Women's Volleyball

Three Teams Sweep MAC Openers on Friday Night

Friday, Sept. 25 Volleyball Schedule
Ohio 3, Eastern Michigan 1
Bowling Green 3, Miami 0
Toledo 3, Akron 0
Buffalo 3, Kent State 0
Ball State 3, Western Michigan 0
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

Ohio | Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Ohio volleyball team (8-4, 1-0 MAC) won its conference opener 3-1 (25-16, 25-19, 24-26, 25-22) at Eastern Michigan (7-7, 1-1 MAC) on Friday, Sept. 25.

Ohio finished with a .234 team hitting percentage, 60 kills, nine aces, six blocks, 56 assists and 74 digs. Eastern Michigan finished with a .166 team hitting percentage with 46 kills, one ace, five blocks, 44 assists and 65 digs.

Three Bobcats finished with double-digit kills, led by senior Emily Waddell who finished with a team-high 14 kills. Sophomore Bailey Blair tallied a team-high 17.5 points off of 13 kills and four aces. Senior Olivia Gardner added 12 kills and 13 points.

Freshman Rowan Kelly tallied a team-high and career-high 46 assists. Kelly also recorded a team-best .625 attack percentage with five kills and no errors on eight total attacks.

 Freshman Rose Mahin led the Bobcats in digs with 15 total. Blair added another 13 digs while junior Darbi Ricketts and Kelly combined for 22 digs. Waddell led Ohio at the net with a team-high three blocks. Gardner and Kelly recorded two blocks each.

The Bobcats will be back in action at Central Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 5:30 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+.


Bowling Green | Box Score
Bowling Green, Ohio – Senior Avery Hobson recorded a season-high 19 kills on 39 attempts to hit at a .357 clip to pace Bowling Green to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-17) sweep of Miami in Mid-American Conference volleyball action on Friday evening inside the Stroh Center.

Sophomore Anastasija Bozic added 13 kills for a Falcons offense that racked up 43 kills throughout the match. Senior Amanda Otten dished out a match-best 29 assists while teammate Sydnie Hernandez was credited with a team-high 16 digs. Sophomore Cecily Waynar led the Falcons with seven block assists as BGSU bested Miami in that category by a 18-16 margin.

Falcon Facts
  • Bowling Green improved to 2-0 in conference play for third consecutive season and for the seventh time in the past eight years.
  • Bozic added 11 digs to her stat line for her third double-double this season and fifth of her career.
  • The last time Hobson recorded 19 kills came on Nov. 14 at Buffalo.
  • Bowling Green has recorded five-or-more aces in 10 of their 13 outings this season.
Bowling Green begins its conference road schedule with a two-match weekend at Kent State on next Thursday and Friday, Oct. 1-2. Both matches are scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and will stream live on ESPN+.


Toledo | Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – The Toledo women's volleyball team opened Mid-American Conference play with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-20, 26-24) over Akron on Friday night.

The Rockets' offense (9-2, 1-0 MAC) was led by Sophie Catalano and Kayla Ozanich with eight kills each, while Jessica Costlow poured in seven terminations of her own.

On the defensive side of the ball, four players recorded double-digit digs led by Maddy Bach with 13 with Avery Adamski, Grace Freiberger and Janelle Green each tallying 10 digs on the night.

Toledo held Akron to a .092 hitting percentage, the fourth match this season that a Rocket opponent has been held to a clip of .100 or less.

Key Moments
  • Toledo fired off a 4-0 run, highlighted by a block from Sierra Pertzborn and Kayla Ozanich, to take an 11-6 lead in the first set. Jessica Costlow kept the Rockets in front, 20-15, before a 5-1 surge put UT at set point, 24-17. Costlow secured the set win with a kill.
  • Back-to-back kills from Sophie Catalano and Costlow put Toledo in front 10-6 during the second set. Akron used a quick four-point swing to get within two, 12-10, before kills from Pertzborn and Ozanich opened the lead to 16-12. Olivia Heitkamp pushed UT's advantage to five, 20-15, before Akron was able to get within three, 20-17. Ozanich helped the Rockets reach set point and two Akron errors gave UT the win.
  • After going back-and-forth to open the third set, kills from Ava Siefke and Catalano pushed UT in front, 15-11. A 4-0 run by the Zips evened the set, 15-15, and both sides continued to trade points. No team got more than one point ahead of the other before Costlow put Toledo at match point and a block from Costlow and Ozanich secured the sweep.  
Toledo will wrap up its first weekend of conference play with a matchup against Buffalo on Sunday, Sept. 27. First serve from Buffalo, N.Y. is set for 3 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.


Buffalo | Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (9-3, 1-0 MAC) swept the Kent State Golden Flashes (6-7, 0-2 MAC) on Friday evening, 25-21, 25-16, 26-24. This is just the second time in the program's Division I history that the Bulls have won four consecutive matches in a sweep.

In the win, Manoela Forlin recorded her 14th career double-double with a team-leading 12 kills and 13 digs. Forlin is now 11 kills away from 1,000 in her career. Hailey Campagna also added 12 kills with Sydney Bell adding 10 of her own. As a team, the Bulls outhit the Golden Flashes, .235 to .129.

Anaya Cole dove all over the floor as she racked up a match-high 17 digs. Sadie Gladhill added 12 on the night.

Campagna led Buffalo with four total blocks, three of which were solo blocks. Nienke Trossel had a career-high three solo blocks as Abisola Adebayo added three total blocks.

The Bulls return to Broadview Arena on Sunday as they'll host the reigning MAC Tournament Champion Toledo Rockets at 3 p.m. Coverage will be on ESPN+.


Ball State | Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Led by a career-high tying 19 kills from junior outside Ava Smith, the Ball State women's volleyball team opened Mid-American Conference play with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Western Michigan Friday night in Worthen Arena.

In its conference opener, the Cardinals' (10-2; 1-0 MAC) offense was nearly unstoppable, connecting for a .360 (52-7-125) rate of success. The only player with double-digit kills, Smith did a lot of the heavy lifting, reaching her career high for the third time this season while hitting .462 (19-1-39).

On the defensive front, Ball State limited the Broncos' offense to a .205 (38-11-132) hitting mark led by a match-high 17 digs from junior libero Sophie Ledbetter.

The Cardinals' setting duo of senior Lindsey Green and sophomore Reese Axness both reached double-digit digs as well, with each earning their third double-double of the season. Green dished out 20 assists and collected 11 digs, while Axness added 19 assists to go along with 11 digs.

Junior outside Audrey Geer also had a strong night from the left side, smashing eight kills, hitting .381 (8-0-21) and adding 12 digs. She also collected a key solo block to give Ball State match point, while following with the match-ending kill.

Rounding out Ball State's key contributors on offense were senior middle Gwen Crull with nine kills, senior middle Madison Buckley with seven and senior middle Camryn Wise with five.

Ball State and Western Michigan will close their two-match series Saturday afternoon with a 4 p.m. first serve for First Responders Day.