Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Fall to Broncos, 3-0
11/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Senior Whitney Evers paced the Central Michigan volleyball team with 13 kills, but it was the Western Michigan Broncos who registered a sweep in a showdown for first place on Friday at University Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.
The Little Chute, Wis. native also tallied 12 digs, second-most to junior Alexis Lonneman's 26. Lauren Krupsky added nine kills on the offensive end.
CMU was held to just a .127 offensive efficiency, compared to WMU's .183. The Chippewas out-dug the Broncos 77-53, but Western held a 13-7 edge in blocks and came up with several critical stuffs through out the match.
In the first set, CMU took an 18-15 lead, but WMU battled back to take their first lead of the set, 22-21. After an Evers kill, her sixth of the set, knotted the match back up at 22, back-to-back Bronco blocks gave Western a 24-22 lead and eventually a 25-23 win.
Western jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set before Central battled back to knot it up with four straight points. The Broncos would score six of the next seven points to take an 11-6 lead, prompting a Chippewas timeout, but three more WMU blocks helped balloon the lead to 18-8. Western held on to take a 2-0 advantage, 25-15.
Through the first two sets, Krupsky and Evers had combined for 14 kills in 31 swings with just two errors, but the rest of the Chippewas were a combined 11 kills in 45 swings with 15 miscues.
The Broncos would take a 24-23 lead, but a kill by Evers would knot it back up at 24. The two teams traded points back-and-forth, and the match remained tied, 31-31. An Evers kill put the Chippewas ahead, 33-32, but Gotham registered another block to re-tie the match at 33.
The set remained tied at 34, but Western was finally able to close out the match on Eberling's 14th and 15th kill, 36-34.
Kaitlyn Schultz and Kaitlyn Hurt each tallied six kills in the losing effort. Erika Neumann (11 digs) and Stephanie Budde (10) chipped in defensively. Budde also finished with 33 assists.
Lonneman's 26 digs give her 1,503 for her career, becoming just the second player in Chippewas' history to cross the 1,500 dig mark
The loss drops the Chippewas (17-9, 10-3 MAC) a game behind the Broncos (20-4, 11-2 MAC) in the race for a MAC Championship and the no. 1 seed in the conference tournament. CMU will look to rebound at Northern Illinois on Saturday.
