Women's Volleyball

Chippewas, Cardinals, Rockets Victorious on Rivalry Night!

Tuesday Volleyball results
Buffalo 3, Akron 2
Ball State 3, Miami 0 
Toledo 3, Bowling Green 1 
Central Michigan 3, Eastern Michigan 0 
Ohio 3, Kent State 0 
Northern Illinois 3, Western Michigan 0 
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

Buffalo 3, Akron 2 | Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – The Buffalo Bulls volleyball team (5-9, 2-3 MAC) took down the Akron Zips (8-8, 1-4 MAC) on Tuesday evening in five sets, 25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12. The Bulls have now won seven straight matches against the Zips.

Manoela Forlin led the offense for the Bulls as she recorded 23 kills with a .340 hitting percentage. Reese Collins was error free on the attack with seven kills on 15 attempts. Collins also added five total blocks setting a career high. Emerson Matthews tallied 11 kills with a career-high three aces.

Maddie Mitchell recorded her team leading fifth double-double of the season with 42 assists and 14 digs. Keira Kleiden had a team-high 17 digs to go with her three aces, tying a career high.

From the service line, Eve Adams had a career-high three aces.

Ava Kanj had a career night with six kills, six total blocks and a pair of digs.

Helping the Bulls in the win was Head Coach Scott Smith as he was successful on all four of his challenges in the match.

The Bulls outhit the Zips, .238 to .232, as the Bulls only finished with 55 kills as they forced 55 Akron errors. Both squads finished with 10 total blocks each.

"We are proud as a program to fight through the ups and downs and get another gritty win," stated Head Coach Scott Smith. "Akron has an incredibly fast offense, and we knew that would be a big challenge for us. We relied heavily on aggressive serving, and our blocking came alive at key moments. While a lot of the scoring happened on the left side for us, we had a lot of key positions step up and perform well!"

UP NEXT
The Bulls are back at home for a series against the Central Michigan Chippewas (4-13, 1-3 MAC). The #MACtion will start on Friday at 6 p.m. followed by Saturday at 4 p.m.


Ball State 3, Miami 0 | Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - - The Ball State women's volleyball defense set the tone Tuesday night, collecting 78 digs and limiting Miami to a season-low 31 kills in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-16) sweep at Millett Hall.

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 9-8 overall and to 5-0 in Mid-American Conference play, setting up yet another battle of undefeated MAC teams in Worthen Arena when Toledo (14-3; 5-0 MAC) visits Friday night at 6 p.m. for Red Out Night.

Ball State's 78 digs against the RedHawks (9-8; 3-2 MAC) were the second-best for the squad this season and the most in a three-setter since recording 88 versus Eastern Michigan on Nov. 2, 2013. The defensive effort was led by 18 digs from both sophomore libero Sophie Ledbetter and freshman setter Reese Axness.

For Axness, the 18 digs were a career high, and combined with 15 assists, helped her achieve her first collegiate assist/dig double-double. Sophomore outside Carson Tyler also finished the match with a double-double, her 10th of the season, with 11 kills and 11 digs.

As impressive as the digs were, the Cardinals also won the battle at the net against a Miami squad which entered the night leading the league in blocking. Ball State tallied 9.0 total blocks, led by five from junior middle Gwen Crull. Crull also led squad with a career-high 13 kills and a .522 (13-1-23) attack percentage, while serving up a pair of aces.

Overall, the Ball State offense connected for a .225 (50-18-142) rate of success, with junior setter Lindsey Green adding a match-high 17 assists to Axness' 15. The pair helped graduate outside Noelle VanOort and sophomore opposite Tiffany Snook each collecting eight. 

The MAC's top hitter based on attack percentage, junior middle Camryn Wise added seven kills and hit .429 (7-1-14). Through five MAC matches, Wise has logged 33 kills to just three errors.

Also aiding in the solid backcourt effort were Green with nine digs and junior defensive specialist Elizabeth Tabeling with eight. Overall, 10 of the 12 Cardinals to reach the court Tuesday collected at least two digs.

Thanks to its solid defensive play, Ball State limited the Miami attack to a .090 (31-19-133) rate of success, its third-lowest mark of the season. Molly Creech led the RedHawks with six kills and 17 digs, while Gentry Warrick was able to tie for match-high honors with five total blocks.


Toledo 3, Bowling Green 1 | Box Score  
TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo women's volleyball recorded a 3-1 victory (25-23, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16) over Bowling Green in front of a record crowd of 2,251 fans in Savage Arena on Tuesday night. The crowd bested the previous attendance record of 1,482 set at the Oct. 1, 2024, match against Bowling Green.

The win marks the first win over the Falcons since a 3-2 decision at Bowling Green on Oct. 6, 2023, and the first victory at Savage Arena over BGSU since a 3-2 win on Oct. 23, 2015.

The Rockets move to 14-3 (5-0 MAC) on the season and have now won eight consecutive matches. This is the first time in program history the Rockets have started off Mid-American Conference play with a 5-0 record, besting the previous 5-1 record set last in 2023. Toledo also improved upon its best overall start in program history with the win.

Toledo's offense was led by redshirt sophomore Sierra Pertzborn and sophomore Olivia Heitkamp. Pertzborn tallied a career-best 15 kills on a .448 clip while Heitkamp poured in 15 terminations of her own.

