Eastern Closes Out Thunder Invitational With Five Set Victory

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball returned to form Saturday, Aug. 30, after a loss to the University of Virginia. Later that evening, the Eagles (2-1) bounced back with a 3-2 victory over the University of Illinois-Chicago. Just like the 2014 opener, EMU came back from two sets down to pull out the victory (18-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-8).

Jill Briner (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park and River Forest (Northeastern)) paced the Eagles, posting her first triple-double of the 2014 campaign. The Oak Park, Ill. native hit .529 with 10 kills, while picking up 10 digs and a team-best 33 assists. In addition to Briner's success, Megan Crawshaw (Mattawan, Mich.-Mattawan) recorded her best offensive performance of the season with 14 kills and a .344 attack percentage, while Katie Krasowski (Oak Lawn, Ill.-Marist) notched 13 kills and Stacey Perinar (Channahon, Ill.-Minooka Community) posted 11. The Eagles were strong from the baseline, recording seven service aces. Natalie Folk (Saline, Mich.-Saline) tied a career-best with four of them, while Alyssa Davis (Kalamazoo, Mich.-Plainwell) served up two of her own.

Defensively, the Green and White was led by junior libero Corynne Smith (Norwalk, Ohio-St. Paul) who picked up 19 digs in the Eagles' second win of the season, while Briner posted 10 and Perinar added 12 of her own for a double-double.

Eastern dropped the opening set, 18-25. Crawshaw was the bright spot offensively for the Eagles. The Mattawan, Mich. native posted five kills with a .400 attack percentage, while Perinar added three kills and Krasowski notched a pair. As a team the Green and White hit .176, but the Flames offense was stout in the first frame. UIC hit .351 with 16 kills on 37 attempts, making just three errors. Illinois-Chicago had three athletes post four kills in the set.

The Eagles fell behind by two sets when UIC took the second frame, 22-25. Briner showed her offensive prowess in the second set, hitting .714 going 5-0-7 at the net. UIC came back to hit .286 again, while EMU could not get the offense going again, posting just a .128 attack percentage. The Green and White headed into the break trailing, 2-0.

EMU rebounded out of the locker room recording a set three win, 25-19. Set three was a positive outing for Crawshaw as she notched five kills on nine attempts with just one error, good for a .444 attack percentage. Briner and Perinar each notched a solo block to help EMU cut its deficit to just one set.

The Green and White was able to knot things up at two sets apiece by taking set four, 25-21. Eastern posted a .276 attack percentage to help the Eagles knot things up. Kelsey Jones (Reed City, Mich.-Reed City) and Krasowski each put up three kills, while Crawshaw and Perinar added a pair apiece. Briner posted 11 assists for her set-high.

Set five was the difference as EMU took the set 15-8. Krasowski led EMU with four kills, while Briner went a perfect 3-for-3 in her attack attempts allowing Eastern to walk away from the Thunder Invitational.

The Eagles continue the 2014 campaign Friday, Sept. 5, when they travel to Highland Heights, Ky. to compete in the Northern Kentucky University Volleyball Invitational. EMU will open the tournament with SIU Edwardsville at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Eastern Closes Out Thunder Invitational With Five Set Victory

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Team Stats

Megan Crawshaw

Katie Krasowski

Stacey Perinar

Jill Briner

Eastern Michigan Athletics