Kent State University
Eastern Michigan University
Flashes Beat Eastern Michigan, 3-1, in Final Regular Season Match
11/12/2016 9:34:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Kent State closed out the regular season by beating Eastern Michigan, 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-21), Saturday evening for its first win at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti since 2000. The Golden Flashes improve to 15-14 overall and 8-8 in Mid-American Conference play.
After Kent State allowed Eastern Michigan to rally from a seven-point deficit to steal the first set, the Flashes closed a back-and-forth second set with a 7-3 run. That momentum carried through the intermission, as Kent State never trailed in the third set and used a 17-5 run to win the fourth.
"I'm really proud of how our girls played in coming back to win the last three sets after being in control for the majority of the first set," said head coach Don Gromala. "We came out of the break focused and executed really well to take care of that set. We then came out kind of flat in the fourth set, but fought back from down eight points to close it out. It really shows the resiliency and heart of our team."
Junior Kelsey Bittinger posted her eighth straight double-double, as she led the attack with 17 kills while adding 18 digs. Bittinger bounced back from an opening set in which she posted three kills and a .000 hitting percentage with 14 kills and a .317 hitting percentage the rest of the night. Senior Katarina Kojic also had a double-double with 45 assists and 14 digs in addition to 3 blocks.
Junior Heather Younkin recorded 12 kills, while sophomore Lexi Mantas added 11 kills to give Kent State three pins with double-figure kills. Junior Amber Gerdeman provided an offensive presence in the middle with 10 kills on .381 hitting.
Junior Challen Geraghty led the defense with 28 digs and senior Maddie Moxley continued her steady play of late with 8 digs. The Flashes' block picked up after registering just one block in the first set and finished the night with 11 stuffs. Gerdeman matched her career-high with six blocks to lead the way, and Mantas added a career-high four blocks.
"It's huge to get a road win going into the MAC Tournament, where we have to go out to DeKalb and win four in a row," Gromala said.
Kent State enters next weekend's MAC Volleyball Championship (Nov. 17-20), which will be hosted by Northern Illinois Illinois, as the No. 7 seed. The Golden Flashes will play No. 6 seed Toledo in a first round match at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
