Women's Volleyball

Bowling Green, Western Michigan Extend Win Streaks in Friday Home Wins

Friday, Oct. 23 Volleyball Results
Kent State 3, Eastern Michigan 2
Toledo 3, Ohio 0
Ball State 3, Akron 2
Bowling Green 3, Central Michigan 1
Western Michigan 3, Buffalo 0
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

Kent State | Box Score
KENT, Ohio – Kent State won the final two sets to earn a 3-2 (20-25, 25-11, 21-25, 25-17, 15-8) victory over visiting Eastern Michigan on Friday evening and split the weekend series.

Trailing 2-1 in the match, the Golden Flashes (10-11, 4-6 MAC) put together a clean fourth set to send it to five for the second night in a row. Both teams totaled 13 kills in the set, but Kent State had just two attack errors compared to the Eagles' six and also had one fewer service error.

After the Flashes' four-point lead early in the fifth was trimmed to one, junior Nadia Miller formed a wall at the net to win three straight and push the advantage back to four. She teamed with junior Vanessa Imoh for a block on the first play and then with senior Christina Vigil on the next before making a solo stuff for an 8-4 lead. Kent State prevented EMU from scoring consecutive points the rest of the night, and senior Mercedez Brown provided the winning point with a hard swing for her 14th kill of the match.

Miller led Flashes with 18.5 points, recording a career-high 15 kills for the second night in a row and totaling six blocks (one solo, five assists). Junior Avrey Rigney was the third attacker to reach double figures with 13 kills.

Sophomore Catie Patterson tallied a career-high 20 digs to lead the defense. Junior Maggie Kachmarik added a season-best 16 digs and career-high six aces. Senior Kylee Baranski logged a double-double with 32 assists and career-high 10 digs.


Toledo | Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team opened the weekend with a 3-0 sweep (25-19, 25-17, 25-22) over Ohio on Friday night at Savage Arena. The match marked the first-ever Jean Ann Harrison Volleyball Alumni and Women's Health & Cancer Awareness Day in honor of Jean Ann Harrison.

The Rockets (15-4, 7-2 MAC) offense was led by Sophie Catalano and Sierra Pertzborn with 10 kills each. Pertzborn had a team-high .444 hitting percentage on the evening. Lilly Merk chipped in eight kills on a .438 clip to go along with a team-high five blocks.

Junior libero Grace Freiberger had 11 digs, marking her 19th consecutive match with double-figure digs. Junior setter Janelle Green tallied a team-high 20 assists to go along with a service ace.

The Toledo defense held Ohio to a .058 hitting percentage on the night. This is the sixth match this season that the Rockets have held their opponent to a hitting percentage of .100 or less.


Ball State | Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- After dominating the first two sets, the Ball State women's volleyball team found itself heading to a fifth frame in Friday's Alumni Night contest versus Akron.

With Worthen Arena packed full of program legends, the Cardinals (15-6; 6-4 Mid-American Conference) took control of the final frame early to send its gathered alumni home happy with a 3-2 (25-17, 25-17, 24-26, 19-25, 15-10) homecoming weekend victory over the Zips (8-13; 3-6 MAC).

Coming up huge in the victory, especially down the stretch, was junior outside Audrey Geer who tied her Ball State career high with a team-high 15 kills, including the match-winner. She also finished the night with 14 digs, giving her a fifth double-double this season.

Freshman opposite Merritt Sliwa also turned in a brilliant performance, collecting a career-high 12 kills, to go along with a par of solo blocks. They were two of the Cardinals five solo blocks in the contest, which helped BSU hold a 9.0-to-5.0 edge in the category.

Also smashing 12 kills on the night was senior middle Camryn Wise, who continued her torrid attack pace, hitting a match-best .579 (12-1-19). She currently leads the MAC with a .435 attack percentage this season.

