Chippewas Push Akron To The Limit Before Falling

Mitch Vosburg, CMUChippewas.com

AKRON, Ohio -- The Central Michigan volleyball team kicked off its four-match road trip on Friday with a five-set Mid-American Conference loss to Akron.

The Zips took the back-and-forth battle, 23-25, 31-29, 14-25, 25-13, 15-11. CMU is 3-18 overall, 0-9 MAC. Akron is 11-9, 3-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED
CMU coach Mike Gawlik said the Chippewas showed a strong net presence early, but it slipped away later in the match when they dropped the final two sets.

"Our good is good enough to do some great things," Gawlik said. "We were blocking balls, and that's a big factor in us playing well. Maybe we got away from that down the stretch and got a little sloppy with our contacts."

It was a see-saw battle, beginning with the Chippewas collecting six blocks and Kalina Smith delivering six kills in the opening set. The Chippewas pushed Akron beyond the limit in game two before succumbing, leaving the match at one set apiece.

CMU raced to a 15-5 lead in the third set and, by capturing it by 11 points, put itself on the verge of its first MAC victory of the season.

Akron turned the tables in the fourth set, breaking from a 7-7 tie and opening a big lead en route to a 25-13 set win, evening the match and sending it to the decisive fifth set.

"I don't think we thought the match was over (after set three) by any stretch of the imagination," Gawlik said. "They made an early push in the set that put us on our heels. That was something for the rest of the match that I don't think we recovered from despite our best efforts."

The deciding final set saw the Zips seize a 5-3 lead, and the Chippewas never got it back to even. They trailed 12-6 at one point, but could get no closer than three points the rest of the way.

LEADERS
Smith, a sophomore outside hitter, led CMU with 21 kills and finished with a team-best .321 hitting percentage. Freshman middle blocker Meg Sivertsen contributed to 10 of the Chippewas 16 blocks.

Gawlik said he was proud of Sivertsen's breakout performance.

"Meg did really well," he said. "She was taking advantage of opportunities to be one step ahead of (Akron's) block, especially in out-of-position situations. She's worked really hard on her blocking to be a lot more disciplined so that every time she touches the ball it turns into something more quality for us.

"I'm pretty pleased with her growth as a player. We hope it's something we can count on match after match."

NEXT
The Chippewas continue their weekend road trip with a MAC match at Buffalo on Saturday (7 p.m.). The Bulls won in four sets at home against Eastern Michigan on Friday, improving to 13-8, 5-4.

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Team Stats

Kalina Smith

Savannah Thompson

Lyza Myers

Kendall Braate

Players Mentioned

Kalina Smith

Players Mentioned

Kalina Smith