East Michigan News

After falling in the first set, the Eastern Michigan University Volleyball team won three consecutive sets to capture its second consecutive victory in the young 2024 season, besting Valparaiso University, 3-1, in its final game of the Hampton Inn Invitational, hosted by Indiana University-Indianapolis on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Kendal Bonney led the Eagles offensively with 12 kills and 14.5 points. She was aided by Kaili Doctor who posted 11 kills off a .409 hitting percentage.

Ella Voorhees led with 24 assists, while Hannah Blaney and Angel Baylark spearheaded the defense. Blaney tabbed 22 digs and Baylark added 11 block assists with one solo block.

In the first set, after getting down 14-8, the Eagles scored six of the next seven points, narrowing Valparaiso's lead to 15-14. EMU battled throughout but eventually dropped it to Valparaiso, 25-23. Freshman Anna Guard registered three kills and one ace while hitting .750.

Eastern flipped the score on Valparaiso in the second set, winning 25-23. After starting in a 12-6 hole, EMU rallied to tie it at 17 apiece later in the set. The Eagles emerged on top after a back-and-forth exchange.

The Eagles got off to a strong start in the third set with a 15-11 advantage at the media timeout. They extended their lead to 19-12 before cruising to a 25-17 win to go up 2-1 heading into the fourth set. Doctor was key in sealing this win as she recorded kills for three of Eastern's five final points.

Eastern Michigan earned a match win with a dominant fourth-set victory of 25-13. The Eagles led from start to finish and claimed their biggest lead of twelve points at the end of the set. EMU got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked seven Valparaiso attacks and capitalized on thirteen attacking errors from Valparaiso.

Head Coach Kevin Foeman noted several milestones: "For the first time since I took over this team, we tied our opponents in kills." Both teams had fifty kills each. This match also marked Eastern's fourth instance under Foeman where they won three consecutive sets.

Eastern out-hit Valparaiso .269 to .078; this marks only their second time achieving better than .250 since early last season when they hit .255 against Bradley on Aug. 26, resulting in a four-set loss.

EMU out-dug Valparaiso by ten digs (67-57), marking their best performance through three contests this season and maintaining an undefeated record when out-digging opponents so far this year.

Maddie Stayer totaled sixteen helpers in this match—tying her career-best—and has registered double-digit assists outings across all three matches this season.

Voorhees secured her third straight double-double of twenty-four assists and sixteen digs; her digs tied her career-best from Friday night's win over IU-Indy on Aug.30th.

Blaney notched her third consecutive match with ten or more digs leading EMU defensively with twenty-two digs overall.

Bonney matched her career-best twelve kills now collecting double-digit kills consecutively for her first time ever.

Baylark tied her career-best block assists contributing eleven blocks leading an EMU team dominating net play totaling twenty-one blocks versus five from Valpo.

Doctor notched another double-digit kill game recording eleven kills at .409 hitting percentage making it two consecutive games doing so.

Bella Demers saw action playing two sets marking collegiate debut appearances during today’s match-up too!

With Saturday's win over Valpo extending historical series edge now standing at five wins against four losses plus closing tournament play finishing two wins one loss posting best record within tourneys since going same way during UIC Invitational back September tenth-eleventh year twenty-twenty-one

Next up for Eastern will be facing Big Ten Conference opponent University Of Michigan held Ann Arbor Mich Wednesday Sept fourth scheduled evening start seven pm

Stay connected following @EMUVolleyball & @EMUAthletics via X platform latest updates alongside Instagram handle @EMU_Volleyball