Senior setter Kelsey Smith recorded 36 assists and 11 digs to tally her fourth-straight double-double while adding two service aces. Sophomore libero Grace Freiberger led the team with 20 digs and two service aces, while freshman Jessica Costlow totaled a team-high three service aces and 11 digs for her fifth match this season with double-figure digs.

The Rockets tallied eight service aces in the contest, marking their 10th match this season with eight or more aces. The team fired off four aces in the first set and took match point on an ace from Smith.

Quoting Coach Wright
"This team does such a fantastic job of representing Toledo. Seeing the stands full with cheering fans and giving us such a huge home court advantage tonight was a fantastic feeling for our team and staff. We work hard every day to represent this university and city the right way and we sincerely appreciate the support from a record-breaking crowd tonight! A win over a rival on top of that is a pretty amazing feeling! So proud of our team for everything they've put in to being consistently great every day. Now we wake up tomorrow, get back in the gym and get ready to take on another high level team on our road trip this weekend."

Up Next
Toledo heads to Muncie, Ind. for a pair of conference matchups against Ball State on Friday, Oct. 10 and Saturday, Oct. 11. Friday's match will begin at 6:00 p.m.


Central Michigan 3, Eastern Michigan 0 | Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan Volleyball team asserted pure dominance over the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Tuesday night, charting a 3-0 win in McGuirk Arena.

With the victory, the Chippewas have won 10 straight games over the Eagles, dating back to 2020 when the Chippewas dropped one in five sets.

The win for CMU also marked the first Mid-American Conference victory for first-year head coach, Arielle Wilson.

Offensively, Central Michigan was led by Grace Thomas who recorded seven kills (.467). Natalia Rejment led all scorers with nine kills, and Brooklyn Conner charted six kills (.500).

Keelyn Muell aided the Chippewas to a .235 hitting percentage, their highest in a Mid-American Conference game this season. The junior setter recorded 31 assists, one short of her three-set career high, which she recorded in the last MAC match against Bowling Green.

Defensively, Central Michigan held the Eagles to a .000 hitting percentage, the lowest opponent hitting percentage this season for an opponent against CMU. The last time Central Michigan held any opponent to a hitting percentage lower than .000, was August 31 of 2024, when Bellarmine hit -.041.

At the service line, Abby Olin charted three aces, her career high in a three-set match. CMU totaled five on the night, with two coming from Muell as well.

CMU took set one, 25-21 over the Eagles. CMU trailed 7-3 early in the first set, but rallied and took 20-16 lead late in the set and ended with a victory.

In set two, the Chippewas jumped to a 11-4 lead, and it reached as much as 20-12 before the final of 25-16.

The final set, a 25-14 win for Central Michigan led 7-0 early on, before EMU called a timeout. The Chippewas took the victory in the set, and felt a sigh of relief to grab the first conference victory of the season.

CMU will next head to Buffalo for a two-game series on October 10th and 11th before returning home to host Akron on October 17th and 18th.


Ohio 3, Kent State 0 | Box Score
KENT, Ohio – The Ohio volleyball team (3-14, 1-4 MAC) picked up a strong road win on Tuesday night, taking down Kent State (7-9, 2-3 MAC) in three straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-14) inside the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.

The Bobcats finished the match with 34 kills, six service aces, 12 blocks, 32 assists, and 54 digs. Kent State ended with 28 kills, two aces, five blocks, 26 assists, and 43 digs.

Junior Torre Kildow led the way for Ohio with 10 kills, while freshman Bailey Blair added nine and junior Emily Waddell chipped in six. Senior setter Kendall White controlled the offense with 29 assists and contributed across the board with nine digs, two aces, and five total blocks.

On defense, junior Gentry Brown anchored the back row with 12 digs, followed closely by junior Caroline Curran who added 11. Waddell led the blocking effort with six, while White and sophomore Sierra Evans each tallied five.

Ohio edged Kent State in a tight first set, 25-23, before finding its groove offensively in the second. The Bobcats kept their momentum going in the third, limiting the Golden Flashes to a negative hitting percentage and just seven kills to seal the sweep.

Ohio returns home to host Miami on Friday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m. ET. The match will be available to watch live on ESPN+.



Northern Illinois 3, Western Michigan 0 | Box Score 
DeKALB, Ill.—Hitting the double-digit win mark this season came with extra points as the Northern Illinois University Huskies volleyball team (10-4, 3-2 MAC) defeated the Western Michigan University Broncos (6-12, 3-2 MAC). The Huskies posted set scores of 29-27, 25-22, and 27-25 in the fourth straight three-set match.  
 
Emma McCartney recorded her first career double-double as she was credited with 16 kills, to lead all players, and 15 digs, a season-best. Ava Grevengoed added 12 kills as she and McCartney totaled 28 of the Huskies 50 kills.
 
This was the first victory sweep of the Broncos since the 2019 season and first win in DeKalb since the 2022 season.
 
"I'm really proud of how the team responded after a tough weekend," noted NIU head volleyball coach Sondra D'Amore. "We addressed some things and practiced with intention the last couple of days and you saw that help us tonight. We executed the game plan and made changes throughout the match really well. It was great to see the team that I know we can be tonight!"

Up next, the Huskies hit the road as they travel to Bowling Green for games on October 9 and 10. Action will start at 5 p.m. CT both days with games broadcast live on ESPN+.