Volleyball Takes Final Match of UIC Invitational, 3-1

CHICAGO, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team defeated the host of the 2012 University of Illinois-Chicago Invitational, Saturday, Sept. 1. The Eagles topped the UIC Flames in four sets, 21-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-19.

The Green and White moved to 6-2 with the victory, while UIC fell to 2-4 on the 2012 campaign.

Rachel Iaquaniello (Plymouth, Mich.-Dearborn Divine Child) was named to the UIC Invitational's All-Tournament team after double-figure kills in each of the three matches at the Flames Athletic Center.

Iaquaniello led the Eagles with 12 kills, while Paige Roback (Maumee, Ohio-Notre Dame Academy) and Erin Short (Orrville, Ohio-Orrville) each notched 11 kills in the EMU victory. The Green and White also used eight kills from Kristen Baker (Mentor, Ohio-Mentor) and seven from Megan Crawshaw (Mattawan, Mich.-Mattawan). Alyssa Davis (Kalamazoo, Mich.-Plainwell) posted 40 assists and Eastern hit .255 (54-13-161) as a team.

Defensively, EMU held the Flames to just a .133 attack percentage (50-27-173) and used 11 total team blocks to put away UIC in the final match of the tournament. The Eagles had four athletes in double-figure digs with Sierra Reed (Parker City, Ind.-Wapahani) leading with 19.

The Green and White dropped the opening set, 21-25, after hitting just .146 (12-6-41). Short notched five kills to lead EMU in the set, while Iaquaniello and Roback each posted three in the set. Despite four total team blocks from the Eagles, UIC hit .275 (17-6-40) to top EMU.

Eastern bounced back in the second set, topping UIC 25-19. The Green and White was able to hit .368 (15-1-38) in the second set victory. Iaquaniello led EMU with six kills in the set, while Davis poured in 11 assists and Roback posted seven digs.

EMU spread the wealth offensively in the third set en route to a 25-13 victory. The Eagles spread 14 kills among seven different athletes, while hitting .364 (14-2-33). Baker led the EMU offense with four kills in the set.

Despite hitting just .184 (13-4-49) in the final set of the match, Eastern took the set 25-19. UIC was unable to get any offense going in the fourth set as they hit just .105 (15-9-57). Roback notched four kills while Short added three to her total.

Next, Eastern heads to Texas to take part in the Mean Green Invitational, hosted by North Texas. The Eagles open the tournament against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Friday, Sept. 7, at 2:30 p.m. (CST).

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Team Stats

Rachel Iaquaniello

Erin Short

Paige Roback

Kristen Baker

Eastern Michigan Athletics