After heading into their fourth tournament of season, the Eastern Michigan’s women’s volleyball team traveled to Dayton, Ohio to participate in the Flyer Invitational tournament from the weekend of Sept. 18-19.
The Eagles faced a tough road ahead after competing with Jacksonville University, Illinois State University and the University of Dayton throughout the weekend of the tournament.
The Eagles defeated Jacksonville in a three set victory (25-13, 25-18, 25-16) on Friday, Sept. 18 but fell short to both matchups against Illinois State and Dayton the following day (25-17, 17-25, 13-25, 18-25; 11-25, 20-25, 19-25).
“We knew our fourth weekend on the road was going to be tough,” said head coach Kimi Olson. “We were facing Jacksonville, a 2014 conference championship team, as well as two top 50 RPI programs.”
The Rating Percentage Index, commonly known as the RPI, is a measuring stick used to rank sports teams based upon its wins, losses and strength of schedule.
“We played very well against Jacksonville to get another 3-0 sweep. Then we had to turn around Saturday and play two really tough opponents back to back. Overall we did some great things in these matches but it wasn’t enough to overcome some tough competition.”
Stacey Perinar ended the tournament with 35 kills and 16 digs, while teammates Jordan Smith racked a total of 19 kills and Devon Murray, who pulled a total of 10 kills and 16 digs throughout the tournament.
The Eagles now hold a season record of 8-5 and will head to Kalamazoo, MI on Friday, Sept. 25 to face off Western Michigan University at 7:30 p.m. in the first conference game of the Mid-American Conference schedule.
“The team has had four weekends of preseason competition to continue to get better and prepare for MAC volleyball,” added Olson. “The way I see it, everyone is now 0-0. We are in charge of our destiny for conference and I think we are ready to face Western Michigan on Friday.”
