Kent State Volleyball (2-11, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) began Mid-American conference play this weekend against Akron (5-9, 1-1 MAC) and Buffalo (9-4, 2-0).

Kent State started off the match on Friday against the Akron Zips with a win (27-25), only to fall short in the end 1-3 (15-25, 18-25, 23-25).

Freshman Natalie Tagala led the Flashes with 34 assists, while senior Kelsey Bittinger led with 17 of the team’s 43 kills.

“I think our players as a group did a good job adjusting from our end with a little bit of tweaking with the lineup,” coach Don Gromala said. “Players definitely stepped up and that’s great to see.”

The Flashes went into Saturday’s match and struggled against Buffalo, losing 0-3 (22-25, 16-25, 23-25). Despite the loss, Kent State put up a fight.

“Buffalo is a tough team, but I think we did a lot of things to put some pressure on them,” Gromala said. “Offensively we did some really good things this evening. We controlled the ball pretty well and we fought. We didn’t give up.”

Senior Challen Geraghty led this match with 13 digs while outside hitter Kelsey Bittinger trailed right behind with 8.

“We’re looking forward to getting better from here on out,” Gromala said.

The Flashes play next Friday when they welcome Bowling Green to the M.A.C. Center for a conference matchup. 

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