Kent State University
Northern Illinois
Volleyball Begins Five-Match Road Swing Friday in DeKalb
10/24/2019 3:56:00โฏPM | Women's Volleyball
The Kent State volleyball team starts the second half of the Mid-American Conference schedule with five consecutive road matches. The challenging stretch begins Friday at Northern Illinois, followed by a trip to Western Michigan on Saturday.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 25
7:00 p.m.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Kent State at Northern Illinois
Saturday, Oct. 26
5:00 p.m.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Kent State at Western Michigan
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday night's match at Northern Illinois will be streamed on ESPN+ and also feature live stats. The Flashes' match at Western Michigan on Saturday will only have live stats.
LAST TIME OUT
Kent State recorded its first 2-0 weekend of the MAC season with a 3-2 victory over Toledo on Friday and an impressive 3-0 sweep of West Division favorite Ball State.
Freshman Morgan Copley earned the first MAC East Offensive Player of the Week honor of her career after hitting .429 and averaging a team-high 4.12 points per set. She hit better than .400 in both matches, posting 16 kills against the Rockets and 15 kills against the Cardinals. Senior Ashley Makruski continued her stellar play against MAC opponents and totaled 25 kills. Freshman Savannah Matthews displayed her versatility as a six-rotation player with 20 kills and 29 digs. Redshirt sophomore Alex Haffner directed the offense and totaled 86 assists while adding 23 digs.
Sophomore Erin Gardner led the defense with 34 digs and registered a career-high seven aces against Ball State. The libero recorded her 1,000th career dig during the second set of that match, diving in for a pancake following a setter dump by Ball State's Amber Seaman and keeping the ball alive for Matthews to put away and extend the lead to 8-3. Gardner needed only 189 sets to achieve the milestone, which is 20 fewer than any other player in program history.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Northern Illinois (6-16, 3-5 MAC)
The Huskies have lost three in a row after being swept by Akron and Buffalo this past weekend. Northern Illinois is last in the conference in hitting percentage (.174), opponent hitting percentage (.290), kills per set (11.77) and blocks per set (1.36).
Setter Grace Balensiefer leads the offense with 9.35 assists per set, which ranks fourth in the MAC. Middle blocker Kennedy Wallace is the top attacker with 2.69 kills per set and team-best .292 hitting percentage. Freshmen Kaitlyn Bell and Peyton Tilley are the Huskies' go-to pin hitters and have combined for 4.79 kills per set but are hitting at only a .097 clip.
Libero Miranda Karlen anchors the defense with 4.21 in digs per set.
Western Michigan (11-9, 2-6 MAC)
The Broncos have lost five straight matches, but three of them have gone five sets.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
All-MAC outside hitter Rachel Bontrager leads the MAC in points per set (4.21) and kills per set (3.74) while posting a team-high .253 hitting percentage. Bontrager is also second on the team with 2.16 digs per set. Maggie King (2.64 kills per set) and Meredith Phillips (2.40 kills per set) are also solid attacking options for WMU. Mary Marzo (5.97 assists per set) and Rose Duffy (5.51 assists per set) share setting duties.
Libero Kathleen Reilly boasts a team-best average of 5.41 digs per set, which ranks 12th in the country. The senior is third in school history with 2,163 career digs and is tallying a MAC-best 5.74 digs per set during conference play. Middle blocker Janell Williams' 1.13 blocks per set is second in the conference.
ALL-TIME VS. OPPONENTSย
Kent State owns an 9-29 record all-time against Northern Illinois. The Huskies won the last meeting in DeKalb, 3-0, in a match that featured a 43-41 score in the first set. Head coach Don Gromala is 3-4 vs. NIU.
The Golden Flashes are 15-35 record all-time against Western Michigan has won three of the last four matchups. Head coach Don Gromala is 4-3 vs. the Broncos, which includes a three-match win streak from 2014-16.
UP NEXT
Kent State returns to the road next weekend to complete season series with Bowling Green and Ohio.
FOLLOW THE FLASHES
Be sure to follow Kent State Volleyball onย Twitter,ย Instagramย andย Facebookย for news and updates about the squad.
