CMU volleyball downs the Eagles to sweep season series
Central Michigan's junior outside hitter Natalia Rejment, left, and freshman middle guard Grace Thomas, right, block a hit from Eastern Michigan's graduate student opposite/setter Maddie Stayer during the game Tuesday, Oct. 1 in McGuirk Arena. (CM-Life | Mary Nowosacki)
Central Michigan volleyball got its 20th win of the season against the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Tuesday night in Ypsilanti. The win brings its overall record to 20-6 and its Mid-American Conference record to 11-3.
After starting slow against the Bobcats last week, the Chippewas got out fast on Tuesday, winning the first two sets by a score of 25-18.
“That was one of our focus points coming out of last week where we went down 0-2 twice,” head coach Mike Gawlik said. “It was a good response from last week where we started slower, so it was nice to go up 2-0 today.”
In set three, CMU was able to keep it close through the first half, but let it get away at the end, and ended up losing the set 25-19.
“We weren't great in the third set,” Gawlik said. “I don’t think that was anything other than just playing a lot of volleyball in a short period of time. I thought we just let our minds drift a little bit in set three but we were able to get some momentum back and create some separation for set four and close out the match.”
Set four was led by the Eagles through the first half, but CMU was able to grab the lead. The Chippewas pulled away in the end to get the 25-20 win and complete the season sweep.
Central Michigan once again spread the wealth as it got big performances from multiple players.
Senior outside hitter Lauren Schrock led the team in kills with 18 on a .385 hitting percentage. Freshman middle blocker Grace Thomas contributed a dozen kills of her own hitting at .400 along with three blocks. Junior setter Allie Korba recorded a double double dishing out 47 assists and digging up 14 balls as well as a service ace.
Junior outside hitter Natalia Rejment put up nine kills and 13 digs. Redshirt junior middle blocker/outside hitter Abby Olin recorded nine kills with five blocks. Senior opposite Krystina Kasson had seven kills and five blocks.
As four games remain in the regular season, the Chippewas currently sit second in the MAC standings. With only one game behind Bowling Green, the battle for the number one seed in the MAC tournament is coming down to the wire.
“It's obviously a goal, but it's not a goal that we’re in control of at this point,” Gawlik said. “We need some help, but we need to do our part, and if they leave that door open then we’ve gotta be ready to walk through it and by doing that we’ve gotta take care of our own business.”
Central Michigan comes home to play its final two regular season games this weekend against the Kent State Golden Flashes. The first match starts at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Seniors Schrock, Kasson, Emma Dukate, Aly Gurtiza, and Linnea Willer, will be honored in the second match on Saturday starting at 4 p.m.
“We’ve got Kent State coming in to play two back-to-back matches,” Gawlik said. “They’re a team that hasn’t won a whole lot this year, but they’re a team that's gonna continue to fight because they’re Division 1 athletes that are playing for pride and they’re playing with nothing to lose, so we’ve gotta be ready for a really good weekend of volleyball ahead of us.”
