Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
Late Rally Falls Short for Volleyball at EMU
11/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2005
MOUNT PLEASANT - A late rally came up just short for the Central Michigan University volleyball team as it fell at Mid-American Conference West Division leader Eastern Michigan on Friday, 3-1 (30-19, 30-16, 28-30, 38-36).
The Chippewas continue to search for their first MAC victory and stand at 0-13 in conference action, 3-20 overall. The Eagles improve to 11-2 in the MAC, 18-6 overall and need just one more victory to wrap up a share of their first divisional title.
A pair of CMU players turned in career highs in the match. Erika Neumann led the Maroon and Gold with her first career double-double. She tallied career highs in kills(13) and digs (16) for CMU. Whitney Evers had a strong match at the net with a career-high 10 blocks, three solos and seven assists.
Mary Ochmanek tied Neumann of the team-high in kills and also led the squad with a .263 hitting percentage and three service aces. Alison Baker and Kate Fissel both record 12 kills for the Chippewas and Courtney Kersten dished out 49 assists.
Libero Ali McCrite led the defense with 31 digs which ties her season-high and is one off a career-high. During the match, she moved past EMU's Jennifer Nighswander for second on the MAC's career digs list and now has 1,918 during her time at CMU.
Lindsay Piccolini led the Eagle offense with a match-high 21 kills and a .333 attacking percentage. Becky Baltare added 19 kills for EMU and Melissa Bartlett had 18 and a match-high .385 hitting mark. Kate Suleski tallied 72 assists and Bartlett led the defense with 25 digs. Piccolini had a team-high seven blocks.
Due to their strong start in games one and two, the Eagles dominated most of the offensive categories. They had 16 more kills than CMU, 80-64, and outhit the Chippewas, .295-.169. EMU also had more assists, 76-56, and digs, 88-78, but CMU did outblock the Eagles, 16-15.
The challenge gets even tougher tomorrow night as CMU heads to No. 20 Ohio. Play is set to begin at 7 p.m.
