The volleyball team swept both Buffalo and Ohio University in three games for their first time to win two Mid-American Conference matches in a row. These wins improved the Falcons record to 14-6 overall and 7-5 in the MAC.

“It was a good match [Friday],” said head coach Denise Van De Walle. “I was pleased with how we did.”

The Falcons defeated the Bulls in an impressive three game match (30-26, 30-28, 30-24).

“Our goal tonight was to work on our offense to hit our goal of .240,” Van De Walle said. “We wanted to block three balls a game and we met that goal. I wanted to play well enough to play everyone and we got everyone in.”

Setters Natalie Becker and Sara Sikorski worked together to post a total of 48 assists, 25 and 23 respectively.

“It was nice to see both Sarah and Natalie play,” Van De Walle said. “I thought they both set a very good game.”

Sophomore Susie Norris led the team for the Falcons with 17 kills and nine digs. She hit a .342 for the evening.

“She’s taken a heavy crack at the ball,” Van De Walle said. “She had back to back matches with a lot of kills and they’ve been impressive. She averaged five kills a game and that’s an extremely high average.”

Senior Caty Rommeck posted 15 kills, hitting .342, and had a team-high two solo blocks.

“Caty really picked up her game,” Van De Walle said. “Going into game three her statistics weren’t that solid.”

Junior Kristin Gamby led the team with four total blocks, while sophomore Laura Twyman had three. Twyman also had seven kills and hit .462, which was her best since Aug. 31, 2001.

“We had a better performance out of Laura than we’ve had in a while,” Van De Walle said.

The Falcons had a team total of 56 kills, hitting .248, and had nine team blocks, while the Bulls had 40 kills, hitting .196 and had six team blocks.

“Their middles hurt us and that’s two matches back to back where the middles have hurt us,” Van De Walle said. “Ball State’s middles were very dynamic and [Buffalo] had two players in double digits [in kills].”

After defeating the Bulls Friday the Falcons had built up their confidence and were ready for Ohio Saturday.

They posted their second three game sweep in a row over the Bobcats (30-26, 30-19, 30-23).

“Anytime you can win in three you have to feel good about how you are performing,” Van De Walle said. “[Saturday’s] performance was exceptional. It was the first time we’d put together back to back wins in the league.”

Rommeck and Twyman each had five total blocks to lead the team in that area.

“We played a solid performance,” Norris said. “One of the big differences [Saturday] was everybody did good. We all contributed to it. It was a good win.”

Becker led the Falcons with 45 assists. She also had seven digs in the match.

Senior Kate Yeo had a team high three service aces, which tied her career high total set in the 1999 season. Yeo also had nine digs.

“We had a great offensive effort from Susie, Gamby, Shyann and Laura,” Van De Walle said. “We’ve been talking about how we need to have more than just two players on in any match and tonight we had four people put up big numbers.”

Norris recorded a team high 18 digs, her most since Sept. 1, 2001. Norris also had 11 kills and two total blocks.

“It’s been nice to see Susie put together three matches in a row now where she has lead the team pretty much offensively and her defense [Saturday]: 18 digs in a three game match,” Van De Walle said. “That’s a lot.”

Norris said, “I felt like I’ve really picked it up the last three games. The whole team has picked it up, too. The last two games we’ve been getting better and better.”

Senior Shyann Robinson and Gamby led the Falcons with 14 kills a piece. Robinson led the team with a .444 hitting percentage. “Over the year I’ve been up and down with my hitting percentages and I hit pretty high [Saturday],” Robinson said. “It felt good to finally get it back.”

Van De Walle said, “It was a great team effort. We beat a good team. I feel good about the win.”

The Falcons had a total of 53 kills as a team, hit .276 and posted 11 team blocks, while the Bobcats had 43 team kills, hit .129 and recorded eight team blocks.

“All of our hitters are hitting well,” Robinson said. “We’re coming together as a team and that makes a big difference in the score of the game.”