Women's Volleyball

Eagles, Huskies, Zips Sweep Home Opener Tournaments

Saturday Volleyball Results
UIC 3, Toledo 2
Eastern Kentucky 3, Miami 1
South Dakota 3, Ball State 0
Eastern Michigan 3, Niagara 0
Jacksonville State 3, Ohio 2
Kent State 3, Morgan State 1
Buffalo vs. Western Kentucky - Canceled
Akron 3, American 2
Central Michigan 3, Milwaukee 0
IU Indy 3, Miami 2
Towson 3, Kent State 1
Northern Illinois 3, SIU Edwardsville 0
 
Sunday Volleyball Results
Buffalo vs. Marquette - Canceled
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

Eastern Michigan 3, Niagara 0 | Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team completed a 3-0 weekend at the 2025 EMU Tournament as it ended the tourney with a 3-0 sweep of the Niagara University Purple Eagles Saturday, Sept. 6, inside the George Gervin Game Above Center.
 
The win marks EMU's first time going undefeated in a home tournament since 1993.
 
Ava Siefke and Abby Stanford led the Eastern offense with 12 kills apiece as Siefke recorded her third double-double of the season and 10th of her career, adding 12 digs and six blocks defensively. 
 
Ashlynn Belcher was a bright spot. Dishing a match-high 41 assists and grabbing 15 digs for her third double-double as an Eagle and 17th of her career. Hatteras Welker was strong at the net defensively, recording eight blocks. 

Match Notes
» Eastern's record improved to 5-2 (0-0 MAC) while Niagara's dropped to 0-5 (0-0 MAAC).
» Eastern had more kills (51-34), assists (50-34), aces (5-3), and blocks (11-4) than its opponent while hitting .286 to Niagara's .150. 
» Eastern's best offensive set was the second, landing 18 kills off a .255 clip with 18 assists and two aces. Defensively, EMU shined in the second set with 27 digs while recording five total blocks in both the first and third sets. 
» Surabhi Srinivasan grabbed 14 digs, marking her sixth time reaching the double-digit mark this season. The junior has recorded at least 10 digs in 6-of-7 games this season. 
» Belcher led the team with 41 assists and 15 digs, marking the 17th double-double of her career and third with Eastern. 
» Eastern is off to a 5-2 start through seven games for the first time since the 2018 season. 2018 is the last time EMU won a MAC Tournament Championship.
» Siefke finished the match with 12 kills and 12 digs, marking the 10th double-double of her career and third with Eastern, while securing a career-high with six blocks.  
» Stanford secured 12 kills with a .667 hitting percentage. This would mark her second time having a .667 hitting percentage this season and her fourth time having a hitting percentage over .600 in her career. 
» Siefke and Belcher both secured double-doubles. The last time two players both captured double-doubles was with Siefke (14k, 12D), and Belcher (40A, 14D) against Marshall, Aug. 29.  
» Welker secured back to back games with eight blocks. The last time a player captured back-to-back games with eight or more blocks was Welker against Toledo and NIU, Oct. 11, Oct. 17, 2024. 
» With 11 blocks, Eastern has recorded 10+ blocks in three consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 13-14 of the 2024 season. EMU is undefeated this year (3-0) when swatting 10 or more.
» The match marked EMU's second time hitting over .250 this season and fifth time in the Foeman era. Overall, EMU is 2-0 this season when eclipsing the .250 mark and 3-2 when doing so under Foeman. 
 
Historical Notes 
» With the win, the Eagles went undefeated in a home tournament for the first time since the 1993 season when it went 4-0 at the EMU/Ann Arbor News Classic. 
» The match marked the second all-time between the Eagles and Purple Eagles. Eastern is now 2-0 against Niagara and has swept it in both competitions. 
» Siefke currently stands 14 kills away from the 500 mark as she holds 486 in her NCAA career. 
» Eastern is off to a 3-0 start at home for the first time since the 2018 season, the last time EMU won a MAC Tournament Championship.
» The win marked the Eagles' third consecutive. It is the second occurrence of a three-game winning streak in the Head Coach Kevin Foeman era.
 
Up Next : Eastern will now travel to Rochester, Mich., for the Golden Grizzly Invitational, hosted by Oakland University Friday-Saturday, Sept. 12-13. The Eagles' first match will be against Xavier University, Friday, 12 p.m. 


Kent State 3, Morgan State 1 | Box Score
BALTIMORE – Senior Mackenzie McGuire eclipsed 1,000 career kills and 500 career digs to lead Kent State to a 3-1 victory over Morgan State in the first of two matches on Saturday. The Golden Flashes (2-4) then fell to Towson by the same 3-1 score in the final contest of the weekend.

McGuire, who posted 18 kills in both matches, became the 17th student-athlete in program history to reach 1,000 kills during the second set against the Bears and currently sits at 1,023 in her career. She recorded her 500th dig in the opening set of the same match.

