Volleyball Heads on the Road for Two MAC Matches

Friday, October 27

DeKalb, IL

7 PM ET

University of Akron

Northern Illinois University

Volleyball Heads on the Road for Two MAC Matches

October 26 | Women's Volleyball

AKRON, Ohio – The University of Akron volleyball team will have two road matches this weekend against the Northern Illinois Huskies in DeKald, Illinois on Friday evening and Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

GAME INFO
The Zips (10-12, 5-6 MAC) will first face Northen Illinois (8-15, 6-5 MAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT). Then Saturday, the Zips head to Kalamazoo, Michigan to face Western Michigan (21-2, 11-0 MAC) at 3 p.m..

Match	Live Stats	Video
Akron at Northen Illinois (10/27 \| 7 PM ET)	Live Stats	ESPN+
Akron at Western Michigan (10/28 \| 3 PM)	Live Stats	ESPN+

ABOUT THE ZIPS
The Zips are hitting the road looking to finish the final portion of the season on a strong note. Heading into this weekend, Akron is leading the conference in both the total number of service aces (185) and are the only team to average more than two aces per sets (2.1). Eliska Vytiskova (.49 aces per set) ranks third in the MAC, Vanessa Del Real (.48) ranks fourth, and Faith Johnson (.35) is in tenth. Vytiskova also ranks fifth in assists per set and Johnson is seventh in kills per set. Ellen Kinnaird is eighth in blocks per set while Del Real is eighth in digs per set. This past Saturday, Kinnaird was efficient in attacking situations as well as she accumulated 11 kills while hitting .526.

This past weekend, the Zips fell in two highly contested matches against Toledo at home. Faith Johnson registered another double-double on Saturday with 23 kills and 13 digs. Eliska Vytiskova helped the Akron attack with a career-high 60 assists in the five set affair.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Northen Illinois comes into Friday's match after three straight losses to Western Michigan (0-3) and Central Michigan (0-3 and 1-3). Isabelle Percoco registered a season-high 14 kills on Saturday against the Chippewas. On October 17 Katie Erdmann recorded her 1,000^th career kill in the first set for the Huskies.
Western Michigan heads into the weekend with the top record in the conference are undefeated in MAC play. They have swept opponents in all but one of their MAC matches, including the last five in a row. Riding their longest win streak (11) since 2000, the Broncos have been holding opponents to a .171 hitting percentage and are leading the conference with the highest kills per set at 14.03.

UP NEXT
The Akron Zips will return home for their final home weekend series of the season as they host the Bowling Green State University Falcons on November 3 and 4. On Saturday, the Zips will honor their Senior Class with Senior Day celebrations.