Overall, the Ball State offense finished the night with a .281 (61-18-153) hitting mark, with senior setter Lindsey Green dishing out 29 assists and sophomore Reese Axness adding 20. Green also secured 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season, while tying her career high with five service aces.

Leading the backcourt effort, which saw Ball State hold a 74-to-57 edge in total digs, was junior libero Sophie Ledbetter who tied her career high with 29 digs. She was also perfect in reception percentage, while dishing out five assists.

Along with the edge in blocks and digs, the Cardinals out-aced the Zips by a 9-to-7 margin, including two fifth-set aces from Wise.

The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action next weekend when it hosts league-leading Bowling Green for a two-match series. The teams will play at 6 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday.


Bowling Green | Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Three Falcons tallied double-digit kills to lead Bowling Green to a 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-15, 25-14) victory over Central Michigan in Mid-American Conference volleyball action on Friday evening inside the Stroh Center.

Bowling Green won its fifth consecutive match and improved to 16-4 overall and 8-1 in conference action. With the loss, Central Michigan remains winless and fell to 0-22 and 0-9 in MAC play this season.

Senior Avery Hobson recorded a team-high 18 kills on 36 attempts to finish at a .333 hitting efficiency. Sophomore Karli Molnau added 12 kills while fellow second-year Anastasija Bozic finished with 11 to round out the trifecta of Falcons that tallied 10-or-more kills. Senior Amanda Otten dished out 42 assists to a Falcon offense that hit at a .328-clip as a team. Junior Sydnie Hernandez registered a team-best 15 digs while sophomore Cecily Waynar recorded a match-high six block assists.

Taylor Cripe led Central Michigan where she accounted for 23 of the Chippewa's 42 kills that she registered off 50 attempts to notch a .320 attack percentage. Audrey Hackney recorded a team-high 33 assists while Cripe led the Chippewas with 13 digs on the defensive side.

Falcon Facts
  • Bowling Green now leads the all-time series with a 39-28 record and has won 12 of the last 15 matchups dating back to 2016.
  • BGSU has won eight of its first nine conference contests for the sixth time in the past 10 years.
  • Otten reached 3,000 career assists on Friday evening, becoming the seventh Falcon in program history to join the 3,000 assists club.
  • Bowling Green's total kills (60), assists (55) and attack percentage (.328) are the most in any four set match this season.
  • BGSU tied its season-high for aces in a match during conference play with eight on Friday. The Falcons have recorded five-or-more aces on four occasions during conference play and 13 instances over the entire season.
  • Bowling Green out-blocked Central Michigan by an 11-9 margin. The Falcons have won the blocking battle 11 times this season and have posted a perfect 11-0 record in those contests.
  • Waynar led the Falcons in blocks for the second consecutive match and for the fourth time in conference play.
  • Redshirt sophomore Kate Eigner led all players with a career-high three service aces. She has tallied at least one aces in four of her 12 appearances this season.


Western Michigan | Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team knocked off Buffalo in straight sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-15) on Friday night to collect its fourth consecutive victory.
 
Leah Richmond put together her team-leading 10th double-double of the season, collecting 28 assists and a team-high 16 digs. Izzy Swiercz notched a double-double as well, posting a team-leading 11 kills on a .391 hitting percentage to go with 14 digs. Elana Erickson chipped in 15 digs for WMU.
  
Western Michigan got on a roll early, tallying nine of the match's first 12 points. With the margin at 10-6, the Brown and Gold used a 7-3 run to increase the lead to 17-9. Buffalo got as close as five, 21-16, before WMU put the frame away with a 4-1 burst.
 
The Broncos broke a 5-5 tie in the second set with four straight points to ignite a 12-3 surge and open up a 17-8 advantage. Western Michigan never looked back after that run, comfortably taking the frame, 25-16.
 
The visitors notched the first three points of the third set for their first lead of the night. Western Michigan responded with eight of the next 10 to move in front, 8-5. At 11-9, the Brown and Gold ran off a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 21-11 and put the contest away.