Central Michigan University Athletics

Chippewas Pound Out 13 Aces in 5-Set Win
9/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Freshman Marissa Grant made her first start at setter Saturday, helping to spark the Central Michigan volleyball team to a five-set victory over Binghamton in the Chippewas' third and final match at the Cleveland State Invitational.
CMU (2-4) dropped a three-setter on Saturday morning to Cincinnati after falling in four on Friday night to the host Vikings.
The Chippewas pounded out 13 services aces - five of them from Grant and four from Jordan Bueter -- against Binghamton (1-6).
The 13 aces were the highest total for a Chippewa team in several years, said Erik Olson, who is in his 12th season as CMU's coach.
"We had a lot of serving targets to go after against all three teams this weekend," Olson said. "We did a much better job of serving aggressively. I challenged Jordan Bueter to get after it a little bit, and Marissa Grant, no one had seen her so they weren't expecting her, what her serve looked like."
The Chippewas took the first set from Binghamton, 25-22; the third, 25-15; and the fifth, 15-10. Binghamton won the second, 25-23, and the fourth, 25-16.
It marked the second straight weekend invitational that the Chippewas won their final match to finish 1-2. The win over Binghamton was their second five-set victory of the season. They finished 0-6 in such matches in 2014.
"That's a reflection on our team character -- working hard and never giving up," Olson said.
Bueter finished with 14 kills and 14 digs to lead the Chippewas, while Grant had 35 assists.
"I think Marissa's done a great job off the bench," Olson said. "Every time she comes in she does good things. As a freshman, she's still learning how to flow with the match. Today she got a lot of great touches and slowed balls down."
Kalle Mulford added 11 kills, while Jessica Meichtry had eight and Angie White finished with nine blocks. Jamison Wolffis led the Chippewas' defense with 14 digs.
Mullford hit at .367 in CMU's three matches on the weekend and was named to the all-tournament team. Mulford was the team co-leader with nine kills against Cincinnati and seven on Friday night against Cleveland State. It marked the first time the senior middle blocker has been named to an all-tournament team in her CMU career.
"Absolutely the best, most-consistent weekend of her career," Olson said.
The Chippewas fell on Saturday morning to Cincinnati, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23. Bueter finished with nine kills and Meichtry added eight. Setter Kathia Sanchez recorded 24 assists, and Wolffis had a team-high 17 digs.
"We were right in there with all three matches," Olson said. "Even with Cincinnati (Saturday) morning. The first and third sets were super tight.
"We need to do a better job of managing the game between 15 and 20 points. A lot of times we're up around 15 and we're letting teams come back. We're making careless errors. That's the competitive aspect that we've got to work on."
"It would feel pretty bad if we came out 0-3. Taking one is the bare minimum of what I would expect. I really expected to come away with two wins this weekend and I thought three was possible. Once we lock in and we fully understand our system we're going to be a very scary team to play.
"I think our group is close to figuring it out."