After one of the most successful seasons in program history, Central Michigan volleyball's 2024 campaign ended in heartbreak as it fell to the Ball State Cardinals in five sets on Saturday.

After starting slow in the first two sets, the Chippewas were able to turn it around and win the next two sets. But the Cardinals defense stuffed CMU at net with five blocks in the final set to help them get the upset over Central Michigan.

“It's been a really awesome year,” head coach Mike Gawlik said. “We’ve played really really hard for a long time.

"We said we wanted to be aggressive from start to finish no matter what the score was, and I think we did that, obviously, we didn’t quit."

Both teams came out playing well, and the score was tight. Leading 13-12, Ball State pulled away with a 6-0 run that CMU would not be able to recover from and the Cardinals went up 1-0 with a 25-19 set one victory.

Central Michigan once again came out playing well in set two, but similar to set one, the Chippewas gave up a 5-0 run and was unable to respond. BSU managed to hold CMU to a .000 hitting percentage and finished on a 6-3 run to take set two 25-16.

With their season on the line, the Chippewas needed a spark, and just like that, they flipped a switch and came roaring back to life.

After giving up the first three points, Central Michigan went on a 7-0 run. The Chippewas were able to keep Ball State at bay to win set three 25-21 and gain some momentum.

The Cardinals got out to an early lead in set four, but CMU stuck around to tie it up at 13. Ball State took the lead back, but the Chippewas would come back and tie it back up at 18. They jumped into the lead and were able to hold off BSU until the end to take set four, 25-21.

The Chippewas were able to get out to a good start in set five, but quickly went cold and the Cardinals capitalized. Up 9-7 midway through the set, BSU went on a 4-0 run, including three straight blocks. CMU didn’t have any magic left as Ball State freshman outside hitter Carson Tyler put the final nail in the coffin for Central Michigan with a kill down the left side. With the 15-9 set five loss, the Chippewas would fall just short in their comeback attempt.

“We didn’t play poorly,” Gawlik said. “We just didn’t make enough plays in set five and we were a little bit late to find our rhythm, and left ourselves just no room for error. When you go down 0-2, you gotta be darn near perfect.”

In their final match with Central Michigan volleyball, senior outside hitter Lauren Schrock and senior opposite Krystina Kasson refused to down without a fight. Schrock had 13 kills, four blocks, and two digs while Kasson had 10 kills, three blocks, and five digs.

Redshirt junior middle blocker/outside hitter Abby Olin led the team in kills with 14, she also had two service aces, six blocks, and a dig.

Junior outside hitter Natalia Rejment had her 13th double-double performance of the season with 11 kills and 14 digs. She also had an assist, a block and a service ace. Freshman middle blocker Grace Thomas had nine kills and three blocks.

"We wanted to play as a team the entire time, and I thought we did that," Gawlik said. "I thought we played really well together and I thought we played cohesive volleyball together."

Junior setter Allie Korba had 51 assists, seven digs, a kill, and a block. Senior libero Aly Gurtiza and freshman libero Hannah Langton led the defensive attack with Gurtiza’s season-high 18 digs and Langton’s 20 digs.

“I just can’t tell you how proud I am of this group,” Gawlik said. “We belong, we belong with this group of MAC teams that put themselves ahead of the others, and I feel like we can play with all these teams. I’m excited to watch this team in the future.”

CMU volleyball falls to Ball State in MAC tournament semi-final

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