Chippewas Surge Past Kent State, Remain Unbeaten In MAC Play

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Nine straight, and a second perfect weekend in the Mid-American Conference.

The Central Michigan volleyball team defeated Kent State in four sets on Saturday at McGuirk Arena to win its ninth straight game, and stay unbeaten in the MAC.

CMU is 14-2, 4-0 MAC. Kent State is 7-9, 0-4.

How It Happened
After dropping the first set 23-25, CMU took the final three, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16.

"I thought in set one, we wanted to have a stronger initial push," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "I thought we came out ready to go. The odd thing is we hit .343 in that set, which is incredibly high. You win 95 sets out of 100 hitting .343, maybe even more.

"The problem is we let (Kent State) hit .459, and our defensive effort just needed to be better. It was like a heavyweight fight, just trading kill after kill.

"I thought we did a really good job of hitting the reset button in set two. We did a far better job of serving in sets two, three and four. I felt like once we got our momentum, we didn't relinquish it. Overall, I was pretty pleased that we turned up the dial defensively and blocking after set one."

Momentum Swing
Kalina Smith provided a power kill on the final point of the third set, and CMU would use that momentum to win the fourth. The Chippewas never trailed in the final set.

"Once she gets kills like that, you get chills," CMU setter Grace Butler said of Smith. "Having such a big kill at the end of the set brings a lot of momentum to the next one."

Leaders
Smith finished with a team-high 14 kills on a .290 attack percentage. She also had 13 digs

Savannah Thompson added 13 kills, along with 12 digs, for the Chippewas. After sitting out the entire nonconference schedule with an injury, Thompson has found herself playing a pivotal role for in conference play.
"It's great to be back out there with the girls," Thompson said. "Your role is important no matter whether you're injured or not. I'm just glad I can fulfill a different role right now out on the court.

"Being out there, with those girls, it just shows how much we've grown from last year. Being back out there is something exciting and I can't wait to see what's next."

Butler posted a team-high 28 assists, while Kendall Braate added 20. The Butler-Braate duo has been named the MAC Setter of the Week in each of the past two weeks, and they have proven to be one of the best setting duos in the conference.

"It helps that we're really close and we're good friends as well," Butler said. "We support each other. When she's in I'm going to support what she does (and vice versa). We'll help each other out and tell each other which hitter is hot, and which sets we should run. It's nice having someone that will support you, even though we're sharing time."

Megan Kern led the Chippewas in digs with 26, while Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez had three aces.

Numbers
CMU had an attack percentage of .236 for the game, compared to Kent State's .170. CMU also had six aces, four of them in the fourth set.

Next
CMU will be back at home next weekend at McGuirk Arena for a pair of MAC games.

The first game is on Friday, Oct. 11 (6 p.m.) against Ball State (6 p.m.). The second is on Saturday, Oct. 12 (8 p.m.) against Toledo. Saturday marks homecoming at CMU with the Chippewa football team entertaining New Mexico State in a nonconference game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium at 3 p.m.

Chippewas Surge Past Kent State, Remain Unbeaten In MAC Play

Next Event

Team Stats

Kalina Smith

Savannah Thompson

Anna Erickson

Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez

Players Mentioned

Kendall Braate

Grace Butler

Megan Kern

Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez

Kalina Smith

Savannah Thompson

Players Mentioned

Kendall Braate

Grace Butler

Megan Kern

Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez

Kalina Smith

Savannah Thompson