Sophomore outside hitter Paige Roback’s 18 kills and double-double performances from junior outside hitter Rachel Iaquaniello and senior setter Ashley Mason prompted a 3-1 victory for the Eastern Michigan University volleyball team against visiting Ball State University on Saturday.
“I just felt like we needed a lot of momentum, and everyone wanted the win,” Roback said of the 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 28-26 victory. “So I just decided to put some points up on the board, and get the ball rolling.”
Ball State is 16-3 and 4-1 in the Mid-American Conference. EMU is 15-6 and 3-3.
Roback’s 18-for-38 hitting gave her a team-high .395 hitting percentage. Kristen Baker and Iaquaniello had 13 kills apiece while Iaquaniello added 13 digs. Mason had 44 assists to go
with 12 digs.
Defensively, sophomore outside hitter Erin Short and senior libero Haley Stein led the way. Short three blocks and five kills while Stein dug out 23. Senior defensive specialist Cassie Sowers also chipped in with 10 digs.
The Cardinals were led by Kara Bates with 14 kills while Jennifer Boyd added 11 kills and a game-high .409 hitting percentage. Kelsey Brandl posted 10 kills with a game-high five blocks and three service aces. Setter Brittany McGinnis put up a game-high 49 assists along with 12 digs.
Defensively, Catie Fredrich led the way with 31 digs while Kylee Baker added 16 and Kaylee Schembra pitched in with 13.
In the opening set, the Cardinals had a .128 hitting percentage, allowing the Eagles to get off to a dominating start. BSU struck first on an attack error by Megan Crawshaw. But with the score tied at eight points apiece, the Eagles stormed off. Three back-to-back kills from Iaquaniello, Roback and Short put the Eagles up 10-8 before a kill by Boyd brought the Cardinals back within one. However, EMU would not look back as it led by as many as six before taking the 25-20 win.
The BSU offense continued to struggle in the second set, putting up a .107 hitting percentage.
Meanwhile, four kills each for Iaquaniello, Roback and Baker led the Eagles to a 25-22 victory before halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Cardinals got in touch with the hitting game, and it was too much for the Eagles to handle.
In the third set, the Eagles got off to an 8-4 lead before a kill from Bates sparked an offensive run. The score remained close through the majority of the set, however, with both teams deadlocked at 13 points, three attack errors by EMU along with three consecutive hits by Brandl and another from Bates put the Cardinals up 20-13. The Eagles would score four points from then on, but BSU took the 25-16 win.
In the fourth and final set it took extra points and seven kills from Roback, but the Eagles pulled off a 28-26 victory. Neither team took more than a two-point lead until an attack error by Bates followed by an Iaquaniello kill put the Eagles up 12-8.
Later in the match with EMU holding a 22-19 advantage, a pair of attack errors and a kill from Mindy Marx and Boyd put the Cardinals up by one. A kill from Roback added to a BSU attack error gave EMU the, 24-23, lead.
However, an attack error by Roback tied the score yet again, but Baker responded with a kill to put EMU back on top 25-24. The next two points gave BSU a 26-25 lead before two kills from Mason and a Brandl attack error sealed the 28-26 win for the Eagles.
Against Toledo:
On Friday, the Eagles took on the University of Toledo at the Convocation Center. The middle blockers, Ashley Baker and Megan Crawshaw, came up big in the 3-0 ( 26-24, 25-7, 25-16) Eagle sweep of the Rockets.
Rachel Iaquaniello led the Eagles with 14 kills on a .333 hitting percentage and eight digs.
Baker followed close behind with nine kills, seven digs and two blocks while Crawshaw had a game-high five blocks. Ashley Mason had a game-high 30 assists to go with eight digs meanwhile Stein led the Eagles defense with 10 digs. Erin Short also chipped in with six digs, four kills and a game-high two service aces.
It was a rocky start for the Eagles. They struggled with six service errors and a .140 hitting percentage as they were looking to break a three-game losing streak.
“There was a little bit of a lack of concentration,” Iaquaniello said. “We’re working on it, it’s something that we have struggled with before. I’m just happy it didn’t have the effect on this game that it could have.”
The second set was a different story. The Eagles improved to a .360 hitting percentage on 11-of-25. The Rockets dropped from a -.026 hitting percentage to -.286. With the help of Sowers, EMU was able to end its serving problems, and nine kills from Baker helped the Eagles earn the 25-7 win.
“Cassie is always focused,” Iaquaniello said. “Whenever there is something that we’re not accomplishing she will step up and be the one to start doing it. She filled those shoes once again.”
Short added, “Cassie knew she had to do the job; focusing and getting serves. Her and Baker worked together to get the lead back; it all just worked out great.”
The Eagles closed out the match with a 25-16 win in set three.
“It feels so good to win at home,” Iaquniello said. “Eric (assistant coach Eric Stark) said in the locker room ‘Welcome back!’ We know that our record is so important this year. Winning this match proved to ourselves that we can finish a win and not sink to the other team’s level. It will carry over the rest of the way; this is our turning point.”
The Eagles next match is against Miami University (12-8, 3-3 MAC) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Oxford, Ohio.
