Friday’s Volleyball Results
Akron 3, Ohio 1
Ball State 3, Central Michigan 0
Buffalo 3, Kent State 0
Northern Illinois 3, Bowling Green 2
Toledo 3, Eastern Michigan 0
Western Michigan 3, Miami 0
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Akron 3, Ohio 1
Boxscore
ATHENS, OH --The Akron volleyball team needed just four sets (25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19) to knock off the Ohio Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference opener on Friday at Convocation Center.
The win improved the Zips' record to 6-6 overall and 1-0 in MAC play, while the Bobcats fell to 5-8 overall and 0-1 in league play.
The Zips offense was paced by Melisa Tore, who finished with 13 kills with a .435 hitting percentage. Genevieve Hara added 12 kills and Faith Johnson chipped in with 11 as part of balanced Akron attack.Vanessa Del Real also pitched in with five in the contest. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Del Real had 18 digs and Mia Thompson registered 10 digs. From the front row, Tore contributed seven blocks and Baylee Vought added five rejections.
Impressive serving helped the Zips take set one 25-23. Akron totaled five aces in the set victory. The Zips rallied from down five at 18-13 to grab the win.
Akron took the second set 25-21 to swiftly jump to a 2-0 lead. The Zips grabbed the set with the help of a solid performance on the attacking side. Akron put together a .364 attack percentage with 16 kills in the set win. After the lead changed hands three times, the Zips took control for good at 15-14 and rode that advantage to victory.
Ohio avoided a sweep with a set-three win to make it a 2-1 match. The Zips came up short by the score of 25-20. Ohio grabbed the advantage for good at 7-6 in a set that was tied up four times before the Bobcats took over the lead.
Akron then responded to close out the match with a 25-19 fourth-set victory. The Zips scored first and never trailed in the set to earn the victory. Akron opened up as much as a nine point lead at 16-7 before closing out the stanza. Akron got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked six Ohio attacks in the stanza and capitalized on 10 Ohio attacking errors on the way to victory.
Ball State 3, Central Michigan 0
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Friday was a night to celebrate in Worthen Arena as Ball State women’s volleyball built upon its rich tradition of success and honored all members of the program, past and present, by sweeping Central Michigan to earn the program’s 1,000th win.
The Cardinals (5-8; 2-0 Mid-American Conference) used another strong performance at the net to set the tone, limiting the Chippewas (6-8; 0-2 MAC) to a season-low .060 (34-27-116) hitting percentage. Once again, freshman middle Camryn Wise and sophomore opposite Madison Buckley led the charge with career highs of eight and seven block assists, respectively.
Throw in six kills apiece, and Wise and Buckley combined for 19.5 total points in the 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-16) sweep.
Overall, the Cardinals finished the night with 12.0 total blocks, and hit .220 (40-16-109) as a team. Redshirt freshman Aniya Kennedy tied for match-high honors with 12 kills, while fifth-year middle Marie Plitt had another solid night with 10 markers and a .529 (10-1-17) rate of success. Plitt’s biggest swing, the history-making blast to end the match.
Another area the Cardinals continued to improve was serve receive, as they held one of the nation’s top serving teams to just one ace. CMU entered the week ranked 12th nationally with 96 aces.
Leading the effort in the backcourt were sophomore defensive specialist Paige Busick and fifth-year libero Havyn Gates, each finishing the night perfect in reception on 12 and 11 attempts, respectively. Gates also led all players with 15 digs, her 14th match this season in double figures, while adding BSU’s lone ace.
Junior setter Megan Wielonski also turned in a strong performance, handing out 32 assists to go along with eight digs and a block assist.
On the opposite side of the net, Linnea Willer led the Chippewas attack with 12 kills, while Aly Gurtiza added a team-high 14 digs.
This week’s homestand was a short one for the Ball State women’s volleyball program, as it returns to the road for its next four matches, starting next Friday and Saturday at Eastern Michigan.
Buffalo 3, Kent State 0
Boxscore
KENT, Ohio – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (11-2, 1-0 MAC) snatched their first MAC victory of the season with a straight set victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes (4-8, 0-1 MAC) on Friday evening. The Bulls improved to 11-2 on the season.
Prior to the win, the Bulls were 0-4 all-time against Kent State to open MAC play.
With the victory, Head Coach Scott Smith secured his 60th victory at UB. He's just the fourth UB coach to do so following Peter Weinrich (1975-80, 107-121-4), Robert Maxwell (1981-98, 409-285-8), and Todd Kress (2009-13, 73-81).
