Turkish Eagles, Panthers, Braves, Golden Retrievers, Vaqueros, and Pride fighting on!
The Turkish Golden Eagle at the College of Southern Idaho is heating up with solid stats! Didar Ozcan is helping her CSI team instrumentally in this year’s daunting NJCAA D1 season.
The UNI-Illinois State volleyball series was postponed and UNI Volleyball instead added DePaul to their spring schedule. Yagmur Cinel (UNI) fired up her team, especially with the points she scored at tying the match. Yagmur is becoming a clutch performer for the Panthers, scoring in critical times and when her team needs her the most offensively. She’s having a phenomenal freshman campaign, like no other had by an international at Top-50 perennially UNI. This MVC v Big East matchup was exceptional, with full sets going to 26 and 32 points and having some remarkable and long rallies, where each team refused to lose! The Northern Iowa audience definitely had a great taste of volleyball. After falling to Valpo, Bradley's longest MVC win streak since 2005 ended and the loss dropped Bradley from second to third in the MVC standings; but Bradley took their revenge the next day and retook the 2nd place. Doga Topcicek helped her Braves especially with her key digs.
Even though Hofstra lost in both games, Damla Tokman (Hofstra) had a good effort especially with her blocks. Damla Tokman had a team-high five blocks in the first match. Ada Bulgur (UTRGV) had a very good effort and was named player of the match in Seattle with eight kills, 1 dig and 1 block. Ada continued her inspiring efforts in the second game of the series and increased her stats. Last but not least, UMBC played two matches in one day this weekend. UMBC got one win and one loss. Beste Ayhan (UMBC) played a big role in the game they won with her career-high four blocks, while salvaging a difficult match against the America East champs later that day with another 6 kills in 14 attacks and 3 more blocks.
UNI-Illinois State Volleyball Series Postponed
Illinois State has fewer than the minimum number of eligible, medically available players (for MVC volleyball, that's nine players without position minimums). The Missouri Valley Conference has postponed the Illinois State-UNI volleyball series (March 7-8) at McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa and will announce make-up dates for the series/matches at a later date.
Panther Volleyball Adds
DePaul to Spring Schedule DePaul volleyball has agreed to play UNI on Sunday, March 7 in place of their canceled match with Illinois State.
The volleyball match will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 2 pm.
The Panthers and Blue Demons have met 5 times in program history with the Panthers going 4-1 in the series. The two teams last played in the 1990 season when the Panthers won in 3 sets.
The Panthers and Blue Demons will meet up for the first time in 31 years, last taking the court on September 28, 1990.
The 2019-20 DePaul volleyball team was awarded the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 13th consecutive year for maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA on a 4.0 scale. The Blue Demons posted a cumulative 3.715 GPA on the year and were awarded the BIG EAST Sport Excellence Award for the best GPA of all volleyball programs.
Panthers Fell to DePaul
The UNI volleyball team fell to the DePaul Blue Demons 3-1 with set scores of 30-32, 26-24, 20-25, 19-25 on Sunday afternoon.
UNI finished with 52 kills and a .179 team hitting percentage.
DePaul finished with 56 kills and a .210 team hitting percentage.
Freshman Yagmur Cinel finished with 9 kills, 2 blocks and 2 digs.
The Panthers will now shift their focus to Valparaiso, traveling to Valparaiso, Indiana for back-to-back matches March 14 and 15.
Bradley Volleyball Falls to Valpo!
In a match featuring the top two teams in the nation in digs per set, Bradley fell 3-0 with set scores of 25-13, 28-26, 25-20 in the first game of the series. Bradley's the longest MVC win streak since 2005 ended and the loss dropped Bradley from second to third in the MVC standings. Valpo extended their winning streak to four consecutive matches, matching the program’s longest conference winning streak since joining the MVC.
The freshman Doga Topcicek recorded 1 kill, 2 assists, 1 ace, 9 dig and 1 block.
Bradley and Valparaiso close out the two-match series Monday with a 4 p.m. contest in Valparaiso, Ind., that will be available on ESPN+.
Bradley Took Revenge!
Bradley came back after yesterday's defeat and took revenge by winning 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-19) in the second game of the series. The loss ended Valpo’s winning streak at four consecutive matches.
