Chippewas Fall, Earn No. 2 Seed For MAC Tournament

Saturday, November 16

Muncie, IN

7 p.m.

Central Michigan University

21-7,11-5MAC

Ball State

17-11,11-5MAC

Central Mich.

Ball St.

Photo by: Allissa Rusco

11/16/2019 11:01:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nick Vuylsteke, CMUChippewas.com

MUNCIE, Ind. -- The Central Michigan volleyball team dropped a four-set Mid-American Conference decision to Ball State on Saturday in its regular-season finale.

The Chippewas and Cardinals both finished 11-5 in league play and share the MAC West title. It is CMU's first division title since 2003, and the Chippewas are the No. 2 seed for the MAC Tournament next weekend at Bowling Green.

CMU is 21-7 overall, a huge improvement from a year ago when it finished 7-21 and missed the MAC Tournament. CMU earned the No. 2 seed based on head-to-head record with Ball State and Bowling Green, both of whom are 11-5 in league play. CMU is 2-1, Bowling Green is 1-1, and Ball State is 1-2 in head-to-head matchups between the three.

"I said to the group, 'At the beginning of the year, if you told us that we were going to be the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament and win (a share) of the West, we would have all been pretty excited," fourth-year CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "We can be a little bit bummed that we didn't beat Ball State, but I thought we played a really good match. Ball State played a little bit better in some key moments."

Miami (Ohio) defeated Western Michigan on Saturday to finish league play at 12-4 and claim the overall crown.

How It Happened
CMU had a 24-21 lead slip through its hands in the first set with Ball State finishing the set on a 5-0 run to take it, 26-24. The Cardinals eked out a 27-25 win in set two, before the Chippewas took the third, 25-18. Ball State then won the fourth, 25-19, to close out the match.

"Defensively, Ball State made some great plays off some excellent swings by us," Gawlik said. "I thought we had some pretty good cracks at the ball. I didn't think we were backing down offensively. They were keeping the ball up the floor with some good quality block touches and finding a way to flip some of those good swings by us into points for them."

Team Stats
CMU had a hitting percentage of .173 compared to Ball State's .200. CMU finished with 100 digs, its second-highest total of the season.

Leaders
Kalina Smith led CMU in kills with 17 on a .260 hitting percentage. Savannah Thompson followed with 14 kills, and Anna Erickson added 12.

Grace Butler led the Chippewas in assists with 28, followed by Kendall Braate with 19. Thompson finished with a team-high 24 digs, while Smith and Megan Kern added 21 apiece.