Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
Chippewas Rally, Keep Alive Tourney Hopes
11/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
YPSILANTI, Mich. - The music had stopped, the cake was gone, the guests were saying their good-byes.
Then, the party re-ignited. And so did the hopes of the Central Michigan volleyball team.
Those fires - no matter how dim - are still burning as the Chippewas did their part on Thursday, coming back from a 12-7 deficit in the fifth set to beat Eastern Michigan in a Mid-American Conference match at the Eagles' Convocation Center.
"We asked the team to control the control-ables, and I thought we did that," first-year CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "We fought back from down 12-7 in the fifth set, and that takes some major guts."
The Chippewas won 25-14, 22-25, 25-20, 24-26, 15-13 to snap a five-match losing streak, improving to 4-11 in Mid-American Conference play and keeping alive their hopes of making the league tournament.
CMU will need to beat Ohio in its regular-season finale at McGuirk Arena on Saturday (7 p.m.), and hope that Western Michigan drops its final two matches, Friday at Ball State and Saturday at Toledo. If all that happens, CMU could slip into the tournament as the eighth seed.
Two other teams, Akron and Buffalo, enter their final two regular-season matches at 3-9 in league play and could also figure into the mix.
"We stay alive for another day," Gawlik said. "We'll be watching the rest of the MAC tomorrow, but more importantly, we need to prepare for Ohio."
The Bobcats beat Kent State in four sets on Thursday, improving to 15-12 overall, 11-4 MAC. They enter Saturday's game having won five of their last six.
Jordan Bueter had 17 kills, Kathia Sanchez had 12, Paige Carey added 11, and Laura Willson had 10 to lead the Chippewas, who are 10-17 overall, past EMU (8-20).
"We got great contributions from multiple people, which we need to be successful - five people with eight-plus kills," Gawlik said. "We seem to respond with our backs against the wall and we didn't have to rely on one person to carry us all the way."
Sanchez finished with six aces - the Chippewas collected 12 in the match, while Eastern had seven - and had 24 assists. Kelli Combs also had 24 assists for CMU.
Megan Kern led the Chippewa defense with 21 digs, while Kern added 11.
CMU finished with a .320 hitting percentage. EMU hit at .275.
Jordan Smith paced the Eagles with 24 kills.
