Kent State University
8-9, 2-2
Miami University (OH)
8-8, 0-4
Golden Flashes Sweep RedHawks to Conclude Homecoming Weekend
10/5/2013 10:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
PHOTO GALLERY
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State volleyball team brought Homecoming weekend to a close by defeating Miami in a Mid-American Conference contest Saturday night at the M.A.C. Center. The Golden Flashes (8-9, 2-2) made short work of visiting Miami, defeating its guest 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 28-26).
"This was a good win for us tonight," said head coach Don Gromala. "There aren't any easy matches in the MAC, so it's always nice to be able to win in three. Hopefully we carry this over to next week with a ranked Ohio team coming here on Thursday."
Senior setter Aleksandra Nowak showed off her versatility with four kills on only six attempts, eight digs and a match-high 29 assists. Freshman outside hitter Bianca Cifaldi led the offense with 13 kills and junior outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola added 10 kills. Senior libero Hannah Herc tallied a match-high 13 digs.
Kent State never trailed in the opening set and met little resistance in taking a 19-13 lead. That comfortable lead quickly disappeared as Miami tied the game with six straight points. The Flashes' hitters then took over to slam the door shut on the RedHawks. Cifaldi posted a kill, followed by an ace to give the Flashes some breathing room. Aderemi-Ibitola and sophomore Kelly Hutchison then added two kills apiece to end the set.
"We really relied on our outsides tonight and they had some big swings for us early," Gromala said.
The Flashes finally seemed to be in control of the second set after going ahead 21-18, but the RedHawks made a run to tie it up. Once again, Cifaldi provided a kill that put Kent State up for good, and three errors by Miami allowed the Flashes to take the set, 25-22.
Kent State faced its biggest challenge in the third, but held off a Miami comeback attempt. Trailing 24-23, sophomore Bridget Wilhelm delivered a key kill to extend the set. After back-and-forth action that saw ties at 25-all and 26-all, the Flashes closed it out with a kill by Aderemi-Ibitola followed by an ace from Hutchison, the team's seventh of the set.
"We need a really good job in our serving tonight," Gromala said. "For the first time this year, we had two balls hit the net and roll over and drop for us, which was nice. We didn't hit as well in the third set and our serving really picked us up to close it out."
Kent State will be back in action at the next Thursday (Oct. 10) when it welcomes No. 20 Ohio to the M.A.C. Center to conclude the first its first time through the MAC East.
