Thursday, February 18
Buffalo, NY
6 P.M.
Central Michigan University
4-5,4-5MAC
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Buffalo
0-9,0-9MAC
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Central Mich.
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Buffalo
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Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf
Chippewas Bounce Back, Take 4-Setter At Buffalo
2/18/2021 9:46:00 PM | Volleyball
Chippewas and Bulls complete 2-match series on Friday
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Central Michigan volleyball team posted a season-best .264 hitting percentage on Thursday in taking a four-set Mid-American Conference victory from Buffalo at the Bulls' Alumni Arena.
CMU won the first two sets, 25-21, 27-25, and the fourth, 25-21 in improving to 4-5 both overall and in the league. Buffalo, which won the third set, 25-18, is 0-9.
The teams are scheduled to complete their two-match MAC series on Friday (2 p.m.).
Leaders
Savannah Thompson had 16 kills on a .256 hitting percentage and three aces to lead the Chippewas.
Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez hit at .588 and finished with 12 kills on 17 swings for CMU. Sierra Gray added nine kills.
Hannah Warners led CMU's defense with 18 digs, while setters Grace Butler and Kamryn Olson finished with 23 and 20 assists, respectively.
How It Happened
The Chippewas flipped the script from their two losses last week at Western Michigan, where the Broncos jumped to the lead early in the first two sets.
The Chippewas withstood a Buffalo rally in the second set. The Bulls tied it, 21-21, after trailing throughout most of the set. The Chippewas trailed 24-25 and scored the final three points to pull out the set.
Buffalo used a 12-3 run in building a 15-6 lead in the third and the Chippewas never got closer than six points the rest of the way. CMU never trailed in the fourth, seizing an 11-3 advantage and then holding off the Bulls who twice drew to within two points, the last at 23-21.
"A focus of ours all week was trying to get out of the gate a lot faster, with more intensity," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "Before we wait and see how our opponent's going to play, we established the tempo that we wanted to play. I was really pleased with that."
The turning point came midway through the third set despite the fact that the Chippewas trailed by a significant margin.
"About halfway through that set we called a timeout and the message was, hey, we are the team that's up 2-0," Gawlik said. "We are the ones that earned that lead, they didn't give us that lead. We deserve to play with a lot more confidence and swag coming out of this timeout.
"Outside of that (early) deficit I thought we played a good set. That's just too many points to be chasing down the stretch. Even though we lost that third set, I thought we regained a little bit of momentum. And then in set four we were able to get out of the gate a lot faster like we did in sets one and two. I was proud of the group for being able to let go of set three."
Keys
The Chippewas were much better defensively, handling Buffalo's serves and setting up their offense from there, Gawlik said.
"We did a far better job of keeping our digs in system and providing more opportunities to get more people involved," Gawlik said, pointing to his team's hitting percentage in general and Rosario-Martinez's .588 percentage in particular as evidence.
Buffalo finished with a .289 hitting percentage, a number that was buoyed by its .355 in the third set. The Chippewas out-hit the Bulls in each of the other three sets.
"When we let teams hit .289 against us it's tough to win matches like that," Gawlik said. "That's too high; that's not a recipe for long-term success. We need to take a big step forward in our blocking game tomorrow.
"We only blocked four balls in four sets; that's not nearly enough. We also had four blocking errors. We gave away too many points at the net. That's got to be better tomorrow."
Taking Advantage
The Chippewas got a big contribution off the bench from freshman Elly Medendorp, who had four kills on five attempts. It was the third appearance of the season for Medendorp and it was in keeping with Gawlik's convention in 2021 of getting younger, less-experienced players on the floor to see what they do.
Like every other team in the MAC, CMU did not have the luxury of preconference matches to experiment and bring younger players along at a less-pressurized pace.
"You have to keep in mind that somebody like an Elly Medendorp had been on the sidelines for only eight college matches (before tonight)," Gawlik said, "so that learning curve is less forgiving because these are matches that count within our conference standings.
"To have her on the sidelines and to have her getting ready on a daily basis and having her see the prep that we put in for matches and then to be out there with the lights on is a big step forward for her. For her to come off the bench and get four kills in set four is a really good sign. She's a young player who can contribute for us and we'll see what she can do tomorrow night in a starting role."
