Looking back on an upset…and moving forward with eyes on MAC Tournament return

By Hannah Herc
Senior, Libero

Last night was unbelievable!!!!! I’m just really proud of my team. Beating a ranked team is what we’ve been working on since I got here. OU is always #1 in the conference and we’ve gone 5 games with them and lost in the past. Just beating them gives the team a whole new confidence, letting us know that we do have the ability if we work together to beat anybody.

I think the win kind of puts Kent State on the map. Finally, people are talking about Kent State volleyball and not just all the other sports teams we have. We’re finally being recognized, which is nice. Our crowds have been great this year, and I think that has really helped us. Having the support there makes us want to make Kent State proud. Their cheering and yelling gets the other team rattled and adds to the energy that we already bring to the court. It’s so awesome to feel loved!!!

Let the celebration begin!

Our team has grown a lot, even from Buffalo and BG matches. In both of those, we came out and won the first game and then lost the next 3. I think we were sick of that and really learned from it and were able to fight back last night and not let a bigger team that is supposedly a better team beat us down.

We’re focusing more on not getting caught up in the point and getting better every point rather than focusing on the end result. We just feel that if we work hard every point, and just try to get better during the game that it’s going to be the outcome that we want.

We have practice today, so we have to stay focused. We can’t let 1 win get to our heads because we still have a lot of MAC play to go. We need to go about today like it’s any other day and just focus on getting better to get back to the MAC Tournament. 

Kent State defeated #18 Ohio 3-1 for the volleyball program's
first ever win over a nationally-ranked opponent.