EMU Volleyball Ends Season with Crucial Road Swing

Volleyball at Central Michigan & Kent State
Date	Thursday, Nov. 9 - Saturday, Nov. 11
Location	Mt. Pleasant, Mich \| Kent, Ohio
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	at Central Michigan \| at Kent State
Live Video	at Central Michigan \| at Kent State
Twitter	@EMU Volleyball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team hits the road for a crucial two-match swing to finish out the regular season, traveling to Central Michigan University Thursday, Nov. 9 and finishing the regular season at Kent State University Saturday, Nov. 11.

EMU (13-17, 5-9 MAC) played itself back into playoff contention by sweeping both Western Michigan and Northern Illinois on Senior Weekend. The Eagles can help themselves tremendously on Thursday, with Central Michigan (15-11, 7-7 MAC) sitting within striking distance in a tie for sixth place in the MAC standings. Saturday's match at Kent State (5-20, 3-11 MAC) is also a must-win for EMU.

MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE
Eastern is currently on the outside looking in at the MAC Tournament picture. With a record of 5-9 in conference play, the Eagles are in sole possession of 10th place in the standings. EMU gave itself a chance with two wins against opponents ahead of them in the standings last weekend, but needs to win both of its remaining matches and hope for some help from others for a chance at the MAC Tournament.

SENIOR SENDOFF
EMU celebrated the careers of the middle blocking duo of Samantha Falco (Antioch, Ill.-Antioch Community) and Kelly Ferguson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) last weekend with its first two-match MAC sweeps since the 2005 season. The two have teamed up to make the Eagles' front line defense one of the best in the Mid-American Conference, as EMU is first in blocks per set (2.40) and second in opponent attack percentage (.174).

Falco smashed 16 kills on 42 attempts and had just four errors in the two wins for the Green and White, and also added to her MAC-leading block total with nine. Her final kill in the Convocation Center secured the Eagles' 25-13 victory in the sweep of the Huskies.

Ferguson had a fantastic showing herself, totaling 15 kills in 36 chances with just three errors for a .333 attack percentage. The Lemont, Ill. native also added eight blocks, two digs and an ace over the weekend.

CARRYING THE LOAD
Eastern junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) has been forced to carry the offensive load in the second half of the MAC season, and has responded by averaging 12.0 kills and 9.6 digs over the last eight matches. The Solon, Iowa native leads EMU in kills (321), points (381), and aces (33), while adding 292 digs and 50 total blocks.

Redshirt sophomore Cassie Haut (Monroe, Mich.-St. Mary Catholic Central) upped her production over the last eight matches as well, averaging nine kills per match and playing all six positions on the court for the first time while at Eastern. The Monroe, Mich. native has totaled nine aces and also averaged over six digs per match in that time frame, registering her first career double-double with a 10-kill, 13-dig performance at Ball State, Oct. 28.

Redshirt junior Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland) has also seen her production rise as the Eagles have switched from a 6-2 to a 5-1 system over the last few weeks of play. She's put up 27.25 assists per game with a 7.78 assists per set average.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE OPPONENTS
Eastern Michigan holds a 25-58 all-time record against Central Michigan, with the Chippewas winning the last four meetings between the in-state rivals. CMU rallied past EMU earlier this season, coming from down 2-1 to take an exciting five-set match. Eastern will be trying to win at Central for the first time since the 2013 season.

Eastern has had far better success against Kent State in its history, compiling a 34-20-1 record all-time. The Eagles haven't won at Kent since the 2013 season, and are 4-6 on the road in the series since 1999. The Golden Flashes won last season's matchup in Ypsilanti, 3-1.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Redshirt junior Mallory Rajewski continues to topple milestones in her third season with the Green and White, passing the 1,900 assist plateau against Ball State Oct. 28 and moving into the EMU top eight in all-time assists. She now trails Lisa Hayes by 179 assists for seventh place. The Midland, Mich. native is averaging 6.45 assists per set and has six matches of 30 or more assists on the season. To add to her distribution prowess, Rajewski is also averaging 2.42 digs per set and has a team-high 16 double-doubles on the season. After a 2015 campaign in which she tallied the fifth-most assists by a freshman (747), Rajewski totaled 479 assists in 2016 and already has 709 in 2017.

Also making her way up the Eastern Michigan record books this season is junior Jordan Smith, who collected her 800th kill Oct. 28 at Ball State. The Solon, Iowa native has averaged over 233 kills per season in her first two years, and is already at 321 in 2017. She is 138 kills away from joining the Eagles' top 15.

WHERE THEY RANK
The Eagles are in the top half of the MAC in seven team categories, including first in blocks per set (2.50), second in opponent hitting percentage (.174), fifth in digs per set (16.65) and sixth in hitting percentage (.187), assists per set (11.9), kills per set (12.7), and service aces per set (1.23).

Several individuals are in the top 10 of conference rankings as well, including Samantha Falco and Kelly Ferguson, who are second and fourth in blocks per set, respectively. Ferguson is fourth in the conference in attack percentage, libero Alyssa LaFace (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) is seventh in digs per set average, and outside hitter Jordan Smith is ninth in service aces per set.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern Michigan awaits the results of this weekend's games to determine whether they will make the 2017 Mid-American Conference Tournament, hosted by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Fans can follow the games via live stats through the links found on the volleyball schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Additionally, the action on the court will be live-tweeted from the team's account, @EMUVolleyball.

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Players Mentioned

Samantha Falco

Kelly Ferguson

Cassie Haut

Alyssa LaFace

Mallory Rajewski

Jordan Smith

Eastern Michigan Athletics