Kent State University
12-11, 4-6MAC
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Western Michigan University
15-10, 6-4MAC
Balanced Offense Keys Flashes Victory in Four-Setter
10/25/2014 9:49:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
KENT, Ohio – Kent State featured three players with double-digit kills and earned a crucial victory over visiting Western Michigan, 3-1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21) in a Mid-American Conference contest Friday night. With the victory, the Golden Flashes remain above .500 at 12-11 overall and improve to 4-6 in conference play.
"It is great to come out and get a win against a very good Western Michigan team," Kent State head coach Don Gromala said. "We stuck to our game plan and executed really well. When they changed it up a bit, we made the proper adjustments. We were able to do what we wanted to offensively and defensively and wore them down a little bit."
Kent State came out on fire and posted a .433 hitting percentage on the way to a decisive 25-18 opening set victory in which it led by as many as eight points. The Flashes record a .323 hitting percentage or better in three of four sets and hit .338 for the match, the team's highest mark since Sept. 8, 2012 (.350 vs. Saint Francis).
Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Bittinger led a balanced attack. Bittinger totaled 17 kills, her most since 19 in the season-opener vs. Mercer, and a career-best .325 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola followed a career night Friday with 13 kills. Junior opposite Kelly Hutchison matched her season-best with 12 kills and had a career-high .550 hitting percentage. Junior middle blocker Bridget Wilhelm added nine kills and freshman setter Brittney Jakscht matched her career-high with four kills while handing out 44 assists.
"We knew that we had an advantage at the pin and our hitters really got their confidence rolling in that first set," said Gromala. "Brittney was delivering balls to the pins in some good situations. Our hitters took some really smart, high swings and mixed in the off-speed stuff at the right times."
The defense was once again led by freshman libero Challen Geraghty, who posted a match-high 22 digs. Junior defensive specialist Sarah Mills tallied 14 digs and Bittinger added 11 digs for the seventh double-double of her young career.
The Flashes were the more physical team at the net, totaling 10 blocks to just four for the Broncos. Six different Kent State players contributed to the blocking effort, led by four blocks each from Wilhelm and senior middle blocker Liz Reikow. Freshman middle blocker Heather Younkin got in on the action with a block assist in her first appearance of the season.
"It was a good all-around team performance," Gromala said. "We hit at a high percentage, served tough and got some big blocks when we needed them, especially in that fourth set. I'm really happy and hoping to carry that momentum forward to next Thursday."
Kent State continues its four-match homestand next week as first-place Ohio visits the M.A.C. Center on Thursday at 7 p.m. After a day off the Flashes will host Central Michigan on Saturday.