UB's balanced offensive attack led to eight players having at least two kills. Emma Gielas led the way with nine kills, as Courtney Okwara had seven. Mandy Leigh had 29 of the Bulls' 35 assists. Julianna Lopez had four of UB's nine service aces, matching her career-high.
Both teams struggled on the attack in the first set. UB edged Kent State in hitting percentage, .111 to .094. Once the Bulls secured a 5-4 lead, they never fell behind. Katrin Trebichavska extended the Bulls lead after back-to-back aces to make it 17-11. UB took the set, 25-20.
The second set had six ties and one lead change. The Bulls never found themselves leading until the very end. Down 23-18, it looked grim as though the Bulls would drop the set. Kent State errors left the fort open for a UB comeback. After an 8-1 run, the Bulls won the set, 26-24. Lauren Otten had two clutch kills to secure the set win.
The third set was dominated by the Bulls. UB outhit the Golden Flashes, .391 to .032. Kent State finished with 15 errors in the set, including five reception errors. Manoela Forlin had three kills in the set as the Bulls ran away with it, 25-14.
The Bulls are back in action tomorrow at 4 p.m. against the Golden Flashes to close the weekend.
Northern Illinois 3, Bowling Green 2
Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Northern Illinois University volleyball team hit .455 in the fifth set as the Huskies earned their first win at Bowling Green since 2015, topping the Falcons, 10-25, 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 15-9, on Friday evening (Sept. 22) at the Stroh Center.
Katie Erdmann (Forreston, Ill./Forreston) and Nikolette Nedic (Willowbrook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) each tallied 17 kills in the match for the Huskies, with Nedic hitting .516 and Erdmann adding 13 digs for her third double-double of the year. Emily Dykes (Winterville, N.C./Ayden-Grifton) added 11 kills while Crew Hoffmeier (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) recorded a match-high 15 digs.
In the fifth, neither team led by more than two until a three-point run gave the Huskies an 11-7 advantage. Dykes and Nedic both had kills during the burst for the Huskies. After four consecutive side outs, NIU was within two points of the victory and Nedic clinched the win for the Huskies with back-to-back kills on the serve of Sophie Hurt (Elmhurst, Ill./IC Catholic Prep) to give NIU the win.
Nedic and Dykes each had four kills and hit .667 in the set. As a team, the Huskies hit .455 with 12 kills and two errors. Hoffmeier had four digs in the set.
Bowling Green hit .611 in the opening set with 11 kills and zero errors to take the first frame, 25-10. Lauryn Hovey had a team-high four kills in the set for the Falcons, Erdmann had five kills for NIU.
NIU fell behind 6-2 in the early going of set two, but the Huskies rallied to tie the set at eight and took a 14-10 lead, forcing a Bowling Green timeout. The Falcons then evened the set at 18 before the teams traded points to 23-all. A Bowling Green service error, followed by a block from Erdmann and Charli Atiemo (Milford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy) gave the set to the Huskies, 25-23.
Nedic has four kills in the set while Savanah Brandt (Pearl City, Ill./Pearl City) recorded four blocks.
The Huskies went in front after taking the third set, 25-22, finishing the set on a 6-0 run. The third set had 12 ties and five lead changes as neither team led by more than two until, tied at 16, Bowling Green scored four-straight to go in front, 20-16. With the Falcons up 22-19, a kill from Nedic sparked the late Huskie run to take the set. Two-straight Bowling Green errors were followed by a kill from Erdmann and two more Falcon miscues, giving the set to NIU.
Erdmann recorded seven kills in the set, hitting .545, Nedic added four as the Huskies hit .471 as a team with 18 kills and just two errors.
The NIU offense continued its strong play in the fourth as the Huskies hit .323 with two errors. Bowling Green tallied 18 kills in the set, however, hitting .405 as the Falcons pushed the match to the distance with a 25-20 victory in set four before the Huskies rallied to win in five.
Ella Mihacevich (Brunswick, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) recorded 26 assists and Hurt had 23 as the Huskies made just six errors over the final three sets of the match, hitting .413 in those final three sets.
Hovey had a match-high 19 kills for Bowling Green, Mia Tyler added 17.
NIU will return home next weekend as the Huskies host Miami on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30. First serve on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. and Saturday's match is slated for 3 p.m. Tickets for NIU Volleyball are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.
