Volleyball enters MAC tourney as No. 5 seed
The CMU volleyball team enters the Mid-American Conference tournament as the No. 5 seed and will host Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Rose Arena.
Northern Illinois, despite losing in consecutive sets to CMU on Saturday, edged the Chippewas in the tiebreaker for the No. 4 seed, the final bye-round spot in the tournament.
The Eagles swept CMU Oct. 29 in their last visit to Mount Pleasant. Senior outside hitter Victoria Randolph led the Eagles with 15 kills in the match.
CMU won in five sets the first time the two teams met on Sept. 25 in Ypsilanti. Eastern Michigan, which finished 4-12 in the MAC, is the last seed.
If Central beats EMU, the team would have a rematch against Northern Illinois on Thursday in Toledo at the Seagate Center.
“I think we have momentum right now,” said coach Erik Olson. “It is our job to keep it up, but we should feel really confident with the way we played this weekend.”
Saturday
The crowd and coaching staff honored the CMU volleyball seniors Saturday prior to the team’s match against Northern Illinois.
The athletes returned the favor with a 3-0 win in their last regular-season match at Rose Arena. CMU lost to Western Michigan 3-2 Friday, but Saturday’s win gave the Chippewas an 8-8 record in the Mid-American Conference and a tie for second in the West division.
“It was a great game for us,” said senior libero Alexis Lonneman. “We were able to stay tough even when it was really close. And we bounced back from the losing streak that we have been on.”
After winning the first set 25-17, Central had to battle for the last two sets. The Huskies had three set points in the second set before eventually losing 29-27. The team also forced overtime in the third set, but lost 27-25.
Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Krupsky led the offense with 29 kills in the two matches. In Friday’s match against WMU, Central was up two sets, but the Broncos won the final three sets to win.
“We have poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into playing and it was kind of a sad moment,” said senior Kaitlyn Hurt. “But we are very proud to be a part of this program and proud to be a Chippewa.”