Freshman Doga Topcicek recorded 1 kill, 2 assists and 17 digs. The Braves (8-4 overall, 8-4 MVC) moved back into second in the MVC standings with the victory, improving to 3-4 on the road this season. Despite having five players reach double figures in the category, Valpo was out-dug by Bradley, 102-83. The Braves entered the week the only team in the nation averaging more digs/set than Valpo.
Bradley returns to Renaissance Coliseum this weekend for a two-match series against Loyola with the teams opening the set Sunday with a 3 p.m. match.
Hofstra got its first loss of the season
The Hofstra volleyball team dropped 3-1 with set scores 25-27, 25-15, 25-18, and 25-18 to Northeastern on Friday evening at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center. The match was the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams. Hofstra falls to 3-1 with the loss, while Northeastern improves to 4-1. Hofstra leads the all-time series with Northeastern, 45-14. The Huskies win today ended a six-match win streak in the series by the Pride. Freshman Damla Tokman made an excellent effort!! She posted six kills and a team-high five blocks in the match, also she added 4 digs and 1 ace.
Hofstra and Northeastern will meet again on Sunday in Boston. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Hofstra Completed 2-Game Series with a Loss
Hofstra couldn’t come back after the loss and fell to Northeastern 3-1 with set scores of 25-16, 22-25, 25-15, and 25-22 on Saturday at the Cabot Center. The loss drops Hofstra's record to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in Colonial Athletic Association action this season, while Northeastern improved to 5-1 and 2-0 in league play. Hofstra is now 45-15 all-time against Northeastern.
Freshman Damla Tokman finished the game with 4 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks, and 3 digs.
Hofstra returns to action on Friday, March 12, when it hosts Towson at 4 p.m.
UMBC Volleyball to kick off season with two matches Sunday
UMBC is 3-0 overall, and their 2-0 conference record is good enough for an early tie at the top of the America East standings.
UMBC Sweeps Host Binghamton in First Game of the Day
UMBC swept host Binghamton 3-0 with set scores of 25-19, 25-14, 25-17 on Sunday morning.
The freshman class shined elsewhere as Michela De Marzi (Milan, Italy) had five kills, two aces and two digs, and Beste Ayhan (Istanbul, Turkey) had two kills and a career-high four blocks, also she added six digs.
UMBC Falling to UAlbany in the Second Game of the Day
The Retrievers fell to America East champion UAlbany (4-1, 3-0) in four sets (25-22, 25-21, 24-26, 25-19) on Sunday. UAlbany and UMBC were never separated by more than three points in the first set.
Kamara Kelly recorded a match-high 18 kills, and the next closest Great Dane was Selah Malcoln with eight while freshman Beste Ayhan recorded 6 kills and 2 blocks.
The three teams will all meet again in pod play next Sunday at UMBC.
UTRGV Falls to Series Opener at Seattle U
The UTRGV Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Seattle U Redhawks 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 20-25) on Monday at the Redhawk Center.
Freshman Ada Bulgur made a very good effort and was named player of the match with eight kills, 1 dig and 1 block! Seattle U played with a season-high hitting percentage. After the win, the Redhawks snapped a five-match skid against the Vaqueros.
UTRGV and Seattle U complete the series on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
UTRGV Took the Revenge in the Second Game of the Series
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros volleyball team beat the Seattle U Redhawks 3-1 (25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20) on Tuesday at the Redhawk Center. Seattle U finished the match hitting .214, while the Vaqueros attack converted on a .311-clip. The Redhawk held a slim 44-41 advantage in digs, but were edged out in kills, 52-49, and aces, 12-8.
Ada Bulgur keeps making a good effort. Freshman Ada recorded nine kills with three aces, four blocks and 2 digs.
UTRGV returns on Monday at 6 p.m. and Tuesday at 12 p.m. against Utah Valley at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Irem Elmas
Irem’s Iowa Western Community College had a scheduled game for the 7th of March against Marshalltown Community College which got cancelled.
Next matchups :
09/03 vs. Iowa Lakes Community College
12/03 vs. McCook Community College and Western Nebraska Community College
Didar Ozcan
The College of Southern Idaho was defeated against Snow College on 3/3 (1-3), Ozcan scored 3 kills and 4 blocks. However, in the next game, the Golden Eagles dominated the College of Southern Nevada in 3, the freshman middle blocker scored 1 kill and 1 block.
Next matchups :
10/3 vs. Salt Lake Community College