Volleyball tops Ball State in five sets Friday
Central Michigan strengthened its winning streak to four matches Friday with a five–set victory over Ball State. At one point or another all streaks must come to an end.
With the win, the volleyball team snapped two other streaks: their five–match losing streak to the Cardinals and their three–match losing streak at John E. Worthen Arena.
“There was quite a monkey on our back, so I’m very pleased our team gutted it out tonight,” head coach Erik Olson said. “It kind of looked like it was getting away from us again, but we were able to stabilize and get a lot of kids off the bench.”
CMU needed a win in set four to send the match to a decisive fifth set and avoid the loss.
“It was a big win because things weren’t going our way,” sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre said. “We didn’t play our best ball, but it felt good to come out in the fourth set and pull it out and then we played awesome in the fifth set.”
The Chippewas got an ace late in the fourth set from junior libero Jenna Coates to give them a 19-17 lead. That ace was the third of the night from Coates. She was one of three CMU players to record three aces.
Junior setter Kelly Maxwell and senior outside hitter Lindsey Dulude also had three aces each, while sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre tallied one.
“We came in with a plan to serve tough and it was good to get some aces on them,” McIntyre said. “Our serving really came through.”
Olson had to call on every one of his active players on the night in order to get the win. Senior middle blocker Jocelyn VerVelde provided the biggest spark off the bench with eight kills and a .227 hitting percentage.
“(VerVelde) did a great job attacking and establishing the offense,” Olson said. “Blocking–wise, she added a huge presence on that right side.”
CMU will attempt to stretch its win streak to five-matches at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Toledo.
