Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
0-1,0-0MAC
SIUE
1-0,0-0OVC
Volleyball Opens 2023 Season at CEFCU Invitational
8/25/2023 6:31:00 PM | Volleyball
Eagles drop two; Kivett earns first career double-double
MATCH 1 | EMU 1, SIUE 3 (22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 21-25)
MATCH 2 | EMU 2, IUPUI 3 (25-15, 25-21, 22-25, 24-26, 12-15)
PEORIA, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team lifted the lid on the 2023 season at the CEFCU Invitational hosted by Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. The day started with the Eagles (0-2, 0-0 MAC) dropping a close four-setter to the Cougars of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (1-0, 0-0 OVC), Aug. 25, in the Renaissance Coliseum. The second match saw the Green and White take an early 2-0 lead before falling to IUPUI (1-0, 0-0 HL) in the next three sets to move EMU's record to 0-2.
Match 1
Callie Minshew (Brandon, Miss./Brandon/Mississippi State) finished with 13 kills on the match to lead the Eagles' offense while finishing with a hitting percentage of .300, the best of any Eagle. Defensively, EMU had two players reach double figures in digs as Bella Hommes (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Northern) led with 12, while Hannah Kivett (Chandler, Ind./Castle Florida Gulf Coast) received 10.
Match 2
The Eagles attack was once again paced by Minshew, who finished with 14 kills on the match, 27 on the day, and by Abigail Stanford (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri Valley/Ashland), who had 10 while hitting .286. Defensively, the Eagles had three players reach double figures in digs, including Hommes' 22, 10 from Hannah Howard (Toledo, Ohio/ Saint Ursula Academy), and 10 more from Emma McMahon (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont). From the front row, Stanford contributed six blocks and Elle McLoughlin (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri Valley/Ashland) added five rejections.
QUICK SERVES:
» Four transfers donned the Green and White for the first time, three of which earned starts. Kivett, Angel Baylark (Burlington, Iowa/Burlington/University of Tennessee-Martin), Stanford, and McLoughlin appeared in their first match as an Eagle at EMU with McLoughlin, Baylark, and Stanford earning their first starts of the season against SIUE. Collectively, the group of transfers accounted for 36 percent of the offense's production as each member collected at least one kill on the day.
» Two freshman Eagles made their career debuts as Howard appeared in eight sets, collecting 14 digs, two assists, and three service aces, while Ava Siefke (Cincinnati, Ohio/ Saint Ursula Academy played in six sets, earning nine kills, one assists, one block and two digs.
» The Green and White had two players reach double-digit kills in the setback.
» Kivett recorded a career-high 17 assists and 10 digs in the setback, marking her first career double-double.
» Leading the Eagles in kills in both matches was Minshew with 13 against the Cougars, and 14 against the Jaguars.
» Hommes' 12 digs against SIUE and 22 versus IUPUI led the Green and White in both matches.
How It Happened – Match 1
SET 1 | The Eagles fought back from a seven-point 19-12 hole, but SIUE held on to win the first set 25-22.
SET 2 | Eastern Michigan then dropped the second set 25-20 to fall behind in the match two sets to none. The Cougars held the upper hand the entirety of the set.
SET 3 | Eastern Michigan fought back to pull within two sets to one, winning their first set of the 2023 season in the third stanza. The Eagles led from the opening point on in the set to earn a 25-19 victory over the Cougars. EMU opened up as much as a 10-point lead at 18-8 before finishing off the set.
SET 4 | Despite great efforts, the Green and White couldn't build off the set-three victory and fell in set four 25-21 to drop the match. The Eagles trailed by as many as 12 points as SIU-Edwardsville grabbed the advantage for good at 3-2, while EMU struggled to recover in a set that was tied up just once before the Cougars took over the lead.
Mach Notes - Match 1
» Kivett recorded her first career double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs. Last season, the double-double mark was reached a total of eight times by three different Eagles (Sabrina Gremm (4), Kendall Burk (3), Raeven Chase (1)).
» Minshew led the team in kills with 13, four shy of her season high 17, set twice in the 2019 season as a Bulldog.
