Previews courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments
 
Volleyball Upcoming Schedule
Friday, Nov. 1
Eastern Michigan at Ball State, 6:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Buffalo, 6:00 PM
Toledo at Western Michigan, 6:00 PM
Central Michigan at Ohio, 6:00 PM
Akron at Kent State, 6:00 PM
Bowling Green at Miami, 6:30 PM
 
Saturday, Nov. 2
Bowling Green at Miami, 4:00 PM
Akron at Kent State, 4:00 PM
Northern Illinois at Buffalo, 4:00 PM
Eastern Michigan at Ball State, 4:00 PM
Central Michigan at Ohio, 4:00 PM
Toledo at Western Michigan, 6:00 PM
 
At the service line…
After going 0-3 last week, Akron volleyball begins the month of November with a pair of Mid-American Conference matches at rival Kent State from November 1-2. Akron enters with an 8-16 overall record, a 4-8 record in conference, and a 3-5 record on the road. Against the Bulls, The Zips were led by a double-double from Lauren Baker, who registered 22 kills and 11 digs on the day. Baker also recorded her 500th kill as a Zip in the five-set match against Buffalo. On Friday, Eliska Vytiskova entered the Zips' record book for career assists after recording 53 in a 3-2 loss to the Broncos.
 
The Ball State women's volleyball team will play five of its last seven regular season matches at home, starting this weekend with a two-match series versus Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals and Eagles will play at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday inside Worthen Arena. With a 7-4 start to league play this season, Ball State maintains its status as the winningest program in league play with a 453-224 (.669) all-time Mid-American Conference mark. The Cardinals boast a 320-99 (.764) all-time mark inside Worthen Arena.

The Bowling Green State University volleyball team will travel to Oxford, Ohio, this weekend for a pair of matches against the Miami (OH) RedHawks. The pair will mark the first time in program history the two teams have played consecutive matches against each other in Oxford. The Falcons enter the weekend tied for first in the Mid-American Conference standings with Central Michigan, both with 9-2 records. Alexis Mettille currently leads the MAC in hitting percentage, averaging a mark of .409, and ranks 20th in the nation. Mettille has landed 155 kills on 308 attacks with just 29 errors. So far this season, Lauryn Hovey has landed 39 aces for the Falcons, the second-most in the MAC, and tied for 21st in the nation. Amanda Otten is closing in on a career milestone. She enters the weekend with 910 career assists in the Orange and Brown, 90 away from 1,000 for the Falcons. 

The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (12-13, 8-4 MAC) will host the Northern Illinois Huskies for a weekend series. Matches will begin Friday at 6 p.m. with the weekend wrapping up on Saturday at 4 p.m. Headed into the weekend. The Bulls are in fourth place on the Mid-American Conference standings after coming off a two-loss weekend at the hands of the Central Michigan Chippewas. Buffalo fell on Friday, 3-1, but nearly completed a reverse sweep on Saturday before falling 3-2. Despite the results, the Bulls had a handful of milestones reached. Mandy Leigh broke the program record in career assists as she is now up to 4,374. Maria Futey is now third in program history with 1,542 career digs. She's just the fourth Bull in program history to surpass 1,500 digs. Katrin Trebichavska has over 1,000 kills in her UB career and will climb the all-time kills list. Abby Leigh set the program record for sets played in a career with 507 and is just three kills shy of reaching 1,000 career kills.

Central Michigan enters the weekend in first place in the Mid-American Conference after defeating Buffalo in two games last weekend. Central Michigan has won the Mid-American Conference regular season only twice in program history (2003 & 2019). Natalia Rejment was named MAC Defensive Player of the Week. Central Michigan leads the MAC in five statistical categories & holds the second-place spot in three others. The Chippewas have now matched their best record through 23 games in program history, when they also went 18-5. In the first game against Ohio, CMU is searching for their best record in program history.

