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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State volleyball saw its four-game win streak come to a sudden stop on Sunday afternoon, as the Owls were handed a 3-0 setback (23-25, 12-25, 15-25) by Western Michigan in their final game of the Kennesaw State Invitational from the Convocation Center. Both KSU (6-3) and Western Michigan (9-1) finished the weekend at 2-1 in the four-team field, as the Owls won their first two games in the event, both by 3-2 margins over Wake Forest and Mississippi State.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Owls finished under .200 for a hitting percentage for the first time this season, posting a .075 (30K-22E-107TA) against WMU. The Broncos meanwhile posted a .280 (44K-14E-107TA) for the match.
THE RUNDOWN – Despite the 3-0 final score, it was anyone's ballgame in the first set. There were a total of eight ties in the opening set, and the momentum was on the Owls side early thanks to a 5-0 run to go up 15-11. The set and the game changed though when the Broncos scored four straight, the last two off a pair of KSU errors, for a 20-19 lead. The Owls tied the set at 20, and would be tied again at 23-23 but WMU scored the final two points to steal the set and a 1-0 lead. The last blown lead and the emotion of the weekend caught up to a tired Owls squad, as they would go on to drop the next two sets by 13 and 10 points.
POST-GAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"Tough end to a wonderful weekend of high level volleyball and heart warming moments with Griffin's Game on Saturday. Today was a trap match in every sense of the word, and we certainly got trapped. Even though we had a chance to win at the end of the first, it was pretty obvious our mental edge was not where it needed to be to beat a team of WMU's caliber. And then unfortunately we didn't have close to enough fight in us in set 2 and set 3 to get back in that match. WMU's defenders are top notch and their setter is fantastic. We're getting better, great things are ahead for our group, but we got beat bad today. We need to learn from it and move on."
NOTES
-The Owls dropped to 0-2 all-time against Western Michigan.
-KSU was swept for the first time this season.
-Emma Schurfranz led the Owls with nine kills, while Manu Johnsen was next with eight.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will play a pair of games in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a homecoming for Shelby Dennis and Maggie Butkovich. KSU will start with a neutral contest against Northern Kentucky on Friday, Sept. 15 at 6 p.m., followed by a Saturday, Sept. 16 game against Xavier at 4 p.m., and both games will be played in the Cintas Center on the Xavier campus.
