Eastern Stung with a Four Set Loss at Home

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team suffered a four-set setback to the Western Michigan University Broncos, 25-23, 25-18, 14-25, 25-22, Friday night, Nov. 8, at the Convocation Center. With the loss, EMU drops to .500 on the season (14-14, 4-9 MAC) while Western Michigan improves to 15-11, 8-5 MAC.

Senior Erin Short (Orrville, Ohio-Orrville) and junior Megan Crawshaw (Mattawan, Mich.-Mattawan) led the Eagles' attack with 14 kills each. For Short, she became the 13th student-athlete in EMU history to amass 1,000 kills on Friday night. Stacey Perinar (Channahon, Ill.-Minooka Community) and Jill Briner (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park and River Forest (Northeastern)) added double-doubles. Perinar tallied 10 kills to go along with a career-best 33 digs while Briner achieved 14 digs as well as 42 assists. As a team, the Eagles hit at a .189 clip.

Western's Rachel Sheffer recorded 15 kills as the top hitter for the Broncos team that hit. 195 throughout the match. Alysia Bzanik reached double figures in a pair of categories, totaling 14 kills and 19 digs.

The Green and White got off to a fast start in the first setting, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. With EMU still holding onto a three-point lead, 9-6, Western would rally to earn four of the next five points to tie the contest for the first time. The Eagles would respond with the exact same run throughout the following five points, grabbing the lead, 14-11. The set of runs continued as the Broncos took its first lead of the match, 16-15, courtesy of a 6-1 run. The see-saw set proceeded until broke a 23-23 tie to take the opener, 25-23.

Short and Crawshaw tallied five and four kills, respectively, to lead Eastern in set one as both Eagles hit at a .500 clip. Briner also added 13 assists, five digs and a pair of kills. EMU was out-hit in the first set, .304-.192, committing seven errors compared to just two by Western. The Broncos were paced by five kills from Gillian Asque.

Western carried the momentum over from the first set, racing out to a 7-3 lead in set two, forcing EMU Head Coach Kim Berrington to call timeout. The stoppage of play eventually paid off as the Eagles fought back to tie the set at 13. However, EMU would not take its first lead of the set as the Broncos rattled off six of the next seven points to grab a 19-14 advantage. WMU increased its lead, preventing a late set rally by the Green and White to take the second set by a 25-18 decision.

The Eagles' attacking percentage continued to dwindle, hitting at just a .036 clip in set two. Short and Crawshaw once again were the leaders in kills for EMU as the senior notched three while the junior collected two. For the Broncos, Baznik tallied eight kills while teammate Lena Oliver totaled 20 digs in the second set.

Coming out of the locker room, the Eagles were firing on all cylinders to begin the third set with an 8-3 advantage. Increasing the lead to six, 11-5, EMU caused WMU to call timeout to regroup. Despite the 75-second break, Eastern continued to pound kill after kill to the WMU side of the floor, raising its cushion to double digits. A Briner ace would complete a fantastic set by the Green and White as the Eagles forced a fourth set with its 25-14 set three victory. The stats showed the superb set as EMU hit at a .361 clip led by four kills apiece from Briner and Perinar.

The fourth set started out close, but Western would slowly climb to a 23-19 lead, putting Eagles' backs against the wall. However, the Eagles responded with three straight points to cut the lead to one, 23-22, and warrant a WMU timeout. The timeout paid off as two straight points secured the victory for Western with a 25-22 set four win.

Prior to the start of the match, Paige Roback (Maumee, Ohio-Notre Dame Academy) was honored for becoming the seventh Eagle in program history to amass 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. She and the rest of the Eagles continue MAC West Division play by hosting Northern Illinois Saturday night, Nov. 9, inside the Convocation Center. First serve between the two conference foes is set for 7 p.m. as Roback and Short will be honored on Senior Night.

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Team Stats

Erin Short

Megan Crawshaw

Stacey Perinar

Katie Krasowski

Eastern Michigan Athletics