EMU Volleyball Returns to Convo for Taco Tuesday Battle

Volleyball vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Date	Tuesday, Sept. 17 \| 6 p.m.
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Convocation Center (8,751)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
Twitter	@EMUVolleyball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball looks to rebound from a tough weekend by welcoming Purdue Fort Wayne University to the Convocation Center Tuesday, Sept. 17 for a 7 p.m. bout. The match marks the 18th-consecutive year that the two schools have played one another in non-conference action.
   Tuesday's match against the Mastodons will be available on live stats at EMUEagles.com.

FRESHMAN BREAKOUT: Facing the Eagles' most daunting stretch of matches, freshman Alayna Jansky stepped up to the occasion. The outside hitter led Eastern in kills against 2018 NCAA Tournament teams Navy and Michigan, finishing with 19 while hitting .172.
   The Mukwonago, Wis. native set a career-high in kills against Navy Saturday, Sept. 14, with 12, and also registered her first career double-double by adding 14 digs. She followed that performance with a team-leading seven kills and eight digs against No. 24 Michigan Sunday, Sept. 15.

FIRE AWAY, FRANKI: Junior Franki Strefling has been one of the top all-around performers in the Mid-American Conference this season, leading the Eagles with 96 kills and a 3.20 kills-per-set mark, while also hitting at a strong .245. Her 102.5 total points and 3.42 points per set mark are both second for Eastern.
   The junior isn't just performing on the offensive end either. Strefling is second on the team with 107 digs, and has a 3.57 digs-per-set average. She also leads the team with a .947 reception percentage (min. 150 attempts).

SHAKA BRADAH: Eastern's resident Hawaiian, sophomore Julia Fisher, said 'sup dude' to the Midshipmen of Navy Saturday, Sept. 14, setting a new career-high in kills with 16.
   The right side attacker not only led the Eagles with her 16 kills, but also hit at a season-high .577 clip and had four block assists and three digs.

STAYING HAUT: Redshirt senior Cassie Haut showed off her versatility for Eastern during the Michigan Challenge, playing both middle blocker and right side attacker during the Eagles' 0-2 weekend. Facing off against fellow 2018 NCAA Tournament teams Navy and No. 24 Michigan, Haut had 12 kills (six each match), and was a menace to opposing attackers.
   The Monroe, Mich. Native had a season-high eight total blocks against the Midshipmen, finishing with two solo and six block assist, and added another two solo blocks against the Wolverines to wrap up the weekend.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Michigan and Purdue Fort Wayne have played at least once each year since 2001. It has been a while since EMU has found success in the friendly confines of the Convocation Center, having not defeated the Mastodons at home since a 3-0 win Sept. 9, 2014.
   The Eagles defeated the 'Dons, 3-1, in Head Coach Darcy Dorton's first season as an assistant coach in 2015 at the Indiana State Sycamore Holiday Inn Classic. Overall, Purdue Fort Wayne holds a narrow, 11-9 lead in the all-time series over Eastern.

1,000 KILL CASSIE: Redshirt senior Cassie Haut passed the 1,000 kill threshold with her 12-kill performance against McNeese State Saturday, Sept. 7. The Monroe, Mich. product is now just 127 kills from entering the top 10 in the Eastern Michigan record book.

COMING UP CAM: Senior Camille Schomer has stepped into the libero role for Eastern in 2019, and is leading the team in both total digs (114) and digs per set (3.80). She's also been able to provide to the offensive attack, already nearing a career-high with 44 assists on the campaign.

BORN FOR THE BAYOU: The Eastern Michigan duo of juniors, Franki Strefling and April Houston, were named to the All-Tournament team at the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Sept. 6-7.
   Strefling continued her torrid start to the 2019 campaign, putting up double-digits in both kills and digs in all three matches. The Niles, Mich. native had kill totals of 13, 11, and 13, while putting up 16, 11, and 16 digs.
   Houston was a menace up front, averaging 7.2 kills per match while hitting .314 for the weekend.

BYE BYE TO THE BEEHIVE STATE: Eastern's trip to the Beehive State of Utah did not treat the Eagles well, coming away with a 1-2 record out of opening weekend. EMU kicked off the Utah State Tournament with a hard-fought 3-2 win over the tournament host Aggies, but then fell 3-0 to Southern Utah and 3-1 to Xavier.
   Junior Franki Strefling proved to be an all-around force, collecting two double-doubles of kills and digs. The outside hitter started the season with a 16-kill, 20-dig performance against Utah State, and also garnered a 17-kill, 10-dig game against Xavier. The Niles, Mich. native had double-digit kills in all three matches for EMU.
   Joining in the offensive fun was redshirt senior Cassie Haut, who was named to the Utah State Tournament All-Tournament team after a fantastic weekend. The middle blocker hit .452 on the weekend with 39 kills and 12 total blocks. Her best all-around performance came in Eastern's win over Utah State when she had 15 kills, two aces, one digs, and six total blocks.

NEW FACES FROM NEW PLACES: Head Coach Darcy Dorton and her staff have worked hard to expand the area to find future Eagles since joining the program in 2015. In the last three years, the Eagles have brought in the first players in program history from Arizona (Carissa Spalt, Tucson, Ariz.), California (Abbey Kearney, Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Hawaii (Julia Fisher, Kailua, Hawaii), and Wisconsin (Alayna Jansky, Mukwonago, Wis.) while also bringing in the first players from Ohio (Samantha Basham, Granville, Ohio, and Kamryn Stilwell, Parma, Ohio) since 2016.

PRAIRIE RIDGE PIPELINE: Eastern Michigan has added two players in the past two seasons from Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, Ill. In 2018, defensive specialist/setter Mackenzie Garis joined the Eagles, and in 2019 setter Jayden Otto followed suit.

NEW BENCH BOSS: First year head coach Darcy Dorton is not a new face to the EMU program, having served as an assistant coach for the past four season. In her time in the Green and White, Dorton helped the program to its first ever MAC Touranment Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, and has seen five Eagles named All-MAC selections, including middle blockers Kelly Ferguson and Cassie Haut, who were Dorton's primary responsibility as an assistant.

A FAMILY AFFAIR: A native of Detroit, Mich., freshman Krista Blakely comes to EMU as a 'legacy' student-athlete. Blakely is the daughter of Werner Blakely and Donna (Stevenson) Davis, both of whom were student-athletes at Eastern. Blakely was a four-year letterwinner in football (1988-91), while Davis was a member of the 1990 EMU volleyball team that won a program-record 30 games.

KADERA JOINS THE STAFF: First year assistant coach Kassie Kadera joins Eastern as a former head coach from the NCAA DII realm, but is very familiar with the Mid-American Conference. Not only did Kadera spend a year as a volunteer assistant at Akron, but she is also a highly-decorated setter from the University of Toledo (2008-11). Kadera led the conference in assists-per-set in 2009 and ranked third in the league in each of her other four seasons, earning All-MAC Second Team honors three times.

ON THE HORIZON: The Eagles wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule at the Purdue Tournament, Sept. 20-21. Eastern is set to take on Murray State Friday at 12:30 p.m., and finish the day against Texas A&M - Corpus Christi at 5 p.m. The tournament wraps with a 3 p.m. match against host Purdue Saturday at 3 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Samantha Basham

Krista Blakely

Julia Fisher

Mackenzie Garis

Cassie Haut

April Houston

Alayna Jansky

Abbey Kearney

Jayden Otto

Camille Schomer

Carissa Spalt

Kamryn Stilwell

Franki Strefling

Eastern Michigan Athletics