Chippewas Fall At McGuirk To Buffalo

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Buffalo rallied from a two-set deficit on Saturday in handing Central Michigan a five-set Mid-American Conference volleyball loss at McGuirk Arena.

The loss dropped CMU to 18-4, 8-2 MAC, while Buffalo improved to 8-14, 4-6. The Chippewas split its two MAC matches for the second-straight weekend after it had reeled off 12 consecutive victories.

Last weekend, the Chippewas fell at Miami (Ohio) after going up, 2-1. Saturday's loss to Buffalo was CMU's second at home this season, and first since Sept. 7.

"It's a tough one to shallow, especially when you get reserve swept in your own building," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "I thought we were doing some really great things in sets one and two. We were the aggressors in set one and in set two there were some things we wanted to clean up with our quality of execution. It wasn't a clean set, but we found a way to win it."

How It Happened
CMU won the first two sets 25-16, 25-21 and appeared to have momentum on its side. The Bulls, who lost in three sets at Eastern Michigan on Thursday, stormed back to win the next three, 25-19, 25-18, 15-12.

"My hat's off to Buffalo," Gawlik said. "Their backs were against the wall after two sets. When your backs are against the wall, you find what you're made of, and they stepped up. We knew they were going to increase their service pressure and they did a really great job of that, as well as disrupting our ability to be in rhythm and to run our offense from the service line."

Numbers
Kalina Smith led the Chippewas with 16 kills, Kendall Braate had a team-high 23 assists, and Megan Kern posted 17 digs.

Back At It
The Chippewas will face a similar week of practice as they did last week, looking to bounce back. CMU downed Akron in straight sets on Friday in a showdown of MAC division leaders.

"We just have to get back to work on Monday, we can't focus on the past," Smith said. "That's one thing that made us successful (on Friday); we weren't focused on the previous week and the loss we had (at Miami).

"I feel like the biggest issue today was we came in a little sassy in the beginning, knowing that we were the team to beat, which we have every right to be, we've proven that to the entire MAC. When Buffalo put some pressure, we stepped back a little bit. We just need to continue to drive at teams and not let them push back."

Next
CMU will be back at home next weekend for a pair of MAC games. The first game is on Thursday, Oct. 31 (6 p.m.) against Western Michigan. The second is on Saturday, Nov. 2 (5:30 p.m.) against Northern Illinois.

CMU defeated NIU 3-1 and WMU 3-0 earlier in the year on the road.

"After this weekend and last weekend we are going to refocus on Monday, and focus on WMU," CMU sophomore middle blocker Megan Siversten said. "It'll be a good game to come back and we'll (play well) against them. We'll see how that goes, and I think we'll (bounce back).

"We can't just expect them to roll over because we beat them (before). We have to go out harder and prove to them that we're the better team."

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Team Stats

Kalina Smith

Megan Sivertsen

Savannah Thompson

Anna Erickson

Players Mentioned

Kendall Braate

Megan Kern

Kalina Smith

Players Mentioned

Kendall Braate

Megan Kern

Kalina Smith