Miami football is hoping to follow in volleyball's footsteps and become the second Miami team to win a conference title this school year. The RedHawks play West division champion Central Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday at 11am. The football team is attempting to win its first MAC title since 2003, in what would cap a fantastic turnaround from 2-10 to conference champion. A win would improve Miami's record to 7-6 and guarantee a bowl game for the RedHawks.
Good luck to both Miami squads this weekend as they strive to continue their respective seasons.
]]>Congratulations to the VolleyHawks on your wonderful season and MAC Tournament title. Good luck in the NCAA's!
]]>With six MAC matches remaining prior to the conference tournament, Miami enters a vital stretch of matches this week that will go a long way to determine whether Miami wins the MAC East. On Wednesday, Miami visits a Bowling Green team that is the only MAC squad to defeat the RedHawks this season - BG was also the last team to defeat Miami, on September 20th. BG has a record of 8-2, one game behind Miami and OU.
After visiting Northern Illinois on Saturday, Miami returns to Oxford for key matches versus 8-2 Kent State on Friday, November 2nd and 9-1 OU the next night. Miami has already defeated both of these teams, with the victory against OU ending the Bobcats' 64 match conference winning streak. Presently, OU is the only MAC squad ranked in the Top 25, as they are 19th this week (in the same poll, Miami is in the "others receiving votes" category, placing them 35th).
If you are in Oxford, hopefully you will be able to make one or both of the matches at Millett in order to see if Miami can position themselves for a conference title. Congratulations to the team for its wonderful season thus far, and good luck the rest of the way.
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After a very successful week, Miami enters this weekend with an overall record of 6-7 and a MAC record of 3-1. Miami is presently tied for first place in the East with OU and Kent State, the two teams Miami defeated last week. The RedHawks have won their last three matches, and the squad was among the "others receiving votes" in the latest AVCA coaches poll.
Last week Miami defeated then #17 OU 3-1 in Athens to end OU's 64 match MAC winning streak, in perhaps the most impressive performance of any Miami team thus far in 2007-08. Miami followed up that victory with a 3-0 victory at Kent State. Looking ahead, OU visits Oxford on November 3rd in what will certainly be an exciting match as OU will be trying to avoid the season sweep from the RedHawks.
Miami's opponents this week both have 1-3 conference records and share the bottom spot in the division standings. Buffalo has an overall record of 2-17 while Akron has an overall record of 9-8.
Hopefully, those of you in the Oxford vicinity will be able to get to Millett for at least one of these matches as the RedHawks try to take advantage of their longest homestand of the season in an effort to win the MAC East.
Here are a few links about this week's matches:
http://muredhawks.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/100207aaa.html
http://www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/womensvolleyball/news/wvb10-01-2007-week.shtml
http://www.gozips.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10800&KEY=&SPID=4337&SPSID=47191
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Festivities started with the women’s basketball team taking on Buffalo. Although the game was exciting and back-and-forth throughout, Buffalo came out on top, 78-75. The RedHawks shot just 37% from the field and had a tough time stopping the Bulls on the defensive end, as Buffalo shot 53% for the game, including an eye-popping 60% from three. Cindi Merrill led the Red and White with 15 points and one dislocated nose--she took an elbow to the face, missed five minutes of the second half, and returned with a Bill Laimbeer-style protective mask on. Also making big contributions for Miami were Katie Guerriero, with 14 points off the bench, and Kris Coner, who grabbed nine boards. Rachelle Matthys stood out with 16 for the Bulls. (On a side note, UB had a heckler who thought every call against his team was “terrible.” The basketball band strenuously disagreed, informing him that he was “terrible,” but the calls were “excellent.")
After the women’s game came the highlight of the day (and something of a missed connection for yours truly), at least from an MHT standpoint. Miami HawkTalk’s fearless leader, RedSteve, presented the Red and White Club with the money collected from this season’s Red and White Challenge. I poked my head in to the reception, but everyone I knew seemed to be hiding from my view, causing me to skip out on crashing the party. I’m given to understand that the R&W Club folks were very, very happy about this donation.
