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EMU Volleyball Suffers 3-2 Setback at Michigan State
8/27/2022 2:47:00 PM | Volleyball
EMU used a late rally to force a fifth set against the 'Power Five' institution
Highlight Video
EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team closed out its time at the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational today, Aug. 27, inside the Breslin Student Event Center on the campus of Michigan State University. The Green and White suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of the host team, Michigan State University.
Sophomore Kendall Burk (Bloomington, Ind.- University High School) was impressive in her debut. Burk led the Eagles in service aces with a match-high four, and tied junior Olivia Szylar (Itasca, Ill.- Lake Park) for the team lead in assists, with 19. Senior Samantha Basham (Granville, Ohio-Newark Catholic) added to the offense with a match-high 11 kills in the nail-bitter. On the defensive end, senior Raeven Chase (Toronto, Ontario- Michael Power Saint Joseph Catholic) led the team in total blocks (4) with one block solo and three block assists.
How It Happened – Match 1
SET 1 | The Eagles found themselves in an early deficit, dropping a tough first set 25-14. Eastern Michigan trailed by as many as 11 points as Michigan State never surrendered the lead in a set that was tied up just once before the Spartans took control.
SET 2 | Eastern Michigan tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 set-two win. The Eagles took control of the set lead early on at 2-1 and held the lead the rest of the way. Eastern Michigan led by as many as 12 points at 21-9 before closing out the set. The Eastern Michigan offense also got a boost from three aces in the stanza.
SET 3 | The Green and White dropped set three, putting the Eagles in a 2-1 deficit. The Eagles lost the set 25-23 despite a solid showing on the attacking end. Eastern Michigan registered a .333 attack percentage with 12 kills in the set loss.
SET 4 | The team then responded to win set four 25-22 to force a fifth set. The Eagles survived a back-and-forth set to win in a stanza that featured seven lead changes and was tied 11 times. Neither team was able to grab a lead larger than four points along the way. Eastern Michigan also supplemented their offense with three aces in the set.
SET 5 | EMU was on the wrong side of a back-and-forth match, winning the second and fourth sets, but losing the first, third and fifth, which they dropped by the score of 15-8, to fall in the match. The Eagles fell behind by as many as seven points before losing the fifth set.
Mach Notes - Match 1
» Burk had a match-high four aces in her career debut as a sophomore. Additionally, the Bloomington, Ind. native registered a career-high 19 assists in the match, playing all five sets. The four service aces is the most by any Eagle in a match this season.
» Basham had a team-high 11 kills for Eastern Michigan and her second block assist of the season to improve her total blocks number to 91 – nine shy from her next milestone of 100 blocks.
» Eastern Michigan got a match-high 18 digs from freshman Emma McMahon (Monroeville, Ind.-Bellmont). The rookie improved upon her career-high eight digs, which was previous set against the University of Louisiana, Aug. 26.
» Making her career debut with Burk was teammate Mackenzie Gross (Grand Haven, Mich.- Grand Haven). Gross tallied both career-high block assists (2) as well as a career-high in points (5).
Historical Notes
» The Eagles historical record against the Spartans drops to 8-21 after the loss. The last time the Green and White forced a fifth set against Michigan State was in a home victory Sept. 11, 2010, when EMU recovered from a 2-1 setback to win it all in the fifth.
» Chase's single block solo in the match adds to her record-holding total (69) to continue the veteran's three-match block streak on the season.
Up Next
The Ypsilanti, Mich.-based team will continue their non-conference road slate Friday, Sept. 2, against Purdue Fort Wayne at 3 p.m. before taking on a pair of matches the next day versus the tournament host, Xavier University at 12:30 p.m. and the University of Virginia at 4 p.m.
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