CMU volleyball wrangles Broncos, tames Huskies in weekend series
Junior setter Allie Korba sets the ball to freshman middle blocker Grace Thomas on Thursday, Oct. 17, in McGuirk Arena. (Audrey Konitsney | CM-Life)
Two games, six sets, two wins. Central Michigan volleyball swept both the Western Michigan Broncos and the Northern Illinois Huskies over the weekend.
The Chippewas improved to 16-5 overall and 7-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
Match 1
In the first match of the weekend, Central Michigan took on rival Western Michigan where it swept the Broncos in a dominant outing.
“They whooped our ass last year if I’m being quite honest,” head coach Mike Gawlik said. “So, to get them in our building and return the favor a little bit feels good.”
The first 20 points in set one were as tight as they could possibly be. Back-and-forth volleyball with 10 ties.
Split evenly at 10 apiece, both teams continued to keep it close down the stretch. The Chippewas used a 3-0 run, the biggest run by either team, to take control. Eventually, they emerged victorious, winning 25-23.
The Chippewas found their groove in set two, putting their offense on full display hitting a blistering .424 to cruise to a 25-18 win.
Set three was closer, but CMU was just too much for the Broncos, overwhelming them on both sides of the ball and taking care of business 25-21.
“I wrote down the lineup to start, and at some point, you just stay out of your team’s way,” Gawlik said. “I feel like we were really cooking with gas, I don’t think we called a single timeout tonight.
“Sometimes you just gotta know when to not overcoach, the lineup we put out there was the same all three sets, and we won all three sets.”
Freshman middle blocker Grace Thomas led the team in kills with a career-high 16 on a super-efficient .667 percent.
“Grace had a really great night,” Gawlik said. “She just had the Midas touch, there’s nights where you feel like you’re invincible, it just felt like every time it was automatic tonight.”
The Chippewas continue to show their multitude of options as different players step up night in and night out.
“I just think we have a lot of depth as a group,” Thomas said. “Anyone on the bench can come out and have a killer night, and it just keeps us all motivated to be there and cheer on each other and get the other team wondering where the ball is gonna go.”
Match 2
CMU continued its hot streak into its match against NIU, completing its fifth sweep of MAC play.
Central Michigan won by scores of 25-21, 25-20, and 25-17. The team hit a .424 percent while only yielding eight attack errors.
Thats partly because of junior setter Allie Korba dropping 36 dimes on the night.
“Everything starts with the gas in our engine as we call it, our first ball contact,” Korba said. “Nothing can happen without them, even when we’re digging out really aggressive attacks, really aggressive serves, they’re still putting these balls in good places to where we can run the offense.
“And then off of that, my attackers are just doing a great job. They’re managing yellow light situations, and then when they have the swing they’re taking great big swings, and they’re looking for great seams. Honestly, I just credit everyone around me.”
Junior Natalia Rejment tallied up 11 kills on the night to lead all attackers while redshirt junior middle blocker/outside hitter Abby Olin had seven kills on an outstanding .700 percent.
“She’s (Rejment) just been doing a really great job for us,” Gawlik said. She passes, she serves, she defends. She brings a lot more to the table other than just attacking, she’s just been a rock for us, and helps us create first-ball opportunities to get the ball to other people.”
Sitting at the top of the standings, stuck in a three-way tie with Bowling Green and Buffalo, the Chippewas look to prepare for the Bulls as they come into town to throw down next weekend.
“Buffalo’s gotta come here and play us,” Gawlik said. “That's the mentality we wanna have, we’re playing well, they’re playing well, it’ll be a dogfight.
“These are the matches we signed up for, these are the fun ones. We’re playing in matches that matter against teams that are good, and that's what we want. In order to go where we wanna go, we’ve gotta be able to play in matches against other good teams.”
The first match starts Friday at 6 p.m.
