Volleyball Advances to the MAC Tournament Semifinals

Box score.

Click Here for Live Stats from the MAC Tournament.

TOLEDO, Ohio – It is difficult to beat a team three times in one season, especially twice in the span of 13 days. Western Michigan University was trying to do just that against Eastern Michigan University in the quarterfinal game of the 2007 Mid-American Conference Volleyball Tournament Friday afternoon here at the SeaGate Centre.

The seventh-seeded Eagles proved up for the role of spoiler, knocking off the second-seeded and MAC West Division Champions, 3-1 (30-28, 30-21, 31-33, 31-29). With the win Eastern Michigan improves to 20-13 overall and advances to play No. 3 Miami University Saturday afternoon, Nov. 17, at 5 p.m. Western Michigan sees it postseason run end with a mark of 21-9.

As has been the case all season the senior duo of Abby Reenders (Grand Haven, Mich.-Grand Haven) and Becky Reenders (Grand Haven, Mich.-Grand Haven) keyed the EMU offense, combining for 36 of the team’s 69 kills. Junior Jill Wolosiansky (Uniontown, Ohio-Green) also chipped in 13 kills and six total blocks during the victory. Senior Kate Sulewski (Ottawa Lake, Mich.-Bedford), the MAC’s Setter of the Year, tallied 58 set assists and 11 digs on the afternoon.

All-MAC first teamer Michelle Moore paced the Broncos with 23 kills and a .217 (23-10-60) hitting percentage. Ashley Vogl notched 15 kills while Allyson Doyle added 11. Jaime Gotham and Katie Eberling also finished with 10 put-aways each.

In the opening stanza the Eagles jumped out to an early 8-6 advantage and pushed the margin to three points, 11-8. However, the West Division Champions quickly responded with four consecutive points to reclaim the lead at 12-11. That edge would be short lived though as Eastern would post four straight points of its own to reach the midway point leading, 15-12, and force a WMU time out.

The Broncos would not go quietly, changing the momentum and knotting the game at 23. Each side would exchange scores, but eventually the Green and White was able to get back on track and take the opener by a score of 30-28. Becky Reenders powered the offense during the stanza, recording eight kills and a .438 (8-1-16) attack percentage.

Game two would prove much the same as the two sides showed they were up to the challenge. Eastern was able to take a 9-7 led before pushing the advantage to four, 11-7, causing Western to burn a timeout. EMU’s lead would continue to grow, 17-9, again causing WMU to ask for a time out. From that point on the Green and White would never look back, cruising to the 30-21 victory heading into the locker room up 2-0.

Following the intermission neither side was able to take much of a lead as the squads were deadlocked at 10. The tables were bringing to turn though as Western Michigan posted a quick 6-1 run to take its biggest advantage of the game at 16-11. Eastern would have a response for its instate rival, cutting the deficit to just one, 17-16, before eventually tying the score at 29. Eastern had two opportunities to take the game but every time Western was able to answer with a point of its own. In the end though, it was the Broncos notching the 33-31 decision.

Using the momentum they had built in the previous set, the Broncos grabbed the lead, eventually building a four point cushion, 14-10, before the Eagles needed a time out to regroup. EMU would cut the margin to one at 25-24 and again at 28-27 before knotting the score at 28. A block assist by Sulewski and Abby Reenders finally gave the Eagles the lead and on the next serve the game, 31-29.

Tournament Notes:

Friday afternoon’s game marked the first of two matches pitting teams from the same state against each other. The other matchup will be from the state of Ohio as Kent State and Bowling Green square off later in the day.
The Eagles are now 9-11 all-time in the MAC Volleyball Tournament with the team’s first appearance occurring in 1987.
EMU is 2-4 all-time versus Western Michigan in the tournament and 18-46 overall
EMU is 2-2 in the SeaGate Center since the tournament moved to Toledo in 2005
Senior Becky Reenders’ 437 kills in 2007 rank sixth best in a single season in EMU
Senior Abby Reenders’ 1,263 attempts this season rank fourth most in school-history
Sophomore Kim Jarzynka’s 516 digs in 2007 rank sixth best in a single season
Senior Kate Sulewski’s1,449 set assists this season is the second best performance in school-history
Today’s match saw a battle of the Setter of the Year, EMU’s Sulewski, and the Defensive Player of the Year, WMU’s Strimel

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Related News

Related Videos