Kent State University
1-4
Louisville
2-2
No. 24 WKU, Host Louisville Top Flashes at Cardinal Classic
9/2/2017 10:33:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kent State lost both of its matches Saturday at the Cardinal Classic. The Golden Flashes were defeated by host Louisville, 3-0(14-25, 17-25, 19-25) in their first match of the day before falling to No. 24 WKU, 3-0 (19-25, 15-25, 15-25).
The Golden Flashes (1-5) struggled to score points and totaled 52 kills while hitting .061 as a team. Their opponents posted 83 kills with a .362 hitting percentage. Defensively, Kent State was not up-to-par and had only 58 digs and three blocks.
"It was a tough weekend," said head coach Don Gromala. "We saw some things we're not accustomed to with the physicality of some of the teams in this tournament and the styles of offense they ran. There were some good defensive moments and some good serving moments, but our offense needs some work. For us to compete longer with teams of this caliber, we have to maintain a high level of focus and be able to adjust better. I know the team is determined to work hard and get us going in a positive path."
Senior outside hitter Kelsey Bittinger led Kent State with 16 kills. Freshman Naomi Oberg contributed 10 kills and freshman setter Natalie Tagala recorded 29 assists.
Senior libero Challen Geraghty tallied 22 digs and Bittinger added 12 digs.
Geraghty, a Louisville native, earned all-tournament team honors with an average of 5.00 digs per set.
Match 1: Louisville 3, Kent State 0 (14-25, 17-25, 19-25)
Kent State faded towards the end of each set in a 3-0 loss to host Louisville.
The Golden Flashes trailed 13-10 before scoring three of the next four points and making it 14-13 on a kill by Naomi Oberg. Louisville answered with an 11-1 run to close out the opening set.
Natalie Tagala's ace gave the Flashes a 3-1 lead to open the second before the Cardinals took the lead behind a 5-1 run. Kent State kept it close until 17-15 when Louisville closed the set with an 8-2 run.
The Cardinals scored the first four points in the third and opened up a 17-10 lead. Kent State continued fighting and back-to-back aces by Amber Gerdeman helped get to within 19-17. Louisville took over at that point with the Flashes' only points coming on serving errors.
Kent State had a season-low 22 kills in the match to go with a .032 hitting percentage. The Flashes also posted their lowest totals of the season in assists (21) and blocks (0).
Challen Geraghty led all players with 15 digs. Three Flashes contributed four digs in the contest. Kelsey Bittinger had a team-high nine kills and Brittney Jakscht recorded 14 assists.
Match 2: No. 24 WKU 3, Kent State 0 (19-25, 15-25, 15-25)
No. 24 WKU snapped its two-match skid by sweeping Kent State in the tournament finale for both teams. The Hilltoppers put together a strong offensive performance with 45 kills and eight errors on 84 attempts for a .440 hitting percentage.
After falling behind 9-5 in the first set, the Flashes answered with a 9-5 run of their own, capped by a Naomi Oberg kill. WKU then scored five straight points and added a four-point run later to take the set, 25-19.
Kent State trailed 8-6 in the second set when WKU used a 7-2 run to start to pull away, prompting a timeout. The Hilltoppers extended the run to 15-8 before closing out the set, 25-15.
After splitting the first eight points in the third, WKU scored four straight. After extending its lead to 19-15, the Hilltoppers posted six straight kills to end the match.
Oberg had the best match of her young collegiate career with seven kills on 13 attempts with just one error for a .462 hitting percentage. Playing in her first match of the weekend, Myla King matched her career-high with seven kills.
Kelsey Bittinger also had seven kills in addition to a team-high eight digs. Challen Geraghty added seven digs.
Up Next
Kent State will open its 11-match home schedule at the M.A.C. Center when it hosts Butler and College of Charleston for the 2017 Golden Flashes Classic on Sept. 8-10.
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