The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Miami (Ohio)
Volleyball makes it five in a row, clinches MAC Tournament berth with 3-0 win at Miami
November 02 | Women's Volleyball
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OXFORD, Ohio – The Akron offense was firing on all cylinders Friday night as the Zips pushed their winning streak to five and secured a place in the Mid-American Conference Tournament with a decisive 3-0 road win over Miami.
UA made good use of the balanced attack that has worked so well of late, getting solid offensive production from all six of its starters. The Zips and the RedHawks got the same number of swings, but Akron converted 14 more than its opponent.
Leading the way was Alex Cocklin with 11 kills, followed closely by Tina Dimitrijevs with nine and Kelsey Wilson with eight. Chelsea Harvey and Alex Wiederholt each threw down six, and Morgan Kuhn kept it rolling with 34 assists. Kuhn is now just two assists away from 3,000 for her career.
With the victory, Akron has effectively locked up its spot in the MAC Tournament starting on Nov. 16 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. If the tournament started this weekend, the Zips would be the No. 5 seed. With several teams neck and neck in the middle of the pack, it will remain to be seen exactly how the seeding will play out over the course of the last three regular season matches.
The Zips set the tone early in the first set, exploding for five unanswered points backed by the serve of Harvey. Akron forced a pair of Miami errors to put together a mini 4-0 run a few plays later to hold a quick 10-4 advantage.
Akron's greatest lead of 10 would come at the 22-12 mark when Harvey and Wilson combined for a key block and force the RedHawks' second timeout of the set. After three straight Miami scores, a Harvey kill would get the Zips back on track. Ashley Holder came in to serve for Wiederholt and delivered an ace on set point to pick up the 25-16 victory.
The second period started out slow, but Akron was able to pull ahead at 9-5 on four consecutive scoring plays. The Zips would never relinquish the lead from that point on, steadily stringing together points until Kuhn dumped one over the net to capitalize on set point No. 3. UA is now 10-0 on the year when leading two sets to none.
Miami made sure the third set was the most hotly contest of the evening, keeping the score to within four or less. Akron did not really break away until two RedHawk errors made it 19-15 in the Zips' favor.
MU fought back with four straight points to tie the score at 21, but UA had no interest in making the match longer than it had to be. Four consecutive Akron points highlighted by kills from Harvey and Dimitrijevs would be enough for Akron to capture its eighth shutout of the season.
Not to be outdone by the offense, Akron's defense stepped up in the win as well, headlined by Jill Paluch's 19 digs. As a team, the Zips did not post a single receiving error in 42 attempts.
Akron will be back in action Saturday night taking on the East Division's second place team in Bowling Green at 5 p.m.. The Falcons (16-9, 11-1 MAC) came out on top in five sets over Buffalo Friday night.
