EMU Volleyball Travels to Bowling Green and Miami This Weekend

Volleyball at Bowling Green & Miami
Date	Friday, Oct. 13 - Saturday, Oct. 14
Location	Bowling Green, Ohio - Oxford, Ohio
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	vs. Bowling Green \| vs. Miami
Live Video	vs. Bowling Green \| vs. Miami
Twitter	@EMU Volleyball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team hits the road again for Mid-American Conference play, traveling to Bowling Green State University Friday, Oct. 13 for a 5 p.m. match against the Falcons and returning to action Saturday, Oct. 14 when it travels to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami University at 5 p.m.

EMU (10-12, 2-4 MAC) is coming off its first winless weekend in conference play, falling in two extremely exciting five-set matches to Central Michigan, Oct. 5, and Ohio, Oct. 7. Freshman Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) was the catalyst for the Eagles' offense in the two matches, averaging 17 kills and 3.40 kills per set against the Chippewas and Bobcats. The outside hitter also averaged 2.60 digs per set. Junior Jordan Smith (Solon, Iowa-Solon) put together a career-best defensive weekend, putting up 19 digs in the loss to Central Michigan and following it up with a personal record 22 digs against Ohio. The outside hitter recorded her seventh double-double of the season against the Bobcats, adding an impressive 20 kills. Overall, the Solon, Iowa native averaged 2.30 kills per set and 4.10 digs per set.

The match against Ohio also saw a career performance from Mallory Rajewski (Midland, Mich.-Midland), who set a new career-high for digs with 32. The setter also dished out 28 assists, giving Rajewski her team-leading ninth double-double of the season and her fourth in as many matches. The junior averaged 6.20 assists per set and 4.40 digs per set in last week's two matches. In total, four Eagles had double-doubles during the Ohio match (Rajewski-28 assists, 32 digs; Smith-20 kills, 22 digs; Strefling-15 kills, 13 digs; Taylor-26 assists, 10 digs), marking the second time this season that EMU has had four players reach a double-double in a single match. The first time, against Northern Illinois, Sept. 29, was the first time in two seasons that Eastern had four players achieve double-doubles.

Fans can follow the games via live stats through the links found on the volleyball schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Additionally, the action on the court will be live-tweeted from the team's account, @EMUVolleyball.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE OPPONENTS
Eastern Michigan is 27-31 against Bowling Green in the all-time series, but has had the upper hand in recent history. The Eagles have a 14-11 record against the Falcons since the 1999 season, including an 8-5 record at the Stroh Center. EMU has won three of its last five matches against BG, and two straight on the road.
Eastern trails Miami by a considerable margin when it comes to the all-time series, holding a record of 15-38 against the Redhawks. The Eagles have lost five straight to Miami, have a 2-8 record at Millett Hall since 1999, and haven't won since Oct. 14, 2011.

CLIMBING THE RANKS
The 2017 season serves as a special opportunity for setter Mallory Rajewski, as the junior is quickly climbing the Eagle ranks in career assists. In her third season with the Green and White, the Midland, Mich. native moved into the ninth-place spot on the all-time list, passing Lauren Viney (2002-03), in a Sept. 22 loss to Ball State. She's surpassed 1,700 assist mark and needs 36 more to reach 1,800. The junior currently trails eighth place by 261. After a 2015 campaign in which she tallied the fifth-most assists by a freshman (747), Rajewski totaled 479 assists in 2016 and already has 429 in 2017.
Also making her way up the Eastern Michigan record books this season is junior Jordan Smith, who collected her 700th kill Sept. 29 at Northern Illinois. The Solon, Iowa native has averaged over 233 kills per season in her first two years, and is already at 202 in 2017. She is 257 kills away from joining the Eagles' Top 15.

BLOCK PARTY
Not only are the Eagles' the MAC leaders in blocks per set (2.45), the senior middle blocking duo of Samantha Falco (Antioch, Ill.-Antioch Community) and Kelly Ferguson (Lemont, Ill.-Lemont) are each in the top three of blocks per set. Ferguson is currently in first place in the conference with an average of 1.12 blocks per set, while Falco sits in third place with a 1.06 average.
As a team, EMU eclipsed its 2016 block total in just 19 matches this season, roaring past its mark of 179.5 blocks with a 17-block performance against Northern Illinois, Sept. 29.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE
With Eastern's second game with four players reaching double-doubles this season against Ohio, Oct. 7, the Eagles reached a mark that has only been achieved one other time in the last 10 years. During the 2012 season, EMU had four players reach double-doubles in two games (vs. UT-Arlington, Sept. 1, 2012 and at Toledo, Oct. 5, 2012). In that same time frame, there have only been six total instances of four players reaching double-doubles in a single game.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern Michigan returns to the friendly confines of the Convocation Center Friday, Oct. 20 for a 7 p.m. match against Akron. The Eagles then welcome Buffalo to town for another 7 p.m. match Saturday, Oct. 21.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

EMU Volleyball Travels to Bowling Green and Miami This Weekend

Players Mentioned

Samantha Falco

Kelly Ferguson

Mallory Rajewski

Jordan Smith

Franki Strefling

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