The Miami University Women's Volleyball team kicked off the home portion of its schedule Tuesday night at Millett Hall with a tough five-set loss to the Xavier Musketeers (30-28, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 11-15). The RedHawks fall to 1-6 on the season, while the Musketeers improve to 5-3 overall.
Notable performances for the RedHawks included a career-high 32 digs from Madison Hardy and an impressive showing by Meg Riley who recorded her fourth triple-double of the season with 14 kills, 25 assists and 13 digs.
Xavier jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start the match. The RedHawks won a long rally to tie the set for the first time at 10 points total. From there the two teams traded points before Miami gained their first lead of the night on a Musketeer error that made the score 12-11. Over the next several points Miami had three kills from Lisa Treadway including one that gave the Red and White a 20-18 lead. Tied at 25 apiece, the match continued to go back and forth without either squad gaining the two-point lead needed to win the set. Finally, Treadway came through with a kill to give the RedHawks their 30th point and put the Musketeers away in the lengthy first set.
Although Miami gained the momentum after their hard fought first set, the RedHawks trailed early (4-11) in the second set. Miami answered with five consecutive points featuring kills from Kayleigh Cox and Riley, bringing the score to 9-11. Miami received kills from Madison Dodd and Christina Menche over the next several points before Sarah Chaney and Cox teamed up for a pivotal block to bring the score to 17-19. From there, the Muskies took a 23-19 lead. Miami answered with two kills from Riley and one from Dodd, bringing the RedHawks within two points before Xavier won the next serve to clinch the second set.
The night's third set began with another early Xavier lead (5-2). From there, the RedHawks had runs of 7-2 and 4-0, pulling them ahead to a 20-18 lead. Up to that point, Miami had received five kills from Cox and two from Riley in the second set. Dodd finished out the third set with consecutive kills to give the RedHawks a fairly smooth 25-21 third set victory.
Miami did not let the Musketeers take the lead at the start in the fourth set as the Red and White went up 8-3. Xavier then went on a 5-0 run which Miami immediately answered with a 4-0 run, bringing the score to 12-8. The teams bounced back and forth before arriving at a 17-17 tie. However, Xavier then went on a dominating 8-2 run to capture the fourth set. At that point in the match, Riley had already secured her triple-double with 12 kills, 24 assists and 12 digs through the fourth set.
Once again, early deficits were the story of the night for Miami as they fell behind in the fifth set by scores of 3-9 and 6-12. They came back slightly after that with a 4-0 run featuring kills from Dodd and Annie Reiswig. The rally did not hold however as the Red and White fell by a score of 11-15 in the fifth and final set.
Dodd led the RedHawks with 15 kills on a .367 hitting percentage. Amy Kendall had a double-double with 21 assists and 10 digs. Chaney had a career-high 11 digs.
Miami continues its home stand this weekend with the start of the Miami Best Western/Sycamore Inn Invitational Friday night at 7 pm against Indiana State. The tournament continues Saturday when Miami faces off against Chicago State at 10:30 am and Temple at 7 pm.
