On a day where Eastern Michigan University was celebrating the football team’s first victory of the year and the women’s soccer team earning their first playoff appearance in two years, the EMU women’s volleyball team followed with a win of their own, a four-set (25-15, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23) victory over the Buffalo University Bulls.
The first set was all EMU. The score was briefly tied at four, but sophomore middle blocker Megan Crawshaw put the Eagles up for good with one of her two kills in the set and two aces. The Eagles won the set easily by a score of 25-15. Senior outside hitter Rachel Iaquaniello led the way with six kills.
The second set was close at the start. The score was tied 11 times and there were six lead changes, but the Eagles finally took an 18-17 lead on a Buffalo attack error. Junior outside hitter Erin Short put the set away with a kill and the Eagles won 25-22.
Iaquaniello had six more kills and Crawshaw added four of her own.
Set number three was even closer than the previous one. There were 13 different ties and nine times the lead changed hands, but three straight attack errors by the Eagles gave the match to the Bulls by a score of 26-24. Iaquaniello scored seven more kills in the set and junior outside hitter Paige Roback added three.
The Eagles were able to regroup for the fourth set. The Bulls came back a couple times, but senior middle blocker Kristen Baker ended their rally and gave the Eagles the 25-23 win, taking the match three sets to one. Iaquaniello added seven more kills in the fourth set, bringing her match total to 26. She leads the team with 426 kills on the year. Short added three kills and Roback notched two of her own.
The team’s next match is Oct. 26 when the team travels to Dekalb, Ill. to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies. The match starts at 7 p.m.
On Oct. 19, Iaquaniello was also named a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Voting is open to the public and can be found on the web at www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/DI_volleyball_2012/. One ballot is permitted per day.
