Akron Picks up First Win of the Season on Final Day of Homewood Suites Classic

Saturday, August 31

Fort Myers, FL

4 PM

University of Akron

1-2

Bryant

0-3

Bryant

Akron

Akron Picks up First Win of the Season on Final Day of Homewood Suites Classic

August 31 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Follow Akron Volleyball on Facebook and Twitter

Box Score - TBA

Akron Volleyball Picks up First Win of the Season on Final Day of Homewood Suites Classic

Fort Myers, Fla. – Akron volleyball picked up its first win of the season against Bryant on the final day of the Homewood Suites Fort Myers Classic. The Zips struggled early, but eventually found their groove, beating the Bulldogs, 3-1 (16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-16).

With the win, Akron improves to 1-2.

"We did a nice job bouncing back off of our Saturday losses and a slow start today. Shelby Fulmer and Elya Karsner did a great job coming off the bench to help us turn things around" said coach Tom Hanna.

Leading the way offensively for the Zips were seniors Elya Karsner (Frankfort, Ky.), and Ashley Richardson (Doylestown, Ohio), who finished with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Junior Emily Weigand (Burton, Ohio) contributed as well, dishing out 36 assists and adding 4 kills. Defensively, junior Taylor Sharrits finished with 18 digs, while freshman Lauren Latka (Zionsville, Ind.) added another 15.

The first set saw back and forth scoring early. A kill by junior Jen Durra (Painesville, Ohio) knotted the score at 6.

A three and six-point run by Bryant put them up 15-7, and caused Akron to call both their timeouts in that span. From there, the Bulldogs would maintain their lead for the remainder of the set, beating the Zips 25-16.

The Zips responded well, once again tying the game at 6, thanks to an attack error by Bryant. A kill by Hannah Yaconis (Batavia, Ill.) gave the Zips their first lead of the match, 7-6.

The Bulldogs went on to score five of the next six points, forcing Akron to call its first timeout of the set.

Out of the timeout, the Zips came out firing. A kill by Richardson woke up the Zips offense, as they'd go on to score 13 of the next 16 points, capped off with a kill by Karsner.

With Bryant now down 22-15 and out of timeouts, the Zips kept its foot on the gas and went on to win the set, 25-20.

In the third set, the Zips struggled to find its groove early, finding itself down 10-3. They would, however, not give up in the slightest, slowly decreasing the deficit and eventually tying the game at 18, forcing Bryant to call its second timeout the set.

Out of the timeout, the Zips capped off a five-point run thanks to kills by junior Shelby Fulmer (Perrysburg, Ohio) and Yaconis, putting the Zips ahead, 20-18.

With Akron five points away from winning the set, the Bulldogs fought back, scoring on four of the next five points and re-taking the lead, 22-21. From there, the Zips' resilient offense rallied to score four straight points, capped off with a set error by Bryant, resulting in Akron taking the third set, 25-22.

In the fourth set, the Zips started slow, but six and seven-point runs in the heart of the set put them up, 22-11. Akron held strong, and went on to take the set and ultimately win the match, 3-1.

Sharrits was named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 3.92 digs per set over the weekend.

"Taylor was a steady passer for us all weekend on top of playing solid defense for us" said coach Tom Hanna

Akron heads to Cincinnati, Ohio next Friday, Sept. 6 to compete in the Xavier Tournament.