Chippewas Look To Clinch West Title Share In Home Finale

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan volleyball team will play its final home game of the season on Thursday, with a chance to clinch a tie for the Mid-American Conference West Division.

CMU will entertain MAC foe Eastern Michigan beginning at 6 p.m. at McGuirk Arena, and then will head to Athens, Ohio, for a league match against Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 9 (6 p.m.).

Where They Stand
CMU is 20-4, 10-2 MAC and is in first place in the West, three games ahead of second-place Ball State, which is 7-5 in league play. The Chippewas share the top league record in the MAC with East-leading Miami (Ohio).

The RedHawks hold the tie-breaker over the Chippewas as a result of their five-set victory over CMU on Oct. 20.

Historic
The Chippewas are eyeing just the second division title in program history (the first came in 2003).

"Anytime you can do something that hasn't been done for 16 years, and you can put yourself in a position to be competing for something like that, that's pretty rare," said Mike Gawlik, who, in four years as the Chippewas' coach, has taken the program from the depths of the MAC to among the elite.

"I feel like our goals for the year (are higher), but you need to win the West before you can win the league. For a program that hasn't been around (a MAC championship) over the last handful of years it's a big deal for us. It's not the end of the journey, but it's a step that we want to take," Gawlik said.

Said CMU senior libero Megan Kern: "It would be really cool (to win it) because it hasn't been done in so long. It's something we've been working towards since we committed here. I think it would be really special to see our year go up on the banner (in McGuirk Arena), and that'll make it seem like everything was worth it."

Scouting
Eastern Michigan is 9-15, 4-8 after beating Northern Illinois and then falling to Western Michigan last weekend. Ohio is 13-12, 5-7. The Bobcats dropped two matches last weekend, the first to Miami and the second to Bowling Green.

"EMU is a feisty team," CMU junior Kalina Smith said. "They're going to come out and want to jump on us right away, but we have to make sure that they don't catch fire because they are a fiery team. If they're playing hot, they get more excited, if they get down on themselves, then they tend to lay down a little bit."

Leaders
As a team, CMU ranks second in the MAC in both hitting percentage (.219) and and assists per set (12.59).

Defensively, CMU ranks first in the MAC in opponent hitting percentage (.150), first in opponent assists per sets (10.90), and first in opponent kills per set (11.67).

Individually, Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez ranks first in the MAC in hitting percentage (.368), while Smith ranks second in the MAC in kills per set (3.44).

Next
The Chippewas will hit the road next weekend for its final two regular-season games, the first at Toledo on Friday, Nov. 15 and the second at Ball State on Saturday, Nov. 16. Both begin at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Megan Kern

Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez

Kalina Smith