The Eastern Michigan University Eagles (11-7, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) faced the Western Michigan University Broncos (9-7, 2-1 MAC) Saturday night in Kalamazoo. Western Michigan defeated EMU three sets to one (23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22).
After a 12-kill game against Northern Illinois, senior Erin Short had 17 kills for the Eagles.
“The last couple of years we’ve had trouble at Western,” EMU head coach Kim Berrington said. “There’s been a couple of times we had an opportunity to beat them and we couldn’t capitalize. They have some big players and we’re gonna have to play well defensively against the mismatch.”
Sophomore Stacey Perinar had nine kills for the Eagles. Freshman Devon Murray also had seven kills. Short led the Eagles with a .500 attack percentage and junior Jill Briner had 32 assists.
EMU won the first set 25-23 and led WMU 9-6 in the second set, but the Broncos were able to take a 15-13 lead after an attack error from Murray and blocks from the Broncos’ Alysia Baznik and Stephenee Yancy. A spike from Western’s Rachel Sheffer and a kill from Ave Stout allowed the Broncos to take a 23-17. Stout had a second kill to end the set, 25-20.
The Broncos opened the third set on a 6-2 run with two kills from Sheffer and blocks from Yancy and Lexie Pawlik, Western was able to open their lead 10-6. After a Perinar kill for the Eagles, EMU was able to keep the third set close, 10-9. After a 3-0 run from the Eagles, Western Michigan was able to go on their own run 4-0 and kept a comfortable lead to win the set 25-19.
Eastern Michigan kept it close in the fourth set as well, tying the Broncos at six. Western Michigan was able to score several key kills and an ace to take the lead 17-10. The Broncos were able to increase their lead over Eastern Michigan to 20-15 before the Eagles went on a 7-3 run to close the lead to 23-22. Baznik and Stout had back to back kills for the Broncos to end the set 25-22.
Eastern Michigan’s record drops to 11-8 and 1-3 in MAC play. The Eagles volleyball team is 2-4 on the road this season.
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles return home to the Convocation Center on Thursday Oct. 10 to take on the Central Michigan Chippewas (7-8, 1-2 MAC) at 7 p.m., and on Saturday Oct. 12 to play the No. 20 Ohio Bobcats (14-2, 4-0 MAC) at 7 p.m.
