The Kent State volleyball team moved to 1-15 this weekend after losing to the Northern Illinois Huskies (25-23, 25-21, 25-18) and the Western Michigan Broncos (25-14, 25-18, 25-13) with both games on the road. The Flashes have lost 12 games in a row.
“We battle really hard in practice, and when you get in a real competition, that’s when you should really battle,” coach Haley Eckerman said. “We have to realize that it’s us against them and not us against each other.”
On Thursday, the Flashes traveled to DeKalb, Ill., to take on another struggling Mid-American Conference opponent, the Northern Illinois Huskies. The Huskies carried a record of 2-12 heading into Thursday’s match with KSU, and similarly to the Flashes, had not yet beaten a MAC opponent.
The Flashes battled aggressively with the Huskies, with the largest margin of victory in a set against NIU being seven.
KSU was unable to take a set on Thursday, losing set one in tough fashion with the Huskies taking the last two points after the game was knotted at 23 on a kill by sophomore middle back Alexandria Connatser. KSU lost the second set after the Huskies went on a 5-0 run after the Flashes were up 21-20 – Kent State needed only one more point to win the game.
With the Flashes on a tough losing streak, Eckerman moved a few of her players around, specifically moving freshman defensive specialist Lesley Furuta to libero against NIU.
“Lesley actually does most of the serve-receive,” she said. “Greta (Bolognini) is our stronger libero on the defensive side, so (Furuta) is in on serve-receive.”
Junior outside hitter Mackenzie McGuire continued her season-long dominance in Thursday’s game against NIU, positing 15 kills, and she was two digs away from a double-double, with eight attributed to McGuire. McGuire reached over the 100-kill mark against NIU and has a team-leading 111 on the year.
“She has to continue to find the court; teams are gonna know she’s our go-to player, so she has to mix up the shots, and did a good job of that against NIU,” Eckerman said.
Junior setter Kendall White posted a double-double for the Flashes on Thursday, with an astounding 21 assists and 14 digs. White leads the team with 204 assists and trails junior libero Greta Bolognini for the team lead in digs – White has 127.
“Kendall continues to realize what her hitters need without having to ask for feedback, and she’s getting better at giving them better opportunities to put the ball away,” Eckerman said.
On Friday, the Flashes traveled across the Midwest to Kalamazoo, Mich., where they would take on the Western Michigan Broncos. The Broncos held a 6-10 record heading into Friday’s contest against the Flashes and was 2-3 in conference play.
The Flashes game against the Broncos was not as highly contested as its match on Thursday, with the Flashes dropping each set to WMU by at least seven points. The Broncos played a cleaner game than the Flashes did, with KSU committing 22 errors to Western’s 13 and was outhit .286 to .049.
“We try to minimize those errors, and if a team is averaging only four to five errors a set, they are gonna find success, but we are averaging 8-10,” Eckerman said. “We need to do a better job at managing the game offensively.”
It was a big day for senior right sider Anna Shoemake, who led the team in kills with six and also added three blocks. White added to her assist total by14, and Bolognini added 10 digs to her team-leading total of 204.
“(Shoemake) continues to be a leader,” Eckerman said. “She’s not too hot, she’s not too low, she goes out and does her job offensively and defensively for us.”
The Flashes will return to the M.A.C. Center in Kent Friday for a date with the Miami University (OH) RedHawks.
The RedHawks are 6-12 (0-7 in conference play) on the year and have lost eight in a row.
“We’re really just focusing on our side of the game,” Eckerman said. “Cleaning up our errors is what’s gonna help us be successful against Miami.”
The Flashes have 12 remaining games on the schedule, which are all against MAC opponents. With the Flashes winless in conference play, the stakes have never been higher than this upcoming stretch.
“The conference isn’t easy and that’s okay,” Eckerman said. “Everybody has to show up every single night.”
Gage Wellman is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected] or @GageWellmanKSTV on X.
