Volleyball Earns First MAC Win Saturday at Miami

OXFORD, Ohio – Kent State overcame the adversity of a tough opening set and defeated host Miami, 3-1 (13-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-12) for its first Mid-American Conference win of the season on Saturday.

The Golden Flashes (10-5, 1-3 MAC) were led by graduate student Alex Haffner, who recorded 27 assists in the contest and distributed the ball throughout the front row, as four players posted seven or more kills. Freshman Mia Soerensen led the way with 11 kills. Senior Savannah Matthews had eight kills and freshman Mackenzie McGuire and graduate student Danie Tyson added seven each.

Kent State’s defense limited the RedHawks to a .148 hitting percentage overall and just a .079 clip following the first set. Graduate student Erin Gardner had a match-high 20 digs and sophomore Fabiana Mucciola totaled a career-best 11 digs. Freshman Sadie Wright totaled a career-high four blocks to lead the Flashes at the net.

How it Happened…

     Set 1: Kent State led 3-2 early but it was all Miami the rest of the way. The RedHawks totaled 13 kills while hitting .353 and registered four aces.

     Set 2: An opening ace by Alex Haffner set the tone for the Golden Flashes. Following an attack error by Miami, Haffner added a second ace for a 3-0 lead. The RedHawks got within a point at 6-5 but Kent State answered with five straight points to begin pulling away. The lead reached eight at 17-9 before the hosts rallied to get within 22-20. A kill by Mackenzie McGuire was followed by a block from Emma Schroeder and Sadie Wright. Following a pair of points by Miami, McGuire brought the set to an end with another kill.

     Set 3: Following a successful challenge by Miami that tied it at 11-11, Kent State took the lead for good on back-to-back kills from Mia Soerensen and Savannah Matthews. The lead reached four at multiple points before being trimmed to 23-21 and forcing timeout to be called. Soerensen and Matthews delivered kills on the two ensuing points to give the Flashes a 2-1 lead.

     Set 4: Kent State held the RedHawks to only six kills while committing 10 attack errors. The Flashes jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but had it trimmed to three before closing with a 13-3 run.

Up Next for the Flashes

Kent State will visit the Mitten Stat next weekend for contests at Central Michigan on Oct. 7 and Eastern Michigan on Oct. 8.

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