CMU salvages weekend with win at Toledo
The CMU women’s volleyball team broke its four-match losing streak Saturday in Toledo.
The Chippewas won three consecutive sets against UT, beating the Rockets 25-19, 25-22 and 27-25. They took command early in the match, winning the first game behind the offensive production of sophomore Lindsey Delude, who led the team with 15 kills.
Senior Lauren Krupsky and junior Kaitlyn Schultz added 11 and 10 kills on the night, respectively.
A strong offensive effort was the spark behind Saturday’s victory, one that head coach Erik Olson said was important after having struggled in the previous matches.
“I am very pleased that our team came off a tough loss (Friday),” Olson said. “They played harder and with great emotion.”
Saturday’s match took on a different personality from Friday behind the early play of setter Catherine Ludwig. The junior contributed 37 assists on the night. Senior libero Lisa Johnson also finished the night on a high note, ending with 17 digs.
Serving and hitting percentage were also two keys to CMU’s victory, as it ended up hitting at a .267 pace, limiting Toledo to a .174 hitting percentage.
“We served much better today, and we want to continue to be consistently tough servers,” Olson said.
A time out called by Olson in the second set, after the team was trailing 19-16, proved to be crucial in setting up a pair of set wins.
“It was a tight game three, but the big surge came off of Catherine Ludwig’s serve,” Olson said. CMU finished the last two sets 25-22 and 27-25, respectively.
He said one important part moving forward from this point will be how well his team can manage some of the mental aspects of the game.
“It’s not just the physical side of things,” Olson said. “It’s the emotional part that the team needs to learn to manage now.”
Friday
CMU fell to 0-3 Friday night in the Mid-American Conference, losing 3-1 against Ball State in Muncie, Ind. Its offense struggled throughout, hitting just .106 on the night. That loss pushed CMU’s record to 6-9 on the season.
The Chippewas came out strong and bolted to a 5-1 advantage in the first set, but the Cardinals stormed back to close the gap to one and make the score 7-6.
With the score knotted at 10, BSU rattled off three consecutive points to make it 13-10. They would eventually lead by as many as six, 20-13, before winning the set 25-21.
CMU rebounded in the second set, taking a 9-8 lead on a Kaitlyn Schultz kill and never relinquished it for the remainder of the set. BSU led by as many as eight before winning the set 25-18, evening the match at one.
That, however, was about as far as the good fortune would go. The Cardinals won the third set in decisive fashion by a score of 25-10 and took an early 9-4 lead in the fourth.
The Chippewas would close the gap to three, 12-9, on a Lauren Krupsky kill, but never threatened after that. Ball State pulled away to win the set 25-17.
Krupsky was the only Chippewas player with double digit kills (13). Schultz added nine. Senior Lisa Johnson had 14 digs.
The Chippewas will open a four-game home stand on Oct. 8 against Northern Illinois at Finch Fieldhouse.