With seven matches left in the regular season, the Eastern Michigan University volleyball team is set to travel to Ball State for two matches against the Cardinals Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2. Friday's match will start at 6 p.m., and Saturday's will begin at 4 p.m. Eastern is off to a 7-4 start in MAC play for the first time since the 2011 season. It is seeking its first 9-4 start to conference play since the 2010 season. Eastern last started 8-4 in MAC play in the 2002 campaign. Maddie Stayer is coming off a strong week against Ohio, Oct. 25-26. She tabbed consecutive double-doubles for the second time this season while posting career-highs with 28 assists and four aces. She is one of three Eagles to record consecutive double-doubles this season, along with Ella Voorhees and Taylor Smith. Additionally, EMU has seen five different occurrences of consecutive double-doubles in 2024.

Kent State will welcome back former Golden Flashes and celebrate the 50th season as a varsity program as this year's version hosts rival Akron for a pair of matches at the M.A.C. Center this weekend. Kent State (1-20, 0-11 MAC) looks to finish the season strong, with five of the final seven matches scheduled at the M.A.C. Center. Junior Kendall White ranks ninth in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 7.24 assists per set. White has posted ten double-doubles and is second in digs per set (2.58). Junior Mackenzie McGuire has increased her production since the start of conference play and leads the attack with an average of 2.80 kills per set. Senior Anna Shoemake adds just under 2.00 kills per set and a .285 hitting percentage against MAC opponents. Junior Greta Bolognini is the only Flash who has appeared in all 72 sets this season and leads the team in digs per set (3.28) and service aces (18).

Miami returns home to battle the Bowling Green Falcons on Friday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 2 at 4 p.m. Friday's match will be Diabetes Awareness Night. The RedHawks enter this weekend's matches ranked 41st in the nation in aces per set (1.79) and 39th in team service aces (147). Miami also holds the first spot in the Mid-American Conference in service aces per set, with Ana Vetter (0.33) leading the way as she is tied for ninth in the MAC in aces per set.

After spending the majority of October at home, the Northern Illinois University Huskies volleyball team (3-18,1-10 MAC) heads to the University at Buffalo for a two-game series against the Bulls. Inching ever closer to a milestone, Charli Atiemo is 21 kills away from passing the 1,000-career kill mark. If Atiemo surpasses the 1,000 mark this season, she will become the 23rd Huskie to reach that milestone. Ella Strausberger is just 13 assists away from passing the 500-assists mark in her debut season and sits at 487 assists this season.

The Ohio volleyball team (10-12, 6-5 MAC) is back in Athens for two matches this week. Ohio returns to the court on Friday, Nov. 1, when they host Central Michigan (18-5, 9-2 MAC). Ohio is coming off a 2-1 week that defeated Kent State and Eastern Michigan in four sets on Tuesday and Friday before falling to the Eagles in five sets on Saturday. On Friday in Ypsilanti, three Bobcats finished with double-figure kills and points. Sophomore Kam Hunt tallied 14 kills and 15.0 points, sophomore Olivia Gardner recorded 12 kills and 12.5 points, and graduate student Elizabeth Hoerlein tallied 10 kills and 12.0 points.

The Toledo women's volleyball team hits the road for a pair of Mid-American Conference matches this weekend against the 2023 league champion Western Michigan. The Rockets and Broncos will meet on Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2. Toledo sits in third place in the MAC standings with an overall record of 15-8 (8-3 MAC) after winning six of their last seven matchups. The Rockets are one game behind Central Michigan and Bowling Green, who are tied for first with a league mark of 9-2.

The Western Michigan volleyball team returns to University Arena this weekend for an Alumni Weekend series against Toledo. Western Michigan has four of its next five contests at home, are 6-2 at home in 2024, and have won 18 of their last 19 home contents against MAC opponents. The Broncos are coming off a pair of road victories at Akron. In Friday's five-set victory, Logan Case handed out a career-high 67 assists, setting up Anna Calcagno for a career-high 21 kills and Keona Salesman for 20 kills. Defensively, Andelyn Simkins racked up 34 digs, and Madison Merz tied her career high with eight blocks. With her career-high 67 assists on Friday night, Case became the first Bronco and third player in Mid-American Conference history to reach 6,000 career assists.