Volleyball loses in straight sets against No. 24 Northern Iowa
The Central Michigan's volleyball team didn't get off to the regular season start they wanted Friday.
CMU lost in straight sets, 3-0, against No. 24 ranked Northern Iowa in its first game of the Purdue Mortar Board Premiere in West Lafayette, Ind.
After going down 4-0 early in the first game, the Chippewas came back to pull within one, 6-5, before UNI distanced itself to win the first set 25-21.
In the second set, several attack errors by the Panthers allowed CMU to take an early 5-1 lead. UNI made a run to tie the set at 11. From there, both teams went back and forth before UNI went on a 4-0 run to take a 23-19 lead and win the set 25-23.
After keeping it close early, CMU could not get any momentum in the third game and lost 25-14.
Sophomore middle blocker Jocelyn VerVelde had a game-high 10 kills and hit .364, helping spark much of the offense in the second set. Senior outside hitter Lauren Krupsky had eight kills, but recorded four errors and a .118 percentage.
As a team, CMU (0-1) hit .147 compared to UNI's .276 mark.
Junior middle blocker Michelle Burrow had seven kills, no errors and hit .636 for UNI (1-0).
The Chippewas return to the court at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday against host Purdue and Western Kentucky, respectively.
