The Kent State volleyball team made history Saturday when senior Challen Geraghty took the number one spot with her 2,172 career dig against Miami University. 

However, this accomplishment did not lead the Flashes to a win this weekend. Kent State fell short in both matches, leaving the team 2-13 overall and 0-4 in the Mid-American Conference.

Kent State then fell 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 30-32, 25-21, 6-15) to Miami (10-7, 2-2 MAC) Saturday. 

“Our team is going to fight back,” Geraghty said with tears in her eyes. “We played hard all through the five games. We’re gonna go down fighting each game.”

Junior Sam Jones trailed Geraghty with a career-high of 21 digs, while freshman setter Natalie Tagala also hit a career-high with 19 digs on top of her 48 assists.

Senior Kelsey Bittinger led the team with 19 kills and sophomore Ashley Makruski had a career-high 16 kills, proving to be a strong asset for the Flashes.

“We got to see what we can be,” Makruski said. “It’s been a rough season so far, but we proved tonight it’s not gonna be a rough season the whole time. We have that heart and we saw a glimpse of what we can really be. We gave it our all.”

Gromala said the biggest move was the team came in and stepped up when things got tough.

“They fought hard in five sets,” Gromala said. “We came out, we fought, we maintained. If they pushed, we pushed back.”

The Flashes definitely pushed back in the third set against Miami with 15 tie scores and five lead changes. They ended the set 32-30.

The Flashes lost 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 16-25, 13-25) to Bowling Green (6-8, 2-1 MAC) Friday.

Freshman Natalie Tagala led the team with 30 of the 40 assists and the Flashes held the Falcons to a .133 hitting percentage.

Gromala said the team is going to work hard in the next match.

“I hope they learned they’re good enough to beat anybody in this conference and do a lot of great things,” Gromala said. “They want that first conference win, so they’ll be ready to play come Thursday.” 

The Flashes will welcome Ohio University Thursday at 7 p.m. in the M.A.C. Center.

Taylor Sforzo is a sports reporter. Contact her at [email protected].