Kent State University
8-5
North Dakota State University
5-8
Golden Flashes Lose to North Dakota State in Five Sets
9/20/2014 1:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
TOWSON, MD. – Kent State was unable to leave the Tiger Invitational with a win, losing in five sets for the second straight match. The Golden Flashes' volleyball team was defeated by North Dakota State, 3-2, (22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 10-15) at SECU Arena on Saturday.
"I think we played decent overall," said head coach Don Gromala. "We hit OK, scrapped to dig a lot of balls and hit our zones serving. We were just really ineffective in one-on-one blocking situations and we were unable to stop their middles."
The teams split the first four sets of the match. North Dakota State won the first and third by identical 25-22 scores and hit .326 or better in both sets. Kent State was able to get separation in the second and fourth to win those sets by nine and six points, respectively. The Flashes limited the Bison to below .140 hitting in those two sets.
After a promising 2-1 lead to start the decisive fifth set, Kent State saw NDSU score six straight points and go ahead 7-2. The deficit was too much for the Flashes to overcome, as they were unable to get any closer than two points at 9-7. A match-high six attack errors in the set proved to be the difference.
"You can't win the fifth set hitting .038," Gromala said. "Up until this weekend, I think we were really good at scoring the critical points. We lost the majority of close sets this weekend, so we may have to do more work on some crucial situations this week."
Kent State used a balance attack on offense to post 63 kills. For the first time this season, four Flashes had double-figure kills. Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Bittinger led the way with 15 kills, followed closely by senior middle blocker Liz Reikow (14), senior outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola (13) and junior opposite Kelly Hutchison (12). Freshman setter Brittney Jakscht finished with 53 assists.
While the Flashes only managed five blocks in the match, they were able to out-dig the Bison, 98-75. Freshman defensive specialist/libero Challen Geraghty paced Kent State with 23 digs and junior defensive specialist/libero Sarah Mills added 14. Three players tallied a career-high in digs—Bittinger (19), Jakscht (17) and junior middle blocker Bridget Wilhelm (12).
Reikow earned a spot on the all-tournament team for her play over the Flashes' three matches. She led Kent State with 33 kills and a .393 attack percentage while adding 12 blocks.
Kent State opens Mid-American Conference play with a trip down to Athens to play defending MAC champion Ohio on Thursday and then heads up to Ypsilanti to play Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
