A three-loss trip to Ann Arbor was not the ideal finish to non-conference play for Boston College volleyball after a hot start, but the Eagles can now turn their attention to the gauntlet that is the ACC.
After dropping just one of their first 10 games of the 2021 season, the Eagles (10–4) lost the first leg of their double header in four sets to Dayton, before falling to host Michigan in three. The weekend was closed with three close sets against Eastern Michigan, which BC lost 23–25, 24–26, and 23–25.
Eastern Michigan finished BC’s weekend off in swift fashion. While all three sets were decided by two points, BC found itself on the wrong end of all three. Eastern Michigan outhit BC .281 to .226 and committed 14 errors to BC’s 18.
The night prior, BC dropped the first two sets to Michigan 13–25 and 17–25. Set three was competitive, but Michigan held off the Eagles to complete the sweep in a 25–22 final set. BC had tied things up at 22, but a service error followed by two consecutive attack errors gave the set and match to the Wolverines. Michigan did not lose a set all weekend at its invitational.
In Friday morning’s match against Dayton, the Eagles lost to the Flyers 18–25 in the first set but evened the score in set two, taking it 25–17. BC went down early in sets three and four, and despite some late surges fell to the Flyers 25–21 and 25–19.
Graduate students Clare Naughton and Amaka Chukwujekwu each delivered for the Eagles in their first match of the weekend. Naughton led the offense with 14 kills to go along with nine digs, while Chukwujekwu anchored the defense with seven blocks from her middle blocker position. Sophomore libero Anna Murphy contributed 15 digs.
Despite the disappointing weekend, there were some bright spots for the Eagles. With 16 kills in the final match, Naughton now has 183 kills on the season and 953 in her career. Only nine other players have topped 1,000 kills in BC history.
Chukwujekwu’s continued dominance on the defensive side of the ball was another positive the Eagles can take with them heading into Wednesday night’s ACC opener against Syracuse.
BC has not played at home since the first week of the preseason back in August, and the Eagles haven’t had fans in the Power Gym in almost two years. The home opener is scheduled for Wednesday night at 8 p.m and will be aired on ACC Network.
Syracuse heads into ACC play with an 11–1 non-conference record—its lone loss being to Iowa State in a five-set duel.
Featured Image Courtesy of BC Athletics