» Hommes had a team-high three aces in the match. As a junior, Hommes led the Green and White in services aces five times. Her season-high four aces was set twice last season, first against Miami University, Oct. 15,2022, then again against Northern Illinois University, Nov. 11, 2022.
» Eastern Michigan attackers were helped by a collective 26 assists from Kivett (17) and McLoughlin (9).
» Mackenzie Gross (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven) recorded a career-high seven kills, topping her previous six set on three occasions.
» Baylark attempted to protect the net in the fall to SIUE, coming away with a team-leading three blocks (1 BS, 2 BA).
» The Eagles defeated the Cougars in service aces as the Green and White recorded seven to the opposing four from SIUE.
How It Happened – Match 2
SET 1 | The Eagles took control of the first set with a lead at 2-1 and never trailed on their way to win 25-15. Eastern Michigan led by as many as 11 points at 24-13 before closing out the set. EMU also supplemented their offense with three aces in the opening set and saw a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked five IUPUI attacks in the stanza.
SET 2 | Eastern Michigan took set two 25-21 to quickly grab a 2-0 lead. The Eagles never trailed by more than five points and grabbed the advantage for good at 15-14 after erasing a one-point deficit, the Jaguars largest lead of the set. This came in a set that featured nine ties and five lead changes. The team's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking six IUPUI attacks in the set.
SET 3 | IUPUI avoided an early loss with a set-three win to make it a 2-1 match. The Eagles fell behind on the first point and never clawed back into the lead before losing the set 25-22.
SET 4 | Eastern Michigan then dropped their second straight set 26-24 to bring the match level at two sets apiece. The Eagles fell in a tight set, losing in a stanza that was tied 11 times and had eight lead changes.
SET 5 | Despite winning the first two sets, EMU couldn't take another set on its way to losing the match. The Eagles had a lead early in the set at 4-4 before IUPUI took over.
Game Notes – Match 2
» The Green and White had two players reach double-digit kills in the setback. Minshew led with 14 while Stanford put up 10 – one shy of her career high 11 set against Tiffin, Nov. 23, 2022.
» Minshew led the Eagles in kills once more for the second straight contest as she produced 14 against the Jaguars – one more than she did in the previous match. Last season, the graduate student led the team in kills in just two appearances, versus Saint Louis University, Sept. 9, 2022 (13), and then again at Ball State University, Oct. 1, 2022 (8). After today's contests, Minshew has already reached the same mark.
» Stanford led the team in hitting percentage, producing a .286 with 10 kills on 28 total attempts.
» Nine different Eagles registered a single dig with Hommes' 22 leading the team. Along with Hommes, two other players reached double-digit digs in McMahon (10) and Howard (10).
» McLoughlin assisted on 36 kills to lead the Green and White for the first time in her career. The 36 were shy three of her career-high 39 set against Salem, Aug. 24, 2022.
» Howard registered a career-high and team-leading three aces in the loss. Additionally, her 10 digs against the Jaguars trump her four set during her debut earlier in the day.
» Both Siefke (8) and Gross (8) earned career-highs in kills with Gross also reaching career-highs in digs (4) and points (10.5).
» The front line strung together 19 total blocks against the Jaguars offense to IUPUI's opposing five.
Historical Notes
» The Eagles defeated the Cougars in service aces as the Green and White recorded seven to the opposing four from SIUE. The last time the Eagles aced their opponent seven or more times was in a five-set victory at the University of Akron, Oct. 29, 2022.
» Two players reached the double-digit kill mark in the second match. The last time EMU saw two or more players reach double-digit kills in a single match was the five-set thriller at Akron, Oct. 29, 2022.
» Eight different Eagles recorded at least one helper in the match against IUPUI. The last time an EMU roster was remotely close to achieving this feat was last season when seven different Eagles recorded at least one assist in the Sept. 3, 2022 setback to Xavier University.
» The Eagles produced a total of 19 stops against the Jaguars offense. The last time the team reached 19 blocks in a single match was in a sweep over Miami University, Oct. 15, 2022, when the team earned 20.
Up Next
The Green and White will remain in Peoria, Ill. as they take on the tournament host, the Bradley Braves, Saturday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. CT inside the Renaissance Coliseum.
