Ayhan & Cinel record personal bests in blocks and kills
Yagmur Cinel keeps firing up her team and was the second scorer and player of the game with 16 points against Valpo. She also broke her career record with 14 kills and 4 blocks this past weekend. UMBC ended Sunday with one win and one loss in a day. Beste Ayhan finished the first game, against reigning (and perennial) America East champions UAlbany, with an amazing block performance. She had 8 blocks, 3 kills, and 1 dig. She broke her career record with her 8 blocks. Bradley Volleyball keeps sweeping and Doga Topcicek keeps helping with her digs and aces. She recorded a total 6 aces and 19 digs in two matches. Ada Bulgur helped her team with 3 blocks to record a season high 13 team blocks, as a team. She also added 11 kills and 5 digs.
Yagmur Cinel
The UNI volleyball team fell in five sets with set scores of 24-26, 17-25, 27-25, 25-23, 13-15 on Valparaiso on Sunday afternoon. The match marked the 5th 5-set match for the Panthers, going 2-3 in those contests. UNI recorded 66 kills while hitting .152 as a team. Valpo recorded 59 kills while hitting .167 as a team. UNI finished with 14 team blocks for the second match in a row. Emily Holterhaus led the Panthers with 17 kills followed by Yagmur Cinel with 14 and she also added 2 blocks and 1 dig. UNI is now 14-1 all-time against Valparaiso. The Panthers, now 6-9 overall and 6-5 in MVC play, were back at the Athletics Recreation Center for a 4 pm match with Valparaiso on Monday, March 15. The Panthers fell 3-0 in the second game of the series on Monday afternoon. UNI recorded 32 kills and .058 hitting percentage. Valpo finished with 41 kills and a .221 team hitting percentage. Senior libero Rylee Cookerly (Valparaiso) checked off yet another accomplishment in her sterling career, cracking the NCAA Division I top-25 chart for career digs. Despite her move up the NCAA career chart Monday, it was a quiet match for Cookerly, who tallied just 11 digs. The 11 digs are her lowest total for a match since picking up 11 digs against Loyola on Nov. 25, 2019. The freshman outside hitter Yagmur Cinel finished with 3 kills and 4 blocks. The Panthers (6-10, 6-6 MVC) now return home for their final homestand of the season on March 21 and 22 taking on Loyola in the McLeod Center. Monday will serve as the UNI senior day, honoring seniors Kate Busswitz, Taylor Hedges, and Jaydlin Seehase following the match.
Beste Ayhan
Ayhan’s UMBC played two games in a row in one day. First game of the day, UMBC fell in 5 sets to champion UAlbany with set scores of 25-22, 25-21, 15-25, 21-25, 16-14, before sweeping Binghamton (25-20, 25-22, 25-21).The Retrievers had four players with double-digit kills, led by Anouk Van Noord's 20. Despite losing, UMBC outscored UAlbany 107-102 in points during the five-set match. Beste Ayhan had an amazing block performance. She finished with an amazing 8 blocks, 3 kills and 1 dig. Second game of the day, UMBC sweeps Binghamton with set scores of 25-20, 25-22, 25-21. Beste Ayhan finished with 6 kills and 1 block. The Retrievers now hit the road for the penultimate and biggest weekend of the abbreviated season. UMBC will play a pod at NJIT with the host Highlanders and New Hampshire beginning next Sunday in Newark, N.J. They will play a total of four games over two days, as they face both teams once each day.
Hande Yetis
UTEP volleyball fell to Rice in four sets (25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 22-25), 3-1, at Memorial Gym Sunday afternoon. The Miners recorded their lowest hitting percentage (.213) and kills per set (13) total in a match yet this season. The freshman setter Hande Yetis finished with 16 assists, 3 aces and 5 digs.
“I'm proud of our group's effort despite a lot of things not going our way this week," head coach Ben Wallis said. "They were ready to battle, and they did in long stretches. We weren't clean enough because of our inability to get enough practice time in (and) it cost us later in sets three and four and that was the difference (in) the match. My team has shown on multiple occasions this year that the next day they will come back and make adjustments and play really hard," Wallis said. "So, I expect that from my team tomorrow."
