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Western Michigan
Western Michigan edges Volleyball in 3-1 decision
October 12 | Women's Volleyball
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Akron pushed a talented Western Michigan team to the limit on Friday night but could not convert down the stretch, falling in a four set cliffhanger, 16-25, 29-27, 21-25, 23-25.
The Zips' trio of offensive weapons in Tina Dimitrijevs, Alex Cocklin and Paiton Twitty combined for 42 of the team's 52 total kills, but it was not enough to overpower WMU's 60 and its leader Richelle Ranney who posted 20 kills of her own.
Despite coming up empty handed, Akron played about as well as it had all season against the West Division's second-place Broncos, a team that qualified for the NCAA tournament a year ago. UA's 29-27 win in the extended second set was the first set victory for the Zips over WMU since the 2009 season.
The score tied 12 times and the lead changed hands another six times in that second set. It looked like Western Michigan was pulling away at the 12-8 mark after completing four consecutive scoring plays when Akron called a timeout.
The Zips began to chip away and eventually pushed the tempo with three straight points on kills from Twitty and Chelsea Harvey to lock the two teams at 14.
Neither team held a lead greater than two until crunch time, and Akron strung together five consecutive points sealed with a service ace from Jill Paluch to bring the Zips to set point at 24-23. That would be the first of four set points that UA would see slip away however, before Dimitrijevs and Cocklin threw down back-to-back kills to finally end the second period tug-of-war.
After playing the Broncos close to start the third, Akron fell behind by as many as eight. The Zips were able to force a few WMU miscues though and catch some late momentum, scoring six times in seven tries to fight back to within three at 23-20. Another Cocklin kill diffused Western's first set point but Akron was unable to hold off the next one and fell behind two sets to one.
A 6-0 Akron run midway through the fourth seemed like it might be enough to extend the match to five, but WMU snuck back in the game to tie the score at 21. The Broncos would go on to take advantage of a pair of untimely UA errors to edge the Zips for the victory.
Defensively, the Zips only missed the Broncos by one dig, 77-76, and were led by Paluch and Harvey who picked up 18 apiece, and Cocklin who chipped in an individual season-high 14.
Akron also delivered nine total team blocks, keyed by Dimitrijevs' one solo and five block-assists.
The Zips will look to finish the job Saturday at Northern Illinois (14-9, 5-2). First serve is set for 8 p.m. ET in DeKalb, Ill. The Huskies defeated Buffalo Friday night, 3-0.
