Volleyball Entertains Rival, Perennial Power This Weekend

Mitch Vosburg, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Nothing like an archrival and a traditional power to motivate.

The Central Michigan volleyball team will face Western Michigan and Northern Illinois in a pair of Mid-American Conference matches this weekend at McGuirk Arena.

The Broncos are 11-7 overall, 1-3 MAC, while the Huskies are 5-14, 1-3. CMU enters the weekend 3-13, 0-4, and looking to end a seven-match losing streak.

RIVALRY

When asked whether he's nervous about his young squad having jitters about playing rival Western Michigan, coach Mike Gawlik answered with a quick and emphatic "No."

"There's the excitement of a rivalry game, but it's a game that's the same preparation," he said. "We don't change anything about our preparation or necessarily what we do. I feel like one thing we'll have to do is keep our emotions in check and I think (Western Michigan) will be doing the same thing.

"You want to get amped up and hyped up for the game, yet you can't make it more than what it is or less than what it is. It's just one point at a time, nowhere different than when we played Ball State and Toledo (last weekend)."

The Chippewas and Broncos clashed three times in 2017. Each team won on their home hardwood (3-1 Western in Kalamazoo, 3-0 Central in Mount Pleasant), but the Broncos won the rubber match in the first round of the MAC Tournament, 3-2, after CMU took the first two sets.

CHIPPEWA LEADERS

The Chippewas boast four players with at least 100 kills on the season. They are sophomore outside hitters Kalina Smith and Lyza Myers, who have 159 and 141, respectively; freshmen Savannah Thompson and Maddie Whitfield have accumulated 131 and 103 kills respectively.

Thompson also leads CMU with 14 aces and is second with 171 digs, trailing only junior libero Megan Kern, who has 185 and ranks seventh in program history with 997 in her career. She should, barring injury, become the seventh player in program history with 1,000 in her career on Friday against Western.

SCOUTING

• Western Michigan enters with a 7-4 record away from University Area in Kalamazoo. The Broncos snapped their four-match losing skid with a four-set victory at Bowling Green last Saturday.

They are led by sophomore outside hitter Rachel Bontrager, who ranks second in the MAC with 274 kills. Senior setter Mary Murphy ranks first in the conference with 640 assists, averaging 9.85 per set, good for second in the conference.

Western Michigan "is gritty and fight from start to finish, and I feel like that's the biggest thing that (head coach) Colleen Munson has done really well with Western," Gawlik said. "They're similar to Ball State in some ways. I feel like they have a well-rounded squad, they have a stud sophomore outside hitter in Rachel Bontrager who I think is a force to be reckoned with in the conference."

• While the Huskies have won three of their last four matches, they are 1-6 away from DeKalb. The Huskies saw their three match winning streaked snapped after a three-set loss at Miami (Ohio) last weekend.

Senior middle blocker Meg Wolowicz has recorded a MAC-leading 284 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Jori Radtke ranks fourth in the conference with 238 kills.

The Huskies, Gawlik said, are much better than their 5-14 record might indicate. NIU won three straight MAC West Division titles from 2014-16 and reach the MAC Tournament title match in both 2015 and '16.

"They took it on the chin during their pre-conference schedule, but I think they're good, they're always good, their record can be deceiving," Gawlik said. "They're preparing every year, I think we're all trying to prepare in the pre-conference to get ready for the MAC season. Seeing NIU at 3-1 (MAC) shows their pre-conference schedule helps prepare them for MAC play, and I think they pulled out some close ones, and they've done a good job at beating some good teams."

NEXT

The Chippewas remain at home next week, welcoming Bowling Green, on Thursday, Oct. 11; and Miami (Ohio), on Saturday, Oct. 13. Both are MAC matches.

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Players Mentioned

Megan Kern

Lyza Myers

Kalina Smith

Savannah Thompson

Maddie Whitfield