Women’s volleyball

The University of Akron women’s volleyball team dropped a pair of contests over the weekend and concluded their regular season.

On Friday, the Zips lost to Kent State (13-25, 15-25, 19-25) as Anna Wenger led Akron with seven kills while Patience Brown and Amanda Bedell each recorded six kills. Ashley Holder finished with 19 assists for the Zips. Defensively, Brenna Mack and Dragana Micic contributed eight digs apiece.

Then on Saturday, the Zips traveled to Athens, Ohio to take on the Bobcats and left on the short end of a 3-0 match (15-25, 16-25, 19-25). Wenger led Akron with 10 kills, while Bedell had nine kills for the night. Kelsey Wilson added five kills, four digs and six blocks. Also, Brenna Mack contributed a team-high 21 digs while fellow classmate Karley Kusan posted 27 assists.

The Zips end the regular season with a record of 8-21 overall and 2-14 in the Mid-American Conference.

Men’s and women’s cross country

The University of  Akron men’s and women’s cross country squads competed in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional hosted by the University of Wisconsin at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Friday.

On the men’s side, Kyle Cochrun was the men’s top finisher when he crossed the line in the 10K in 31:02.7. That was good for 14th place overall which marked the best individual finish in in program history.

The Zips finished with a program-best seventh-place showing (209 points) in a talented region in the men’s field as Cochrun, junior Clayton Murphy and Aaron Howkins all posted times in the top-50.

Murphy completed the race in 31:13.5 to place 20th, while Howkins ran his way to a 37th-place effort with a time of 31:37.2. Murphy’s time bested his 23 rd place finish from a year ago.

“I am very proud of how this team has performed all year. A complete commitment to being the best Akron has ever produced,” Akron men’s head cross country coach Lee LaBadie said.

Cochrun and Murphy earned All-Great Lakes Regional honors because of their top-25 finishes.

On the Women’s side, Jillian Roth covered the 6K course in 23:01.7, to finish 115th. Natalie Zidd was the Zips’ next finisher after Roth, completing the course with a time of 23:07.0 to finish in 124th place.