Eagles Flock South to Take On a Pair of MAC East Opponents

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- After completing a four-match homestand with a 3-1 record, the Eastern Michigan University women's volleyball team returns to the road and will head to the state of Ohio for a pair of contests with Mid-American Conference East Division foes. The Eagles (11-8, 3-3 MAC) will head to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami University and to Bowling Green, Ohio for a match with Bowling Green State University.

EMU will square off with the Redhawks (12-7, 4-2 MAC) Friday night, Oct. 16, at Millett Hall. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. Miami is coming off of a 3-0 loss to Northern Illinois University and is looking for their first win versus a MAC West opponent. The match will mark the 52nd in the history between the two programs.

The Green and White will then travel closer to the Michigan-Ohio border to square off with the Falcons (5-14, 1-5 MAC) Saturday, Oct. 17, from the Stroh Center at 7 p.m. It will be the 57th time that the two squads will have met on the court.

READING THE REDHAWKS: Miami has been dominant in the series between the Eagles and Redhawks. MU owns a 36-15 lead in the 51 match history. Last year, the Green and White hosted Miami, Oct. 17, and were swept by the Redhawks.

Miami comes into Friday's match winning three of its last four matches, while also nabbing victories in seven of its last nine. Paige Hill leads the Miami offense at 2.61 kills per set, while also ranking third in the conference in hitting percentage, posting a .336 attack percentage. Hill is also 10th in the MAC with 0.90 blocks per set. The Redhawks split time at setter between Mackenzie Zielinski and Krista Brakauskas, while Maeve McDonald is the primary libero, picking up 4.06 digs per frame, good for eighth in the Mid-American Conference.

FOCUS ON THE FALCONS: Despite still having a losing record against the Bowling Green State Falcons, the Eagles have had significantly more success against BGSU. EMU trails in the series, 30-26, but dropped the Falcons easily last season. Eastern Michigan defeated Bowling Green, 3-0, in the only match between the two last year, Oct. 18.

The Falcons are entering Saturday night's match riding a three-game losing streak, where it lost to Buffalo, Miami and Western Michigan. In fact, BGSU has only won two of its previous 12 matches. Jelena Sunjic is the leader of the Bowling Green offense, posting 3.82 kills per set, which is third in the conference. Katie Scholten sets up the offense, notching 9.44 assists per frame, while Alyssa Maloney has emerged as one of the best servers and blockers in the MAC. Maloney posts the fifth most aces (0.38) and seventh most blocks (1.03) in the conference. Finally, Kallie Seimet posts the 10th most digs in the MAC with 3.99 digs per set, which leads the Falcons.

MAKING HER MARK: With her solid weekend, senior outside hitter Stacey Perinar has upped her career kill total to 984. With her next 16 kills, Perinar will become the 14th Eagle in the history of EMU volleyball to reach the 1,000-kill plateau. She will also be the first since the 2013 campaign when both Paige Roback and Erin Short each notched their 1,000th kills as seniors.

CHASING 2,000: Senior libero Corynne Smith has put together an extremely successful career at Eastern Michigan. Smith is already fourth on the all-time digs list and will move into third with just 53 more digs this season. Smith currently has 1,845 digs for her career. If she can grab 155 more this year, the Norwalk, Ohio native will become just the third student-athlete in EMU histroy to record 2,000 digs.

SOLVING THE SETTER DISPUTE: Heading into Mid-American Conference play, the Eagles were splitting time between senior Alyssa Davis and redshirt freshman Mallory Rajewski at the setter position. Following running a two-setter offense through the first 15 matches of the 2015 season, it looks as though Rajewski has earned the nod at setter, starting each match since the Oct. 1 contest versus Central Michigan. Through four matches, the Green and White is 3-1 and the Midland, Mich. native is averaging 11.71 assists per frame which would lead the conference as Ohio's Abby Gilleland posts a league-best 10.31.

ANOTHER WEEKLY HONOR FOR SMITH: Senior libero Corynne Smith was rewarded by the Mid-American Conference with her third MAC West Defensive Player of the Year award, Oct. 13. Smith helped the Eagles to a perfect 2-0 weekend, Oct. 9-10, to help the Green and White celebrate the university's 95th annual homecoming. Smith posted a .971 reception percentage throughout the weekend, making just one reception error in 34 attempts. Her exceptional receiving play was highlighted by a total of 41 digs in EMU's two MAC matches. Overall, Smith averaged 5.86 digs per set, including posting 7.25 per set in Eastern's four-set win over Ball State. Her 5.86 digs per set over the weekend is more than 0.40 digs per frame better than the MAC's current leader's overall number this season.

OLSON LOOKING TO JOIN ELITE COMPANY: First-year Head Coach Kimi Olson is the eighth coach in Eastern Michigan volleyball history. Currently sporting a 11-8 record, Olson is attempting to become just the third coach to open their tenure by putting together a winning record in the first season. Dennis Caldwell, EMU's head coach in its inaugural season of varsity volleyball, posted a 15-10-2 record in 1976, while eight-year head coach Nona Richardson posted a 14-11 record during the 1988 campaign.

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Players Mentioned

Alyssa Davis

Stacey Perinar

Mallory Rajewski

Corynne Smith

Eastern Michigan Athletics