Eastern Michigan Athletics
Saturday, October 7
Convocation Center
5 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
10-12, 2-4MAC
2
vs
3
Ohio
9-11, 3-3MAC
1
2
3
4
5
F
Ohio
25
24
25
27
15
3
Eastern Michigan
23
26
19
29
13
2
EMU Volleyball Drops Another Tight Match Against Ohio
10/7/2017 8:40:00 PM | Volleyball
For the second consecutive match, the Eagles fall in five
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team played its second straight five-set match in Mid-American Conference play Saturday evening, taking Ohio University down to the wire before coming up just short, 3-2 (23-25, 26-24, 19-25, 29-27, 13-15), Oct. 7 at the Convocation Center.
Junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) put on an impressive display on both sides of the stat sheet, finishing with a double-double of 20 kills and 22 digs. Freshman Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) put up a double-double of her own with 15 kills and 13 digs. Both setters finished the game with double-doubles, as Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) turned in a team-high in both assists (28) and digs (32), and Riley Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind.-Perry Meridian) registered her second double-double of the season with 26 assists and 10 digs.
Rajewski's 32 digs were a new career-high for the setter, as were Smith's 22. Senior Kelly Ferguson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) had 14 kills and hit .414 for the match.
The Eagles opened the first set with a .146 attack percentage and could not overcome an Ohio attack that hit .213 in the set. The back-and-forth battle saw the Bobcats pull ahead late despite multiple rally attempts by EMU down the stretch. Eastern ended up dropping the opener 25-23.
Set two was highlighted by EMU's run at the end of the game, rallying past OU to take a 26-24 win into the break. Facing set point at 24-21 and a two-set deficit looming large, the Eagles rallied behind the service of Smith, using a 5-0 run to erase the deficit and even the match at 1-1. Two consecutive kills from the back row by Smith sealed the victory.
Ohio came out of the break on a mission, grabbing the lead from the first point and never relinquishing it the rest of the match. The Bobcats had four total blocks in the set and held the Eagles to just a .116 attack percentage, taking down EMU 25-19.
Eastern Michigan struck back with an impressive win of its own in the fourth set, taking down Ohio 29-27. Ferguson was spectacular in the set, finishing with five kills and a .571 attack percentage to go along with three total blocks (two solo, one assist). Smith and Strefling also added five kills apiece in the fourth.
The deciding set of the match gave fans an exciting back-and-forth that went down right to the very end. Ohio held a slim lead throughout the final set, but Eastern Michigan tied the score at 12-12 and forced OU into a timeout. In the end, the Bobcats pulled ahead and took the final set, 15-13.
EMU finished with more kills (69 to 64), assists (66 to 63), and digs (110 to 107) than OU, but the Bobcats outhit the Eagles (.160 to .156), held a slight edge in total blocks (14 to 13), and had a glaring edge in aces (8 to 2).
Eastern Michigan is back in action Friday, Oct. 13 when it travels to Bowling Green for a 5 p.m. match. The Eagles wrap up MACtion for the weekend with a 5 p.m. match at Miami, Saturday, Oct. 14.
Junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) put on an impressive display on both sides of the stat sheet, finishing with a double-double of 20 kills and 22 digs. Freshman Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) put up a double-double of her own with 15 kills and 13 digs. Both setters finished the game with double-doubles, as Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) turned in a team-high in both assists (28) and digs (32), and Riley Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind.-Perry Meridian) registered her second double-double of the season with 26 assists and 10 digs.
Rajewski's 32 digs were a new career-high for the setter, as were Smith's 22. Senior Kelly Ferguson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) had 14 kills and hit .414 for the match.
The Eagles opened the first set with a .146 attack percentage and could not overcome an Ohio attack that hit .213 in the set. The back-and-forth battle saw the Bobcats pull ahead late despite multiple rally attempts by EMU down the stretch. Eastern ended up dropping the opener 25-23.
Set two was highlighted by EMU's run at the end of the game, rallying past OU to take a 26-24 win into the break. Facing set point at 24-21 and a two-set deficit looming large, the Eagles rallied behind the service of Smith, using a 5-0 run to erase the deficit and even the match at 1-1. Two consecutive kills from the back row by Smith sealed the victory.
Ohio came out of the break on a mission, grabbing the lead from the first point and never relinquishing it the rest of the match. The Bobcats had four total blocks in the set and held the Eagles to just a .116 attack percentage, taking down EMU 25-19.
Eastern Michigan struck back with an impressive win of its own in the fourth set, taking down Ohio 29-27. Ferguson was spectacular in the set, finishing with five kills and a .571 attack percentage to go along with three total blocks (two solo, one assist). Smith and Strefling also added five kills apiece in the fourth.
The deciding set of the match gave fans an exciting back-and-forth that went down right to the very end. Ohio held a slim lead throughout the final set, but Eastern Michigan tied the score at 12-12 and forced OU into a timeout. In the end, the Bobcats pulled ahead and took the final set, 15-13.
EMU finished with more kills (69 to 64), assists (66 to 63), and digs (110 to 107) than OU, but the Bobcats outhit the Eagles (.160 to .156), held a slight edge in total blocks (14 to 13), and had a glaring edge in aces (8 to 2).
Eastern Michigan is back in action Friday, Oct. 13 when it travels to Bowling Green for a 5 p.m. match. The Eagles wrap up MACtion for the weekend with a 5 p.m. match at Miami, Saturday, Oct. 14.
Team Stats
OHIO
EMU
Kills
64
69
Errors
30
34
Attempts
212
225
Hitting %
.160
.156
Points
86.0
84.0
Assists
63
66
Aces
8
2
Blocks
14.0
13.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
20
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
8
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Players Mentioned
MB
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