Brown and Gold.
The Broncos and Rockets close out their series on Saturday afternoon. First serve is scheduled for 2 pm on ESPN+.