Toledo 3, Eastern Michigan 0
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio - Senior outside hitter Taylor Alt turned in a magnificent performance on Friday evening to help the Toledo women's volleyball team sweep Eastern Michigan at Savage Arena.
The Rockets won the first two sets handily, but faced resistance in the third set from the Eagles. With her team facing a 23-19 deficit, Alt recorded six straight kills to will Toledo to a 25-23 victory to clinch the match. The senior outside hitter was unbelievable in the third set, registering 13 kills and hitting .684 in one of the most memorable Rocket performances in recent memory.
The win clinched a series sweep for Toledo, which improved to 2-0 in Mid-American Conference play.
Alt had 19 kills and hit an astounding .531 on the night, adding 10 digs for her second double-double in as many matches. Fifth-year senior Ryann Jaqua led all players with 27 digs, one off her season-high total from Thursday's match. Freshman Macy Hatkevich joined Alt in recording a double-double, collecting 31 assists and 11 digs. Fellow freshman Emily Honzelka added seven kills and a team-best two blocks.
As a team, the Rockets hit .315 for the match, their highest attack percentage in a match this season.
Toledo returns to the court next Saturday and Sunday at Central Michigan.
Toledo jumped out to an 11-5 lead to begin the match, but the lead didn't last long. Eastern Michigan scored six straight points to tie the score at 11-11, and both squads alternated points until the score was tied at 16-16. Senior Jada Bouyer's kill made it 17-16 and sparked a 5-0 run that put Toledo on top, 21-16. That proved to be enough to shift momentum in favor of the Rockets, who won the first set to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Toledo and Eastern Michigan traded points early in the second, but UT found a way to score in bunches and doubled up EMU, 14-7. The Eagles never seriously threatened again in the second set, and a service ace from Alt provided the clinching point and gave the Rockets a 2-0 advantage.
The Rockets appeared to be in position to sweep the Eagles and led 14-10 at one point in the final set. Eastern Michigan was not going to make it easy, however, and scored 10 of the next 11 points to stun Toledo and take a 20-15 lead. A quick 3-0 run by UT trimmed the deficit to two, 21-19, but EMU scored the next two points to go up 23-19. From that point on though, it became the Taylor Alt Show. She tallied three straight kills to put Toledo within a point, 23-22, and following an Eastern Michigan timeout proceeded to end the match with back-to-back-to-back kills, bringing her total to six straight terminations and 13 for the third set.
Western Michigan 3, Miami 0
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio – Fueled by 35 assists from senior setter Logan Case, the Western Michigan offense hit .327 on Friday night as it rolled to a 3-0 win (25-22, 25-14, 25-17) over Miami for the second consecutive night. With the win, WMU has started MAC play 2-0 for the fourth straight season.
Case’s 35 assists helped set up five different Broncos for six or more kills, with three of those five posting hitting percentages of .300 or better. Maggie King tallied a match-high 11 kills for the evening, while Anna Calcagno added nine. Keona Salesman (8 kills, .316 hitting percentage), Amanda Glanton (7, .455) and Mary Clare Brusek (6, .462) all had strong offensive outings for the Brown & Gold.
Andelyn Simkins dug up a match-high 15 balls for the Broncos, with Reeghan Boyer adding nine digs to the cause. Western Michigan held an 8-2 edge in blocks for the evening, getting five from Glanton and four from Calcagno.
The RedHawks held a 12-9 advantage in the first, but a 6-1 run put Western Michigan ahead, 15-13. With its lead at one, 16-15, WMU put together a 5-1 stretch to extend its cushion to 21-16. Miami notched three straight to get within two, 23-21, but kills by Glanton and Brusek put the Broncos over the top in the first set.
Western Michigan used a 5-1 spurt to build a 12-6 advantage in the second set. With the margin at 14-10, the Broncos rattled off seven of the next eight points to boost their lead to 21-11. At 21-13, the Brown & Gold notched four of the next five points to head into the break with a 2-0 edge in the contest. WMU made just one attacking error on the way to hitting .444 in the second set.
Four consecutive points helped Miami grab an 11-9 edge in the third frame. With the MU lead at 14-13, Western Michigan ripped off nine straight points to move ahead, 22-14. The Broncos led comfortably the rest of the way en route to their second straight sweep of the RedHawks.
After a month on the road, Western Michigan returns to the friendly confines of University Arena next week for a two-match series against Bowling Green. The first contest between the Broncos and Falcons is slated for 6 pm on Thursday evening.