The Miners have won the second match in each of their conference series following a loss the previous day. Still, with Rice as the usual suspect for C-USA titles over the past few years, UTEP volleyball lost in straight sets for the first time this season to Rice with set scores of 13-25, 25-27, 19-25, Monday afternoon in Memorial Gym. UTEP had its lowest kill percentage (.045) and kill (29) and assist (27) totals to date this season. Hande Yetis finished with 11 assists, 2 aces and 5 digs. UTEP volleyball travels to Ruston, La., to take on Louisiana Tech (1-17, 0-10 C-USA) for its final road trip of the season before the Conference USA Tournament. The Miners have won their last two outings versus the Bulldogs in three and four sets, respectively.
Doga Topcicek
Bradley Volleyball Swept Loyola in Series Opener with set scores of 22-25, 24- 26, 15-25. The Braves are now 9-4 on the year, while the Ramblers drop to 6-5 in conference play. Doga Topcicek recorded 1kill, 3 aces, and 11 digs. Bradley posted an attacking percentage of .237 in the winning effort, while limiting Loyola to just .095 over the three sets. Bradley volleyball swept Loyola in the second game of the series with set scores of 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 and moved into first place in MVC Conference rankings. Bradley had 14 total blocks, the team's most in three sets since 2006. Bradley won back-to-back matches in three sets for the first time since 2018. The Braves posted an attacking percentage of .243 in the winning effort, while holding the Ramblers to just .104. The freshman Doga Topcicek finished with 1 assist, 3 aces and 8 digs. Bradley now looks to continue its winning ways on the road next weekend, squaring off with the team BU took first place from today, Missouri State. The schools begin their two-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Springfield, Missouri.
Ada Bulgur
The UTRGV Vaqueros volleyball team fell to the Seattle U Redhawks 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 20-25) on Monday March 8th, at the Redhawk Center. The Seattle U Redhawks played with a season-high hitting percentage. Ada Bulgur led her team with 8 kills. She also added 1 block and 1 dig. UTRGV took revenge in the second game of the series. The Vaqueros volleyball team shot down the Seattle U Redhawks 3-1 with set scores of 25-15, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 on Tuesday at the Redhawk Center. Freshman Ada Bulgur became the 3rd highest scorer of the team with nine kills, four blocks, three aces, and two digs. 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. UTRGV returns on Monday at 6 p.m. and Tuesday at 12 p.m. against Utah Valley at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. UTRGV Athletics is capped capacity at the UTRGV Fieldhouse at 231 fans.
The UTRGV volleyball team fell to the Utah Valley University Wolverines 1-3 (25-15, 17-25, 23-25, 21-25) on Monday March 15th, at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. Freshman Ada Bulgur recorded 11 kills with 3 blocks and 5 digs. As a team, the Vaqueros recorded a season-high 13 team blocks, including a season-high 22 block assists. The Vaqueros fall to 2-11 on the year and 2-9 in conference play. "It wasn't the best match statistically today but I was proud of the team for playing through it," said Utah Valley head volleyball coach Sam Atoa. "We will need to do a better job taking care of the ball and when we do, we do good things." In the second game of the series, UTRGV fell 0-3 to Utah Valley Volleyball with set scores of 15-25, 26-28, 19-25. Freshman Ada Bulgur recorded 2 kills, 2 digs and 1 block. With the win, UVU improves to 11-4 on the season, including 11-3 in WAC play. The Vaqueros fall to 2-12 on the year and 2-10 in conference play. "I was really happy with how we executed today," said Utah Valley head volleyball coach Sam Atoa ``We made a few adjustments and it paid off. Our main defensive focus was to take them out of the system with our serving and to convert on those opportunities. On offense, our focus was to side out and we did a good job with that. UTRGV closes out the regular season on Monday and Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Tarleton. Fans can watch for free online at WACDigitalNetwork.com.
Irem Elmas
Elmas’ Iowa Western Community College is determined not to lose their winning streak, as they had 5 more wins this past week. On the 9th they had a match against Iowa Lakes Community college which they swept in 3 sets (25-9,25-18,25-9). The young outside recorded 5 kills and 1 assist in 2 sets. On the 12th they had two more wins against McCook Community College (25-17,25-18,25-0) and Western Nebraska Community College (25-14, 25-18,25-20). Elmas had 8 kills, 1 ace, 11 digs and 2 blocks in the first match and an amazing performance with another double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. On the 14th they competed against Kirkwood Community College which they also won after 4 sets. Irem Elmas had 12 kills and 6 digs. Finally, this past Monday the 15th the Reivers recorded another sweep against Iowa Central Community College. Elmas added 8 more kills.
Next obligations:
18/3 vs. Missouri State University and Northeast Community College
21/3 vs. Indian Hills Community College