Volleyball Goes Back To Work

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Coming off an outstanding opening weekend of Mid-American Conference play and being thusly rewarded for it on an individual level, the Central Michigan volleyball team goes back to work with two more MAC battles this weekend.

The Chippewas are scheduled to play at Eastern Michigan on Thursday, Oct. 3 (7 p.m.), and then returns home for its first game at McGuirk Arena in a month when it welcomes Kent State on Saturday, Oct. 5 (8 p.m.).

Where They Stand
CMU is 12-2 after winning its first two MAC games of the season last weekend, the first at Northern Illinois in four sets, and the second at Western Michigan in straight sets. The Chippewas have won seven consecutive starts.

At 2-0, the Chippewas lead the West Division and is the lone unbeaten team in the division. CMU's 12-2 overall mark is the best in the MAC.

Scouting
Eastern Michigan is 5-9, 0-2 after falling last weekend at Western Michigan and at NIU. The Golden Flashes are 7-7, 0-2 after losing to Miami (Ohio) and to Bowling Green last weekend. Kent State plays at home on Thursday against Ohio.

The Eagles are the defending MAC Tournament champions, and they will raise their championship banner in a pregame ceremony on Thursday.

"I expect EMU to play well at home," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "You have to create and bring your own energy. They're raising a banner. I think that will juice them up. Raising a banner reminds them that they're a pretty good team, especially in their own building."

Awards
CMU's Megan Sivertsen, Megan Kern, Kendall Braate and Grace Butler each earned individual MAC West honors for their performances in last weekend's wins over NIU and Western.

Sivertsen was named the MAC West Offensive Player of the Week, Kern earned the West Defensive Player of the Week Award, and Butler and Braate shared the MAC West Setter of the Week Award.

This is the second-consecutive week that Kern, Braate and Butler have earned these honors.

"I think (the awards) show that our team is playing well together," Kern said. "It's everybody on the court and on the bench (contributing). Getting defensive player of the week means our blockers, like Siversten and Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez, have done a good job. I can play easily behind them and get those digs."

"With all the awards going to athletes from CMU, it shows that everybody on our team is contributing," Siversten said. "I think it shows that we're all putting in the work. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We had a really good weekend, but we definitely have much more to show."

"Winning the awards is great," Gawlik said. "I think it helps build confidence. We're some of the top players in the league, when we play well. We're the only team in the MAC West that went undefeated on the road (last weekend), so I had a strong feeling the coaches would recognize the difficulty of that.

"We had more standout performers, we could have nominated a couple of other people as well. I wasn't surprised by (sweeping the awards) based on the numbers."

Next
CMU will have a pair of home MAC games next weekend, starting on Friday, Oct. 11 (6 p.m.) against Ball State. They will stay at home on Saturday, Oct 12 (8 p.m.) to entertain Toledo. Saturday's matchup against Toledo will be after CMU's homecoming football game against New Mexico State at 3 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Kendall Braate

Grace Butler

Megan Kern

Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez

Megan Sivertsen