Flashes’ volleyball loses fifth-straight match
Senior outside hitter Lauren Jones hits the ball between the hands of Bowling Green’s defense. Jones scored 8 kills during Friday’s victory against Bowling Green, 3-0. Photo by Philip Botta.
Kent State dropped its ?fth-straight match with a loss to Western Michigan in Saturday’s Mid-American Conference game.
The team lost in three sets and added another loss to its record. The Flashes are 8-17 overall and 1-9 in the MAC.
“We were right there with them, point for point,” said Kent State coach Glen Conley. “We had them on the ropes in the first two sets, and we just weren’t able to close the deal.”
Junior middle-back Kathy Krupa reached a team-high nine kills. Jenny Buczek, freshman setter and right-side hitter, led the team with three blocks and eight digs. Sophomore setter Aleksandra Nowak assisted the team with 18 set assists.
“We set little goals, like we want to play as a team, and we want to go out and be aggressive because the past few games we’ve played, we started off a little slow,” Krupa said.
A look at the Kent State volleyball 2011 season
- Kent State is 8-17 overall, 1-9 in MAC.
- Senior outside hitter Maigan Larsen leads the team with 315 kills.
- Seven of the 12 players are freshmen.
- Freshman libero Bridget Grdina leads the team with 235 digs.
- Kent State pushed eight matches to ?ve sets, and has won six of them.
- Inga Kurgonaite is in her first season as assistant coach for Kent State.
- Junior middle back Kathy Krupa leads the team with 84 blocks.
- Sophomore setter Aleksandra Nowak has 728 set assists.
The team hit 32 kills, four blocks and 35 digs. The team had more kills in this match than it has since its last win against Buffalo on Oct. 7.
“We came out ready to play from the beginning, and that’s something we haven’t been doing in the past few games,” said senior outside hitter Maigan Larsen. “If anything, we were a little bit more focused today than we have been in past games.”
The Broncos took the match in three sets, but Kent State battled Western Michigan with an aggressive game plan. The Flashes made improvements in their game play, Conley said.
“The girls followed our game plan, improving our defense, improving our services,” Conley said. “We definitely did that tonight. We’ve had a good step forward.”
#KWvolleyball
new TWTR.Widget({
version: 2,
type: ‘search’,
search: ‘#KWvolleyball’,
interval: 6000,
subject: ”,
width: 240,
height: 300,
theme: {
shell: {
background: ‘#b8b8b8’,
color: ‘#66a9c5’
},
tweets: {
background: ‘#b8b8b8’,
color: ‘#444444’,
links: ‘#1985b5’
}
},
features: {
scrollbar: true,
loop: true,
live: true,
hashtags: true,
timestamp: true,
avatars: true,
toptweets: true,
behavior: ‘default’
}
}).render().start();
Kent State took the lead in the first two sets, but ultimately let Western Michigan take and keep the lead.
“We need to execute more,” Krupa said. “When we have a lead, (we need to focus on) keeping that lead and finishing the game off. We need to start off strong, keep the lead and don’t let them get back in it.”
Kent State started off the weekend with a three-set loss to Northern Illinois on Friday. Larsen led the team with seven kills. Larsen and Krupa totaled two blocks each. Freshman libero Bridget Grdina scored 11 digs.
Northern Illinois won the first two games 25-14. Kent State battled back in the third set, but still lost 26-24.
“We have (Bowling Green) and Miami, that’s always a good one,” Conley said. “I’m excited to play them again. We’ve gotten things together and improved. I’m excited for this coming weekend.”
Contact Alexis Pfeifer at [email protected].