CMU won the first two sets, 25-21, 27-25, and the fourth, 25-21 in improving to 4-5 both overall and in the league. Buffalo, which won the third set, 25-18, is 0-9.
The teams are scheduled to complete their two-match MAC series on Friday (2 p.m.).
Leaders
Savannah Thompson had 16 kills on a .256 hitting percentage and three aces to lead the Chippewas.
Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez hit at .588 and finished with 12 kills on 17 swings for CMU. Sierra Gray added nine kills.
Hannah Warners led CMU's defense with 18 digs, while setters Grace Butler and Kamryn Olson finished with 23 and 20 assists, respectively.
How It Happened
The Chippewas flipped the script from their two losses last week at Western Michigan, where the Broncos jumped to the lead early in the first two sets.
The Chippewas withstood a Buffalo rally in the second set. The Bulls tied it, 21-21, after trailing throughout most of the set. The Chippewas trailed 24-25 and scored the final three points to pull out the set.
Buffalo used a 12-3 run in building a 15-6 lead in the third and the Chippewas never got closer than six points the rest of the way. CMU never trailed in the fourth, seizing an 11-3 advantage and then holding off the Bulls who twice drew to within two points, the last at 23-21.
"A focus of ours all week was trying to get out of the gate a lot faster, with more intensity," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "Before we wait and see how our opponent's going to play, we established the tempo that we wanted to play. I was really pleased with that."
The turning point came midway through the third set despite the fact that the Chippewas trailed by a significant margin.
"About halfway through that set we called a timeout and the message was, hey, we are the team that's up 2-0," Gawlik said. "We are the ones that earned that lead, they didn't give us that lead. We deserve to play with a lot more confidence and swag coming out of this timeout.
"Outside of that (early) deficit I thought we played a good set. That's just too many points to be chasing down the stretch. Even though we lost that third set, I thought we regained a little bit of momentum. And then in set four we were able to get out of the gate a lot faster like we did in sets one and two. I was proud of the group for being able to let go of set three."
Keys
The Chippewas were much better defensively, handling Buffalo's serves and setting up their offense from there, Gawlik said.
"We did a far better job of keeping our digs in system and providing more opportunities to get more people involved," Gawlik said, pointing to his team's hitting percentage in general and Rosario-Martinez's .588 percentage in particular as evidence.
Buffalo finished with a .289 hitting percentage, a number that was buoyed by its .355 in the third set. The Chippewas out-hit the Bulls in each of the other three sets.
"When we let teams hit .289 against us it's tough to win matches like that," Gawlik said. "That's too high; that's not a recipe for long-term success. We need to take a big step forward in our blocking game tomorrow.
"We only blocked four balls in four sets; that's not nearly enough. We also had four blocking errors. We gave away too many points at the net. That's got to be better tomorrow."
Taking Advantage
The Chippewas got a big contribution off the bench from freshman Elly Medendorp, who had four kills on five attempts. It was the third appearance of the season for Medendorp and it was in keeping with Gawlik's convention in 2021 of getting younger, less-experienced players on the floor to see what they do.
Like every other team in the MAC, CMU did not have the luxury of preconference matches to experiment and bring younger players along at a less-pressurized pace.
"You have to keep in mind that somebody like an Elly Medendorp had been on the sidelines for only eight college matches (before tonight)," Gawlik said, "so that learning curve is less forgiving because these are matches that count within our conference standings.
"To have her on the sidelines and to have her getting ready on a daily basis and having her see the prep that we put in for matches and then to be out there with the lights on is a big step forward for her. For her to come off the bench and get four kills in set four is a really good sign. She's a young player who can contribute for us and we'll see what she can do tomorrow night in a starting role."
Team Stats
CMU
UB
Kills
56
59
Errors
18
18
Attempts
144
142
Hitting %
.264
.289
Points
64
73.5
Assists
51
56
Aces
4
4
Blocks
4
10.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
3
Blocks
2
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
Setter
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
/ Volleyball
Middle Blocker
/ Volleyball
Setter/Opposite
/ VolleyballMiddle Blocker
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
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