Flashes Swoop Past RedHawks in Regular Season Finale
11/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
KENT, Ohio -- The Kent State volleyball team gave their five departing seniors a memorable gift today (Nov. 13) in their final match in front of their supportive home crowd at the M.A.C. Center.
The Golden Flashes (13-18, 6-10 MAC) knocked off Miami, 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-12, 25-18) in a Mid-American Conference East Division match that marked the close of the 2010 regular season. The team honored Liva Brivule (Riga, Latvia), Brianne Wille (Metamora, Ill.), Celia Sabo (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Lauren Jones (Kentwood, Mich.) and Kristen Barr (Bowling Green, Ohio) for their hard work and dedication to Kent State volleyball following the match.
The victory ran Kent State's winning streak to three in a row and punched the program's ticket to the conference tournament as the MAC's ninth-seeded team. The Flashes will travel west to take on eighth-seeded Toledo Tuesday (Nov. 16) at 7 p.m. in first round action. The Rockets finished the regular season with an overall mark of 11-16 and a conference record of 6-10. The winner advances to the MAC quarterfinals where top seed and regular season champion Ball State awaits. The quarterfinals through the championship match will be held at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, Ohio (Nov. 19-21). The conference's tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Kent State's triumph over the RedHawks (10-19, 5-11) completed the program's first sweep of Miami since the 2003 campaign. The Flashes also swept the season series over Bowling Green with a 3-0 sweep Friday (Nov. 12), marking the first time Kent State has ever swept a home-and-home series over both the Falcons and RedHawks in the same season.
The Golden Flashes' offensive attack was white hot for the third straight match, as Kent State posted an attack percentage of .302 -- the third consecutive match the team has hit over .300. Sophomore Meredith Paskert (Brecksville, Ohio) led the charge with 16 kills while Brivule joined her in double figures with 13. Freshman Aleksandra Nowak (Damnica, Poland) recorded 47 set assists. Kent State's defense showed its typical toughness, tallying 14 total team blocks. Sabo posted nine total blocks (nine assisted) while Brivule chipped in six (six assisted). Barr and Jones piled up double-digit digs with 17 and 14, respectively.
Miami put the pressure on Kent State in the early going, taking a 7-2 lead to open the first set. Two kills by Jones and junior Maigan Larsen (Lancaster, Wis.) and a double block by Sabo and Nowak helped Kent State pull to within one at 11-10. The RedHawks retaliated with an 8-1 run to take a 19-11 advantage. Kent State clawed back, though, pulling to within three courtesy of a double block by Jones and sophomore Kathy Krupa (Burbank, Ill.), kills by Paskert and Krupa and three Miami attack errors. The Flashes pulled to within two at 22-20 with a double block by Paskert and Sabo, but Miami stopped the bleeding and took a 1-0 match lead with three straight points.
The second set saw the Flashes take an early 8-4 lead, thanks in large part to three straight kills by Paskert. Miami responded by tying the set at 15-all, but kills by Krupa, Nowak, Paskert and Brivule and a service ace by Barr gave the Flashes a 20-16 edge and forced a timeout by the RedHawks. The RedHawks crept back to within two at 22-19, but Kent State ensured the match went four with kills by Brivule and Krupa. When the set was all said and done and the match was tied at one-all, Kent State had devastated Miami with a set hitting percentage of .485 after hitting just .091 in the first.
The Flashes left little mystery to the outcome of the third, hitting .333 to take the match lead. Kent State ran out to a 10-5 lead with two kills apiece by Brivule and Paskert, a service ace by Jones and a double block by Brivule and Krupa. Miami burned a timeout, but it didn't slow Kent State. Kills by Krupa, Paskert and Sabo and back-to-back double blocks by Brivule and Sabo and Paskert and Sabo ran the Flashes' lead to eight at 16-7. Kent State closed out the set on a 9-5 scoring advantage, using kills by Paskert, Jones, Sabo and Krupa and a double block by Paskert and Sabo to fight its way into the driver's seat.
The two squads traded punches to begin the fourth act. Three kills by Brivule and two by Paskert helped Kent State cling to a 9-8 lead to start things off. The Flashes broke through for a three-point edge at 16-13 after two kills by Brivule, a service ace by redshirt freshman Jessica Ronyak (Burton, Ohio) and double blocks by Brivule and Sabo and Brivule and Jones. Kills by Nowak and Paskert and a double block by Nowak and Sabo gave Kent State a 19-15 lead and forced another Miami timeout. The Golden Flashes refused to be denied, though, using three kills by Brivule and another by Sabo to end their regular season on a winning note.
