Kent State University
2-1,0-0MAC
James Madison
3-0,0-0Sun Belt
Kent State Falls in Five-Set Battle to Host Dukes
8/27/2022 10:44:00โฏPM | Women's Volleyball
HARRISONBURG, Va. โ Kent State showed great fight in forcing a fifth set but fell short against host James Madison, 3-2 (20-25, 29-31, 25-20, 25-23, 4-15), in the finale of the season-opening JMU Invitational on Saturday night. The back-and-forth battle featured 37 ties and 16 lead changes.
The Golden Flashes (2-1) and Dukes scrapped defensively throughout the match and neither team's offense was able to hit above a .185 clip. Kent State held a 66-59 advantage in digs, while James Madison led 16-7 in blocks. Senior Gracey Jarecke led the way with a career-high 24 digs. Senior Savannah Matthews and junior Bryn Roberts added 11 digs apiece. Roberts was also effective at the service line with a career-high five aces.
Graduate student Danie Tyson finished with a team-high 13 kills and was joined by Matthews (12) and freshman Mackenzie McGuire (11) in double-digits. Graduate student Alex Haffner totaled 54 assists and five kills.
Haffner and Tyson were named to the JMU Invitational All-Tournament Team.
"It was nice to finally get to play against someone else on the other side of the net," head coach Haley Eckerman said. "This weekend was great for us to learn more about ourselves and what we need to work on to continue to get better. All three teams were tough and put pressure on us. I am proud of our team. They played great and showed the potential our team can have."
How it Happenedโฆ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set 1: Kent State dropped the opening set despite leading 12-8 in kills and holding JMU to a .100 hitting percentage. The Golden Flashes gifted 10 points at the service line with four serving errors and six receiving errors.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set 2: A 10-point service run by Bryn Roberts gave Kent State a 12-5 lead. The Flashes fell behind 21-20 before scoring four straight to go ahead 24-21 but were unsuccessful on five potential set point opportunities and fell 31-29.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set 3: Down 20-18, Mia Soerensen delivered a huge swing for a sideout to bring Roberts to the service line once again. Roberts recorded three aces as part of a 7-0 run to extend the match.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set 4: Taylor Heberle had the hot arm to start and posted five of her seven kills in the set to give the Flashes an 8-5 lead. JMU fought back to tie it at 19-19, but three kills by Mackenzie McGuire helped Kent State close with a 6-4 run.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Set 5: Momentum stayed with the Flashes, as a kill by Savannah Matthews and block by Danie Tyson made it 2-0. Unforced errors contributed to a 10-point run by the Dukes that was too much to overcome in the shortened set.
Up Next for the Flashes
Kent State will open the home schedule next weekend when it hosts the Kent State Invitational. The Flashes will play Southern Indiana on Friday at 7 p.m. and return to action on Saturday against Cornell at 10 a.m. and Oakland at 7 p.m.
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