Volleyball Welcomes Fort Wayne for Home Opener Tuesday

Volleyball at Towson Tigers Invitational
Date	Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017
Location	Ypsilanti, Mich. - Convocation Center
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	vs. Fort Wayne
Live Video	vs. Fort Wayne
Twitter	@EMU Volleyball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team plays its first match of the 2017 season within the friendly confines of the Convocation Center against Fort Wayne, Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m.

After a busy weekend which saw the Eagles go 4-1and improve their record to 7-5 on the season, EMU plays one match at home before hitting the road for its final early-season tournament of the season.

Fort Wayne comes into the mid-week matchup with a record of 6-5 on the season. The Mastadons have faced three Mid-American Conference teams in the early part of the regular season and have a record of 2-1 (def. Akron 3-1, def. Toledo 3-1, def. by Ball State, 0-3).

Freshman Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) was named to the Towson Tiger Invitational all-tournament team after turning in an average of 2.89 kills per set and also averaging 2.50 digs per set. Strefling also chipped in the second-most blocks for the weekend with 16, and tied for the most on the team with seven aces.

Eastern Michigan is now one win away from matching its season total from a year ago. EMU is 6-3 on the season in neutral site matches and is 0-2 in away bouts.

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.

ALL-TIME AGAINST FORT WAYNE: EMU and Fort Wayne have squared off 18 times all-time, playing evenly over the course of history with the Mastadons and Eagles each winning nine games. The Eagles have won three of the four matchups since the 2013 season, but Fort Wayne took last year's contest, 3-0. Eastern Michigan is 3-4 against Fort Wayne in the Convocation Center. EMU won the first-ever meeting between the two teams on September 28, 1979, 2-0.

CLIMBING THE RANKS: The 2017 season serves as a special opportunity for setter Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland), as the junior is quickly climbing the Eagle ranks in career assists. Coming into her third season, Rajewski currently sits at 12th all-time in total assits with 1,475. The Midland, Mich. native only needs 13 assists to move into the 11th-place spot, currently held by Alyssa Davis. 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 217 in 2017.

RECORD SETTING WEEKEND: Not only were the Eagles able to run a win streak to five games (the team's best mark since 2013), EMU also had several individuals set new career-bests. Freshman Franki Strefling had 17 kills against undefeated Towson, a career-high, and also recorded 13 digs to register her first collegiate double-double. EMU also saw the return of Alyssa LaFace (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) over the weekend, as the junior stepped in at libero and promptly averaged 4.85 digs per set and set a new personal-best with 34 digs in EMU's match against undefeated Towson.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan travels to Chicago, Ill. for three matches at the Chicago State Tournament, beginning Friday, Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. The Eagles take on Southeast Missouri State, Chicago State and Louisiana Lafayette during the two-day event.

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Players Mentioned

Alyssa LaFace

Mallory Rajewski

Franki Strefling

Eastern Michigan Athletics