Chippewas lose against Ball State on senior night
On a night honoring the careers of seniors Lauren Krupsky and Lisa Johnson, the Central Michigan volleyball team lost its last home game of the season Saturday against Ball State 3-1.
Despite jumping on visiting Ball State (22-4, 12-2 Mid-American Conference) and winning the first set 25-18, the Chippewas would go on to lose three consecutive sets by scores of 26-24, 25-21 and 25-23.
The first set saw strong play from Krupsky and sophomore Lindsey Dulude, who notched four and three kills respectively. The pair would finish the night with nine kills each. Head coach Erik Olson was pleased by the fast start the Chippewas had in the first set, but said they need to keep the pressure on during the remaining sets.
“We were definitely taking them out of system in games one and two,” he said, “but I think we let off the gas a little bit.”
Set two saw the offensive emergence of junior Kaitlyn Schultz, who paced CMU in the set with five kills. Shultz would go on to have a season-high of 16 kills on the match. Although, marking a personal best in the match Schultz said that her success has to be given back to the team that set her up for so many kills.
“I have to just put it all to the team for me doing good individually,” Schultz said. “You need passing, you need setting in order for me to do my job. It’s a big team thing, not really an individual thing.”
Disappointment was again on Olson’s mind following the home loss on Saturday, with a lack of aggressive serving playing a major role in the third and fourth sets.
“I think our mistake was coming out of the locker room after set three and not serving tough enough,” Olson said.
The third and fourth set saw CMU post six service errors on its to losing to close sets, 25-21 and 25-23. Sophomore Jocelyn VerVelde provided some spark in the last two sets, coming off the bench to finish with two kills and two blocks.
The competitive nature of this match was exemplified by a total of 31 ties and eight lead changes. The back-and-forth nature is something, Schultz said, needs to be managed if the team hopes to finish its schedule off strongly.
“What happens, it’s in the past now,” she said. “All we can do is learn from it and move on to next weekend.”
CMU will look to rebound next weekend when it finishes the regular season on the road. The Chippewas travel Kalamazoo at 6 p.m. Friday to play Western Michigan and DeKalb, Ill., at 8 p.m. Saturday against Northern Illinois.
