The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Western Illinois
Volleyball Splits Pair of Matches On First Day of Pepsi Panther Invitational
August 26 | Women's Volleyball
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Final Stats vs. Western Illinois | Final Stats vs. Milwaukee
PDF Stats vs. Western Illinois | PDF Stats vs. Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The University of Akron volleyball team split its doubleheader on the first day of the 2016 season at the Pepsi Panther Invitational Friday, Aug. 26 putting away Western Illinois, 3-2, and falling to tournament host Milwaukee in straight sets.
"I like that we won a fifth set but none of us were happy with how we got there," said head coach Tom Hanna. "We did a number of good things but we are going to need to do them a little bit more consistently to have sustainable success. Despite the score line, we had numerous chances to be in the second match and do some things that we could have taken better advantage of when the opportunity presented itself."
The Zips only played in seven five-set matches all of last season, but they needed every one of the extra frames in the first match of the year, working their way past Western Illinois 25-19, 25-10, 23-25, 21-25, 15-6.
Senior sisters Callie Mack (Mound, Minn.) and Brenna Mack (Mound, Minn.) paved the way defensively and helped the Zips stave off the Leathernecks down the stretch with 16 digs apiece. Sophomore left side hitter Kayla Gwozdz (Temperance, Mich.) notched a team-high 17 kills while classmate Madi Baer (Stow, Ohio) followed with 11 kills of her own. Senior Amanda Bedell (Hudson, Ohio) and sophomore Patience Brown (Bloomington, Ill.) also swung away for 10 kills apiece.
Freshman middle blocker Ashley Richardson (Doylestown, Ohio) contributed eight kills without an error in 16 attempts for an impressive .500 hitting percentage.
In her senior debut, Karley Kusan (Columbus, Ohio) registered 49 assists running Akron's offense at setter, also contributing nine digs, six kills and three block assists.
Leading two sets to one, UA broke a 5-all tie early in the fourth set but WIU used a four-point run to decidedly force a fifth. Capitalizing on early Western Illinois errors, Akron maintained a six-point lead throughout the last plays of final stanza to secure the victory.
In the match against Milwaukee, Akron gave the Panthers all it could handle for three sets but came up short falling 25-13, 25-20, 25-14.
Baer led the Zips with seven kills and Kusan recorded 22 assists, but it was not enough to offset a 12-kill effort from Milwaukee's Caitlin Schultz.
Akron got off to a slow start in the first set then saw a 17-all tie fizzle away in the second set. The Zips held a 7-3 lead early in the third set but Milwaukee rebounded with four consecutive points to tie the score. The Panthers then took a late lead on after a seven-point stretch, which ultimately guided them to the victory.
UA will face a quick turnaround on Saturday (Aug. 27), taking on Bradley at 11:00 a.m. ET, in their final match of the Pepsi Panther Invitational.
