In its first home match of the Mid-American Conference season, the Eastern Michigan University volleyball team lost 0-3 (17-25, 24-26, 19-25) to Ohio University.
The Eagles are 13-5 (1-3 MAC), while the Bobcats advance to 12-6 (4-0 MAC).
Junior Rachel Iaquaniello led the Eagles, posting a double-double with 12 kills and 23 digs. Junior Kristen Baker added 10 kills and two blocks, while senior setter Ashley Mason put up 32 assists to go with 5 kills. Senior libero Haley Stein had 17.
For the Bobcats, Chelsea Bilger and Kelly Lamberti each put up double-doubles Saturday night. Bilger had 12 kills to go with 13 digs and two aces, while Lamberti put up 10 kills and 13 digs. Baily Karst had a game-high 37 assists for the Bobcats and Mollie Geske helped out with 21 digs.
The Eagles opened the first set with three kills from Iaquaniello, sophomore Paige Roback and freshman Megan Crawshaw as they took a 6-4 lead. However, the Eagles would struggle offensively, allowing the Bobcats to take the 25-17 win. EMU had a .087 attack percentage (12-8-42) in the first set.
“I was displeased with the amount of errors we had in this game,” Iaquaniello said. “We talked about how [we] had more kills the entire game, but our errors are what killed us.”
The second set was a tug-of-war battle between the two teams, as neither side led by more than two points. Iaquaniello put up six kills in the set for the Eagles with Baker posting a .714 percentage on 5-of-7 hitting. The story of the set, however, was OU’s ball control as they had just two errors in the set.
“We did not go with our philosophy tonight,” sophomore Erin Short said. “That is to try to make the other team make more errors than we do.”
The Bobcats took an early 3-0 lead in the third set, and it became an uphill climb for the Eagles.
With the Bobcats up 20-16, the Eagles scored on an attack error by Lexie Hartnett to come within three. But back-to-back kills for the Bobcats from Hartnett and Bilger followed by an attack error by Short put the Bobcats up 23-17.
The Eagles would score two more points on kills from Baker, who posted four kills in the final set, but that would not be enough as the Bobcats took the 25-19 victory.
The Eagles will face Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Indiana.
For Short, the non-conference game will allow the Eagles time to take a breather, reboot and get back on track.
“It’s a non-MAC game so it gives us a chance to breathe,” Short said. “The MAC season gets intense, but now we have a chance to redeem ourselves.”
