Kent State volleyball’s 2019 campaign came to a dramatic end on Thursday night, with a five-set loss to Ohio University.

The Flashes travelled to Bowling Green as the fifth seed, to face the Bobcats of Ohio University in the first round of the MAC Tournament.

Ohio came out and stunned Kent in the opening set, with the Bobcats winning a dominant 25-14 set. In the second set, redshirt sophomore Alex Haffner tallied her sixth kill of the night to give the Flashes a 25-19 win. Kent dropped the third set 25-23 but won the fourth set 25-22.

In the fifth set, Kent State head coach Don Gromala won a challenge to give the Flashes a 3-1 lead. The Flashes ultimately lost the fifth set 15-12. Kent posted a hitting percentage of .128 in the losing effort.

After the match, Gromala noted that it was a great match by both teams, who certainly knew each other well, meeting twice before the tournament.

Despite the loss, freshman Savannah Matthews led the way for the Flashes with 17 kills. Matthews also had 21 digs in the match. Haffner contributed 45 assists. Sophomore Danie Tyson had six blocks for Kent. 

“Savannah had a great match,” Gromala said. “She was a big key of us being in that match.”

Gromala also praised his seniors, Myla King and Ashley Makruski, who finished their Kent State careers on Thursday in Bowling Green.

“The way that they just grinded, and played aggressive and willed this team to fight back, it is huge,” Gromala said. “Just the way they went about things with the resilience and fight that they have.”

Contact Nicholas Pedone at [email protected]