The men tipped off against Eastern Michigan a few minutes after four. After a very, very sluggish first half, the RedHawks trailed the Eagles 28-19, due largely to the long-distance shooting of EMU’s Danny McElhinny, who scored 12 points from behind the arc before halftime. Things turned around in the second half, though, as Miami some offense and outscored Eastern 31-22. Unfortunately, the RedHawks couldn’t score in the last two minutes of the half, so the game went to overtime, where something positively magical happened: a Nate VanderSluis three. Big Nate, who is 4-of-7 from three in his career, was left unguarded at the top of the key with Miami trailing 52-51 with about three minutes left in the game. He swished a beautiful three, and Millett went crazy. Then, he followed up with a foot-on-the-line two-point jumper. VanderSluis scored a career-high 17 points, and was unquestionably the story of the game. William Hatcher led Miami with 18 points, and EMU’s John Bowler, perhaps the best center in the MAC, got 31 and 10 in a standout effort.
The evening was capped off at the Goggin, where the IceHawks took on the Wildcats of Northern Michigan. (Looking back, I wish the women had played a Directional Michigan and won to get us a nifty sweep.) Often, it can be hard to pick a clear-cut first star after the game is over, but there was no such problem on Saturday: Miami’s Matt Davis scored four goals and netted an assist to record his first career hat trick--and garner CCHA Offensive Player of the Week awards--en route to a 6-3 Miami win over an NMU team that had beaten the RedHawks on Friday for Miami’s third loss of the season. Ryan Jones and Joe Cooper scored Miami’s other two goals, and Matt Christie chipped in a team-leading three assists to make the Wildcats’ Bill Zaniboni (whose taste in fine wine is subpar) look just like the sieve the crowd said he was.
All in all, Tripleheader Saturday was a great day, and I can’t wait for next year’s edition!
6th seeded Miami beat the #11 Bulls twice during the regular season, winning 3-1 on the road and 3-0 at home. The VolleyHawks feature a young starting lineup that regularly includes two freshmen and two sophomores with Emily Schroeder the leading candidate for MAC Freshman of the Year honors.
Tuesday night's winner advances to the SeaGate Center in Toledo for a Quarterfinal match-up with #3 seed Ball State.
]]>It's the first time the former MAC All-Freshman Team and Honorable Mention All-MAC player has been named Player of the Week.
More at MURedHawks.com.
]]>In Friday's action, Miami took care of the American Eagles in three games, winning 30-25, 30-27, and 30-14. Sophomore middle hitter Carli Reihman led the way with a career-high 18 kills and a .571 hitting percentage in addition to several service aces.
Saturday's morning match was against the defending ACC champion Maryland Terrapins. In hard-fought action, Miami lost in five games, 21-30, 30-27, 22-30, 30-25, 26-28. Several players set career highs, including senior libero Suzy Wolford, who broke her own PR of last week with 26 digs, and sophomore outside hitter Kate Morris, who notched 16 kills during the match. The fifth game seemed to go on forever, as neither team was willing to give up, but Maryland finally prevailed when consecutive kills by the Terps' Beth Gillming won the match.
The evening action was against the tournament host Pittsburgh Panthers. Miami dispatched the Panthers with relative ease, winning in three games, 30-22, 30-17, 30-27. Reihman once again led the way for the RedHawks, posting 12 kills and a .385 hitting percentage.
For their outstanding performances, Reihman and senior outside hitter Kristen Walters were named to the All-Tournament Team, the second such honor for Reihman in as many weeks.
Miami is now 6-2 on the season, the team's best start since 1998. This weekend, the RedHawks return home to host the Best Western Sycamore Inn Invitational, where they will face Virginia Tech, Wright State, and Northern Colorado.
More at MURedHawks.com:
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