Eagles Get Clipped in Five Sets by Samford

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. (EMUEagles.com) – Despite being its offensive performance of the season, the Eastern Michigan University volleyball team dropped a five set match to Samford University Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Northern Kentucky University Volleyball Invitational. After winning two of the first three sets, the Eagles (3-2) saw the Bulldogs (3-2) take the final two and secure the victory.

Stacey Perinar (Channahon, Ill.-Minooka Community) continued her stellar play to start the 2014 campaign on Saturday. The junior outside hitter lit up the scoreboard with her third double-double of the season, rattling off a team-high 15 kills and picking up 11 digs. Katie Krasowski (Oak Lawn, Ill.-Marist) tied her career-high with 14 kills, while hitting .458 and Megan Crawshaw (Mattawan, Mich.-Mattawan) came up with 13 kills and a .367 hitting percentage. Combined the two middle blockers hit .407 with 29.3 percent of the Eagles' kills. Jill Briner (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park and River Forest (Northeastern)) put up a season-best 49 assists in the contest.

On the other side of the net, Eastern saw Corynne Smith (Norwalk, Ohio-St. Paul) lead the squad with 22 digs. As a team, the Eagles recorded eight team blocks, four assisted by way of Crawshaw. Michaela Reesor was the difference for Samford. She came up with a .358 attack percentage and 25 kills in the contest.

Eastern won the opening frame, 25-21, and put on an offensive clinic. Krasowski led the charge with a 5-for-5 hitting performance, while Perinar picked up five kills on 10 attempts with just one error. Crawshaw added a pair of kills and Briner, Kelsey Jones (Reed City, Mich.-Reed City) and Devon Murray (Shelby, Ohio-Shelby) added one. An addition, Briner put up 14 of her assists, while Crawshaw had three of her block assists in the set. As a team, EMU hit .387 with 15 kills on 31 attempts and just three errors.

With a one set lead, Eastern saw a tight fought second frame fall in favor of Samford, 23-25. The Eagles continued to play sold offense, hitting .250, including a 4-for-7 attack performance from Crawshaw, but the Bulldogs had a trio of athletes put up for kills each to knot up the match at one apiece.

The Eagles came out of the halftime break with a fiery third set. Crawshaw again led the charge going 5-for-12 without an error, good for a .417 attack percentage. Krasowski and Perinar chipped in with three kills each for the 25-19 set win. Defensively, the Green and White held Samford to just a .111 attack percentage in order to take the 2-1 advantage.

Set four proved to be a struggle for EMU as it fell, 17-25, and saw an again tied up match at two sets. Samford came out firing in the fourth frame, hitting .355. Gabbi Greenwald and Michaela Reesor each posted five kill frames for the Bulldogs. On Eastern's side, the Eagles struggled at the net, posting just one block and a hitting percentage of .172.

EMU finished the match on a sour note, hitting just .150, while Samford completed the contest with a .333 attack percentage in the fifth set. Perinar and Krasowski did their part with three and two kills, respectively but the Eagles couldn't get things going and saw Samford walk away with a 15-12 set final.

The Green and White finish up the 2014 Northern Kentucky University Volleyball Invitational Saturday evening, Sept. 6, at 6:30 p.m. The Eagles will square off with the host school, NKU, for the second time in the two programs' histories.

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Team Stats

Stacey Perinar

Katie Krasowski

Megan Crawshaw

Jill Briner

Players Mentioned

Jill Briner

Megan Crawshaw

Kelsey Jones

Katie Krasowski

Devon Murray

Stacey Perinar

Corynne Smith

Eastern Michigan Athletics