Women’s soccer falls to Duquesne

The University of Akron women’s soccer team fell to the Duquesne Dukes on Friday, 2-0. The loss drops the Zips to 3-5 on the season while Duquesne improves to 3-2-2.

Malea Fabean scored just 10 minutes into the match for her third goal of the season, beating Zips’ goalkeeper Annabelle Hegeman. After over 60 minutes without a goal, Katie O’Connor beat Hegeman, with an assist going to Italia Biondi. Hegeman stopped one of only three shots on goal from Duquesne.

The Zips’ were only able to fire three shots on goal, one each from Julia Crowe, Shea O’Brien, and Erica Schrader.

The Dukes defense played well, and so did both of its goalkeepers. Kyra Murphy stopped both shots she faced in the first 76:25, and gave way to Lexi Cooke, who made one stop as she finished the game.

The Zips will get back to the pitch on Friday when they travel to Oxford, Ohio to face off against the Miami Redhawks at 4 p.m.

Zips’ volleyball wins a pair of matches over the weekend

The University of Akron volleyball team won two out of three contests at the West Virginia Invitational over the weekend. On Friday, the Zips defeated Dartmouth 3-1. They went on to lose 3-0 to hosts West Virginia in their first Saturday match, but played later that day and shut out Winthrop 3-0.

Akron (4-6) dropped its first set vs. Dartmouth 25-17, but rallied to win the next three with relative ease. Amanda Bedell led Akron with 13 kills, while senior Karley Kusan recorded 42 assists.

The Zips were roughed up in the weekend’s second match, losing to West Virginia. The Mountaineers won the sets by scores of 25-18, 25-14, and 25-14. Kusan and Michigan native Kayla Gwozdz led the way for Akron with five kills each. Kusan also led the Zips with 14 assists and 11 digs.

Finally, the Zips got back on the winning track by winning all three sets vs. Winthrop, finishing the third with a score of 26-24. Bedell again led the way with 11 kills.

The Zips’ will be back in action this weekend with visits to Athens on Friday to play Ohio University and Kent on Saturday to battle the Golden Flashes.

Women’s tennis competes in Greater Cincinnati Collegiate Invitational

The University of Akron women’s tennis team traveled to Cincinnati to play its first matches of the season this past weekend.

Luisa Echeverry (Cali, Colombia), who advanced to the singles final round, was the star of the weekend for the Zips. First, Echeverry easily defeated Mandy Marchant of The University of Dayton, 6-1, 6-1. She then beat Bowling Green’s Polina Radeva 6-3, 2-6, 1-0.

This allowed Echeverry to advanced to the semifinals on Saturday, where she defeated Abilene Christian’s Autumn Crossnoe 7-6, 6-4. Unfortunately, she fell in the finals to Rachael Reichenbach of Xavier University 6-2, 7-5.

Also in singles play, Carli Knezevich and Waverly Wituski won one match and lost one match, while Carla Flores lost both matches.

In doubles, the combinations of Echeverry/Wituski and Flores/Knezevich won both matches they played.

The team will get back at it this weekend when it hosts the Akron Shootout between Cleveland State, Siena, Youngstown State, and Akron. Matches will be played Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.