Setting up to gain ground
October 14, 2014
The Zips volleyball brought about two more MAC matches for the Zips. On Thursday, Oct. 4, the team faced Buffalo, now 13-7 after their win against Akron and a loss to Ball State on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Toledo leaves the weekend at 1-17 after Akron came out victorious in a five set match where UT won two out of the five.
The first set against Buffalo fueled a battle between the teams with the nine ties and six lead changes, including two five point Akron advantages. The Zips had a chance to take set point, but instead a tie at 24 occurred, turning to 25-24, but the Bulls fought back and claimed the match. UA once again had another chance to take a set in the second set as the Zips had an 18-14 lead. However, the Bulls from UB fought back and went on an 11-1 streak to go up two sets to none for the home Zips. In the third set, UA had the lead until UB went on another rally to close the game. Akron would save five match points but couldn’t gain enough ground to keep the Bulls from winning the set and the match.
The Zips put up ten blocks with Mary Delich grabbing three. Julia Smagacz had nine kills in the match.
On Saturday, Akron battled Toledo in a full five sets, coming out victorious at the end. The first set contained nine ties and four lead changes. After a nineteen all tie, UA forced a 6-1 run and won the set 25-20. The Zips struggled in the second set allowing a 12-2 run for the rockets. The final score was 25-12 in favor of Toledo. The third and fourth sets both proved to be strong sets, with both Akron and Toledo grabbing one, forcing a fifth which they tied ten times until Akron had the opportunity to put up three points and win the set with a 16-14 score.
UA takes the road again this weekend when they face Northern Illinois on Friday and Western Michigan on Saturday.