Thursday, January 28
Mount Pleasant, MI
6 P.M.
Central Michigan University
1-2,1-2MAC
0
vs
3
Kent State
1-0,1-0MAC
1
2
3
F
Kent St.
25
25
25
3
Central Mich.
21
17
15
0
Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22
Chippewa Volleyball Drops Home Opener
1/28/2021 9:37:00 PM | Volleyball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Savannah Thompson was angry.
That might be a good thing going forward.
Kent State handed Central Michigan a straight-sets Mid-American Conference volleyball loss on Thursday at McGuirk Arena, dropping the Chippewas to 1-2 both overall and in the league. It was the season opener for the Golden Flashes.
"I think it's a mindset thing," said Thompson a CMU junior outside hitter and a key player on a team that last year won the MAC West and this year was picked to repeat in the preseason coaches poll. "I think we know how good we can be, and I think we play better when we have a fire under us and we just didn't have that out there tonight.
"That's something that's got to switch for tomorrow. When we play (angry) is when we play best. … It's a whole team vibe that we need to fix."
The Chippewas and Golden Flashes complete the two-match series on Friday (2 p.m.) at McGuirk.
How It Happened
The first set was a nip-and-tuck battle until Kent State went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-17 lead. The Chippewas crept as close as 23-20 before the Golden Flashes closed it out, 25-21.
Kent State jumped out to sizeable early leads in both the second and third sets, taking the second 25-17 and the third, 25-15.
Leaders
Thompson finished with nine kills to lead the Chippewas, while setters Grace Butler and Kamryn Olson finished with 16 assists apiece. Kendall Braate led the Chippewas with 10 digs.
Keys
The Chippewas finished with a .148 attack percentage to Kent State's .295 and CMU managed just four blocks.
"Our defense at the net has to be better," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "Our block has to eliminate more court space than it did tonight. If we can take away some court space defensively, we've got the freedom to play free and we've got the freedom to play at 100 miles an hour because we don't feel like we have to get everything.
"We only had four blocks tonight and I think we're a better blocking team than that. We've got to play more team volleyball tomorrow to give our setters options so that we can make strategic decisions.
"We win as a team and we lose as a team. We didn't meet the standard today as a full group. I think we missed our standard in a lot of different areas. We couldn't really point to one area of the game that we could start hanging our hat on."
Looking Ahead
Yes, the Chippewas are 1-2 and there is plenty of season remaining for them to right the ship. To the good, they have less than 24 hours to dwell on the loss.
"We've got to get over what happened today and yet we have to learn from it," Gawlik said. "You don't forget it completely because there are some lessons that we need to learn to be better prepared for tomorrow.
"It's impossible to look through the windshield and in the rearview mirror at the same time. We were just carrying the last play into the next play far too often and that's not what helped us find some success last weekend (at Ohio) and that's not when we're playing our best volleyball.
"We're not going to hit the panic button, but we do have to be significantly better tomorrow against what is a really good Kent State team that was ready to play. We're going to see how we respond."
That might be a good thing going forward.
Kent State handed Central Michigan a straight-sets Mid-American Conference volleyball loss on Thursday at McGuirk Arena, dropping the Chippewas to 1-2 both overall and in the league. It was the season opener for the Golden Flashes.
"I think it's a mindset thing," said Thompson a CMU junior outside hitter and a key player on a team that last year won the MAC West and this year was picked to repeat in the preseason coaches poll. "I think we know how good we can be, and I think we play better when we have a fire under us and we just didn't have that out there tonight.
"That's something that's got to switch for tomorrow. When we play (angry) is when we play best. … It's a whole team vibe that we need to fix."
The Chippewas and Golden Flashes complete the two-match series on Friday (2 p.m.) at McGuirk.
How It Happened
The first set was a nip-and-tuck battle until Kent State went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-17 lead. The Chippewas crept as close as 23-20 before the Golden Flashes closed it out, 25-21.
Kent State jumped out to sizeable early leads in both the second and third sets, taking the second 25-17 and the third, 25-15.
Leaders
Thompson finished with nine kills to lead the Chippewas, while setters Grace Butler and Kamryn Olson finished with 16 assists apiece. Kendall Braate led the Chippewas with 10 digs.
Keys
The Chippewas finished with a .148 attack percentage to Kent State's .295 and CMU managed just four blocks.
"Our defense at the net has to be better," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "Our block has to eliminate more court space than it did tonight. If we can take away some court space defensively, we've got the freedom to play free and we've got the freedom to play at 100 miles an hour because we don't feel like we have to get everything.
"We only had four blocks tonight and I think we're a better blocking team than that. We've got to play more team volleyball tomorrow to give our setters options so that we can make strategic decisions.
"We win as a team and we lose as a team. We didn't meet the standard today as a full group. I think we missed our standard in a lot of different areas. We couldn't really point to one area of the game that we could start hanging our hat on."
Looking Ahead
Yes, the Chippewas are 1-2 and there is plenty of season remaining for them to right the ship. To the good, they have less than 24 hours to dwell on the loss.
"We've got to get over what happened today and yet we have to learn from it," Gawlik said. "You don't forget it completely because there are some lessons that we need to learn to be better prepared for tomorrow.
"It's impossible to look through the windshield and in the rearview mirror at the same time. We were just carrying the last play into the next play far too often and that's not what helped us find some success last weekend (at Ohio) and that's not when we're playing our best volleyball.
"We're not going to hit the panic button, but we do have to be significantly better tomorrow against what is a really good Kent State team that was ready to play. We're going to see how we respond."
Team Stats
KentSt
CMU
Kills
48
34
Errors
16
17
Attempts
107
125
Hitting %
.299
.136
Points
58
39
Assists
46
32
Aces
2
1
Blocks
8
4
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
7
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
Libero/Setter
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Setter
/ Volleyball
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