Eastern Michigan University's Volleyball program has had many losing years in recent memory. Still, the start of the 2024 season within the Mid-American conference has seen a different trend in the early going.
Current Season
Coming out victorious against Bowling Green tonight, the Eagles took five sets to win that match. They also won the last match they competed in against Miami at home. Before the last two matches, the Eagles only needed one of those wins to go five sets.
Eastern Michigan’s conference wins have come against Kent State twice on the road, twice against Miami at home, and now Bowling Green. Their only loss in conference play came against Central Michigan on Oct. 1 in a three-set sweep.
Although Eastern has had an impressive start in conference play, its 11-9 overall record is largely due to the 6-8 non-conference schedule. In the non-conference schedule, the Green and White had wins against IU Indy, Valparaiso, Evansville, Morehead State, Indiana State, and St Francis (PA). This includes one sweep, as either four or five sets were needed in the other matches.
The Eagles are currently 11-9 overall on the season and 5-1 in MAC Play. This is the first time since the 2018 season that the Eagles have started off winning five of their first six matches against MAC Opponents.
Last Time They Had This Success
In the 2018 season, the Eagles finished 9-7 in conference play and won the MAC Tournament. They defeated Kent State, Buffalo, Bowling Green, and Miami to advance to the NCAA Tournament. In the tournament, they lost to Illinois in three sets in Champaign.
The Eagles would need to go 5-6 the rest of the way to finish better in the conference than the 2018 season. Upcoming opponents include one match each against Toledo, Central Michigan, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois and two matches each against Buffalo, Akron, Ball State, and Ohio.
2019-2023 Disappointments and Coaching Changes
Looking at the bigger picture, Eastern Michigan's last three years (2021-2023) record was 19-70, meaning the Eagles are more than halfway to the win total they had in the previous three full seasons of volleyball.
Furthermore, the Eagles were 11-43 in conference play in those seasons. This came at a time when the Eagles were also looking for a new coach after Darcy Dorton held the ranks for four seasons.
They snagged Kevin Foeman, the head coach at Ashland University for five seasons, and Lake Erie College before that. He had a 23-9 record at Ashland before he came to Ypsilanti.
Foeman struggled in his first season at the helm but has appeared to have gotten things going for the Eagles. Still needing time to prove himself, he already has six more wins than he did a year ago. The six wins are already the biggest the program has had in a season since the program had a five-win improvement from 2017-2018, and the season is only halfway over at this point.
Team and Players of Note
Many players have also contributed to Eastern Michigan's success this season. Ava Siefke (Cincinnati, Ohio) is the team leader in kills (158) and serving aces (26) to lead the offense.
The defense has been led by Hannah Blaney (Saline, Michigan), who has 333 digs, and that leads the team behind second-place Ella Voorhees (Morgantown, West Virginia), who has 174.
Even though the Eagles are 11-9 overall and 6-1 in MAC Play, they, for the season, trail in most stats compared to their opponents' performance this year in matches against them.
Up Next
The Eagles will conclude a two-game trip at Toledo on Oct. 11 and look to improve to 6-1 in conference play. The first serve is at 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
