Friday, March 26
Mount Pleasant, MI
6 P.M.
Central Michigan University
11-10,11-10MAC
2
vs
3
Miami (OH)
12-8,12-8MAC
1
2
3
4
5
F
Miami (OH)
28
23
30
25
15
3
Central Mich.
30
25
28
22
11
2
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Volleyball's MAC Tournament Dreams Fall By The Wayside
3/26/2021 11:09:00 PM | Volleyball
Chippewas drop 5-set heartbreaker to Miami
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A five-set marathon slugfest. And Central Michigan will be on the outside looking in.
Miami (Ohio) rallied from two sets down on Friday to hand CMU a heartbreaking 28-30, 23-25, 30-28, 25-22, 15-11 defeat in a make-or-break Mid-American Conference volleyball match at McGuirk Arena.
The loss ended the Chippewas' hopes of making the four-team MAC Tournament. CMU (11-10) and RedHawks (12-8) are scheduled to close the regular season on Saturday (2 p.m.).
"It hurts, it sucks, it doesn't feel good," CMU senior Grace Butler said. "Miami came to win. It was like a boxing match. It was one of the most fun matches I've ever had, and one of the saddest endings I've ever had too."
How close was it? The match featured 41 ties and 20 lead changes. The Chippewas had match point at 26-25 in the third set, but couldn't close it out against a Miami team that won four-consecutive MAC regular-season titles from 2016-19.
"The difference in winning by two and losing by two is a play," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "It's a ball being blocked as opposed to it going between your block or off your hands or hitting the line versus going out wide. Those inches make a big difference. I'm gutted for our group because I thought we played a pretty good match.
"I was really proud of the way we played tonight. I really felt like we played well enough that we could win. It's hard to say that one of the better matches we played all season we lost, but I really thought we were executing incredibly well."
The Chippewas got 18 kills from Savannah Thompson, 12 from Sierra Gray, and 11 from Anna Erickson. CMU had 10 aces, three from Kamryn Olson. Olson and Butler, the Chippewa setters, combined for 55 assists.
"To go where we want to go, we have to play in matches like this against what we feel are giants within our league," Gawlik said. "The experience that Miami brings to the table – there's a lot of (Miami) players out there who have won the league before.
"I wasn't disappointed at all in our grit, I wasn't disappointed in our fight, I wasn't disappointed in the way we went about our business. But it's a tough one. We're knocking on the door, we're in the right ballpark, and we're doing a lot of good things, but we have to take advantage of opportunities when they're presented."
The Chippewas are 4-3 in five-setters this season. Friday marked their third-consecutive loss in such matches, in which emotions always run high.
"It's something that we have to remember because it's a powerful tool," Gawlik said. "It's a powerful tool that drives us in off-seasons and early morning workouts. It's something that you don't want to forget because we put ourselves in a really good spot to be able to capitalize tonight.
"We found ourselves a point shy or a play shy and where is that point or that play? Is that play in our preparation? Is that play in our attention to detail? Is that play in our aggressiveness in 7 a.m. practices? You can win or you can learn. Hopefully we learned something tonight."
Miami (Ohio) rallied from two sets down on Friday to hand CMU a heartbreaking 28-30, 23-25, 30-28, 25-22, 15-11 defeat in a make-or-break Mid-American Conference volleyball match at McGuirk Arena.
The loss ended the Chippewas' hopes of making the four-team MAC Tournament. CMU (11-10) and RedHawks (12-8) are scheduled to close the regular season on Saturday (2 p.m.).
"It hurts, it sucks, it doesn't feel good," CMU senior Grace Butler said. "Miami came to win. It was like a boxing match. It was one of the most fun matches I've ever had, and one of the saddest endings I've ever had too."
How close was it? The match featured 41 ties and 20 lead changes. The Chippewas had match point at 26-25 in the third set, but couldn't close it out against a Miami team that won four-consecutive MAC regular-season titles from 2016-19.
"The difference in winning by two and losing by two is a play," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "It's a ball being blocked as opposed to it going between your block or off your hands or hitting the line versus going out wide. Those inches make a big difference. I'm gutted for our group because I thought we played a pretty good match.
"I was really proud of the way we played tonight. I really felt like we played well enough that we could win. It's hard to say that one of the better matches we played all season we lost, but I really thought we were executing incredibly well."
The Chippewas got 18 kills from Savannah Thompson, 12 from Sierra Gray, and 11 from Anna Erickson. CMU had 10 aces, three from Kamryn Olson. Olson and Butler, the Chippewa setters, combined for 55 assists.
"To go where we want to go, we have to play in matches like this against what we feel are giants within our league," Gawlik said. "The experience that Miami brings to the table – there's a lot of (Miami) players out there who have won the league before.
"I wasn't disappointed at all in our grit, I wasn't disappointed in our fight, I wasn't disappointed in the way we went about our business. But it's a tough one. We're knocking on the door, we're in the right ballpark, and we're doing a lot of good things, but we have to take advantage of opportunities when they're presented."
The Chippewas are 4-3 in five-setters this season. Friday marked their third-consecutive loss in such matches, in which emotions always run high.
"It's something that we have to remember because it's a powerful tool," Gawlik said. "It's a powerful tool that drives us in off-seasons and early morning workouts. It's something that you don't want to forget because we put ourselves in a really good spot to be able to capitalize tonight.
"We found ourselves a point shy or a play shy and where is that point or that play? Is that play in our preparation? Is that play in our attention to detail? Is that play in our aggressiveness in 7 a.m. practices? You can win or you can learn. Hopefully we learned something tonight."
Team Stats
Miami
CMU
Kills
72
63
Errors
28
17
Attempts
216
203
Hitting %
.204
.227
Points
92.5
86
Assists
65
59
Aces
12
10
Blocks
8.5
13
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
18
Aces
2
Blocks
4
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
2
Blocks
10
Players Mentioned
Setter
/ VolleyballOpposite/Outside Hitter
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
/ Volleyball
Setter/Opposite
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
/ VolleyballInterview With Adam Jaksa and Arielle Wilson
Tuesday, August 26
BTS Volleyball Media Day
Thursday, August 07
Volleyball Passing Out Donuts
Thursday, April 10
Volleyball Sign Question
Tuesday, February 11