Eastern Michigan Athletics
Thursday, November 16
Oxford, Ohio
4:30 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
16-17
3
vs
1
Buffalo
15-13
1
2
3
4
F
Eastern Michigan
25
25
24
25
3
Buffalo
20
18
26
18
1
No. 8 EMU Upends No. 5 Buffalo to Open MAC Tournament
11/16/2017 7:27:00 PM | Volleyball
Eastern Michigan advances and will face No. 4 Ohio in the second round
OXFORD, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team continued its hot streak in the opening game of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, upending No. 5 University at Buffalo 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 24-26, 25-18) in Millett Hall at Miami University.
With the win, Eastern continues its trek to the MAC Tournament Championship Friday, Nov. 17 at 4:30 p.m. against No. 4 Ohio University.
Junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) led the Eagles with 17 kills in the match, while redshirt sophomore Cassie Haut (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary Catholic Central) finished with 13 and senior Samantha Falco (Antioch, Ill.-Antioch Community) added 10 with an outstanding .562 attack percentage. Setter Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) dished out 46 assists and libero Alyssa LaFace (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) led all players with 36 digs.
Eastern came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, hitting .333 as a team while limiting Buffalo to a .163 mark. Haut led the way with five kills and just one error, while Houston, Smith and Falco each added three kills. The Eagles had three team blocks and an outstanding 24 digs in the set.
The Eagles continued its strong play in the second set, attacking at a .222 clip while holding the Bulls to a .154 mark. EMU separated itself from UB thanks to a 4-1 run out of the media timeout to take a 19-14 lead.
EMU and Buffalo gave fans another exciting set in the third, with the Bulls needing extra points to keep the match alive with a 26-24 win. Eastern had more errors in the third set (9) than in the first two combined (7) and it led to the match extending to a fourth set.
Set four belonged to Eastern, as the No. 8 seed Eagles hit an eye-popping .469 in the set and didn't commit a single attack error. Once EMU took the lead at 4-3, the Eagles never relinquished the lead and won its first MAC Tournament match since 2013.
The win not only snapped a four-match losing streak against Buffalo, but it also marked the first in the MAC Tournament for coach Kimi Olson.
Eastern Michigan improved to a perfect 9-0 on the season when winning the first two sets of the match, and earned just its second win of the season when being out-blocked by its opponent. The Green and White also hit .287 in the match, marking its fourth-highest mark of the campaign.
With the win, Eastern continues its trek to the MAC Tournament Championship Friday, Nov. 17 at 4:30 p.m. against No. 4 Ohio University.
Junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) led the Eagles with 17 kills in the match, while redshirt sophomore Cassie Haut (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary Catholic Central) finished with 13 and senior Samantha Falco (Antioch, Ill.-Antioch Community) added 10 with an outstanding .562 attack percentage. Setter Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) dished out 46 assists and libero Alyssa LaFace (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) led all players with 36 digs.
Eastern came out firing on all cylinders in the first set, hitting .333 as a team while limiting Buffalo to a .163 mark. Haut led the way with five kills and just one error, while Houston, Smith and Falco each added three kills. The Eagles had three team blocks and an outstanding 24 digs in the set.
The Eagles continued its strong play in the second set, attacking at a .222 clip while holding the Bulls to a .154 mark. EMU separated itself from UB thanks to a 4-1 run out of the media timeout to take a 19-14 lead.
EMU and Buffalo gave fans another exciting set in the third, with the Bulls needing extra points to keep the match alive with a 26-24 win. Eastern had more errors in the third set (9) than in the first two combined (7) and it led to the match extending to a fourth set.
Set four belonged to Eastern, as the No. 8 seed Eagles hit an eye-popping .469 in the set and didn't commit a single attack error. Once EMU took the lead at 4-3, the Eagles never relinquished the lead and won its first MAC Tournament match since 2013.
The win not only snapped a four-match losing streak against Buffalo, but it also marked the first in the MAC Tournament for coach Kimi Olson.
Eastern Michigan improved to a perfect 9-0 on the season when winning the first two sets of the match, and earned just its second win of the season when being out-blocked by its opponent. The Green and White also hit .287 in the match, marking its fourth-highest mark of the campaign.
Team Stats
EMU
UB
Kills
59
55
Errors
16
24
Attempts
150
163
Hitting %
.287
.190
Points
66.0
64.0
Assists
55
52
Aces
3
3
Blocks
4.0
6.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
17
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballMB/RS
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
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