Redshirt sophomore Adalynn Ginley continued her breakout weekend with 19 kills and nine blocks over the two contests.

Match 1 vs. Morgan State: 
After dropping a back-and-forth first set that featured 11 ties and six lead changes, Kent State scored key points late to flip the score and win the second set, 25-23. With the score tied 20-20, Mackenzie McGuire put the Golden Flashes ahead for good with a kill. Adalynn Ginley and Macie Moreland followed with kills and McGuire added another for a 24-20 advantage. Morgan State responded by winning the next three points, but an attack error ended the set.

Kent State fell behind 5-0 in the third before scoring eight in a row to take the lead for good. The Flashes scored eight points on aces and blocks en route to a 25-18 victory.

Ginley was active early in the fourth with four kills and a solo block to help Kent State lead 10-4. The Flashes led by as many as six points before the Bears got within 22-21. Mercedez Brown then returned to the court and immediately recorded a kill to maintain the led. Liliana Mechura followed with a kill. After Morgan State won the next point, the ensuing serve went out of bounds to end the match.

McGuire led all players with 18 kills, while Ginley hit .650 with a career-high 14 kills. Christina Vigil totaled 35 assists, six digs and career-high five aces.

Up Next for the Flashes: Kent State will travel to North Dakota next weekend for three matches as part of the NDSU/UND Tournament



Akron 3, American 2 | Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - The Akron volleyball team fought back from a 2-0 hole to secure a comeback five-set victory (14-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-13) against the American Eagles Saturday at home at James A Rhodes Arena.

The out-of-conference victory improved Akron's overall record to 4-2 on the season.

The Zips' offense was paced by Maureen Mathews, who finished with 20 kills on the day. Jordyn Aeschliman added 14 and Lyndi Wolf chipped in with 10 as part of a balanced Akron attack. Sarah Bettis added a career-high nine kills to the Zips' offense. Defensively, Akron had two players reach double figures in digs as Vanessa Del Real had 17 and Reilly Chausse had 13. Martina Villani set up the Zips with a career-high 46 assists against the Eagles.

Game Notes:

» Akron dropped the first two sets of the match before rallying to win the final three.

» Akron had three players in double figures in kills.

» Del Real had a team-high four aces in the win.

» Akron served up five aces on the way to a fourth-set victory.

» Mathews had a match-high 20 kills for Akron.

» Akron got a match-high 17 digs from Del Real.

» Akron attackers were helped by a match-high 46 assists from Villani.


What's Next?: Akron travels to Richmond, Ky., to battle Eastern Kentucky, Northern Kentucky and Texas-Rio Grande Valley in the Geri Polvino Invitational from September 12-13.

 

Central Michigan 3, Milwaukee 0 | Box Score
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Central Michigan Volleyball ended their trip to Milwaukee with a 3-0 win over the host team. The Chippewas move to 2-4 on the season while the Panthers shift to 0-4 in their season.

Abby Olin recorded her 500th career kill in the first set against the Panthers.

Central Michigan took set one from Milwaukee, 25-19. The Chippewas hit .462 as a team and charted three aces in the opener.

The Chippewas took the second set, again 25-19 and gained momentum heading into the third set.

Central Michigan battled hard in the third to take a 28-26 victory an grab the win as they closed the Panther Invitational out with a win – their first three-set sweep of the 2025 season.

In the match, the Chippewas were led offensively by Olin with 10 kills, hitting .421.

CMU hit .353 as a team over the three sets, their highest of the 2025 season.

Keelyn Muell recorded her 500th career assist, as she charted 16 on the evening match and Molly Beatty charted 24.

Izzy Swiercz and Taylor Cripe both charted nine kills and Grace Thomas killed eight balls.

On the defensive side, CMU was led at the net by Olin who had five blocks, as CMU totaled seven in the match. Alina Anderson dug 17 balls, a career high in a three-set match.

Next, Central Michigan will travel to Peoria, Illinois for the Bradley Invitational, where they will face UMKC, Bradley and Jacksonville State.


Northern Illinois 3, SIU Edwardsville 0 | Box Score
DeKALB, Ill.—Extending their win streak to four, the Northern Illinois University Huskies volleyball team (5-1) defeated the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Cougars in straight sets this evening (Sept. 6) inside the NIU Convocation Center. NIU posted set scores of 25-22, 27-25, and 27-25 to claim the victory.
 
Emma McCartney led the Huskies with 11 kills while Autumn Flynn added 10 kills. Flynn also led the Huskies with three blocks.
 
The Huskies won the invitational with Flynn being named MVP of the tournament. Joining Flynn on the All-Tournament team are Rylea Alvin , Alexa Hayes, and Ava Grevengoed.
 
Up next, the Huskies travel to the IU Indianapolis Hampton Invitational, September 12-13. The Huskies will face Gonzaga at 10 a.m. on September 12 in Indianapolis, Indiana.