Saturday, March 27
Mount Pleasant, MI
2 P.M.
Central Michigan University
11-11,11-11MAC
2
vs
3
Miami (OH)
13-8,13-8MAC
1
2
3
4
5
F
Miami (OH)
23
20
25
25
15
3
Central Mich.
25
25
15
23
7
2
Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22
Volleyball Drops Season Finale
3/27/2021 6:13:00 PM | Volleyball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – It isn't so much about what happens, but about how one responds.
The Central Michigan volleyball team will have to wait five months to respond when the fall season gets underway in August.
The Chippewas squandered a two-set lead on Saturday, falling to Miami (Ohio) in a Mid-American Conference match at McGuirk Arena.
It was CMU's final match of the season and it came less than 24 hours after the Chippewas suffered the same frustrating and heartbreaking fate in falling in five to the RedHawks in a match they needed to win in order to keep alive their MAC Tournament hopes.
"We have a choice right now," said CMU coach Mike Gawlik who, in his five years in charge of the program, has taken it from the depths of the MAC to contender status. "We're frustrated, I know the team's frustrated. The question is, what do we do from here?
"We have to sharpen some things within our program and a lot of that is from the neck up. We're not completely broken, but it's a skill to be a finisher, and it's a skill to sprint through the finish line. That's a skill right now that we need to sharpen."
The Chippewas (11-11), as they did on Friday, won the first two sets, 25-23, 25-20. And then the RedHawks (13-8), as they did on Friday, won the final three, 25-15, 25-23, 15-7. With its two wins on the weekend, Miami punched its ticket to next week's MAC Tournament.
It marked the fourth time in CMU's last six matches that it dropped a five-setter. Three times in that stretch the Chippewas lost after taking the first two sets.
"I feel like we go into this I-hope-it-was-enough mentality, and that gets you beat," Gawlik said. "I've got to be better for the group. I've got to re-focus us because we are not in the right head space in sets three, four and five."
Savannah Thompson had 18 kills to lead the Chippewas, while Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez had 16, and Sierra Gray added nine. Kendall Braate had a team-high 21 digs and setters Kamryn Olson and Grace Butler combined for 56 kills.
Gawlik said he hopes the bitter taste of this weekend turns into motivation. The Chippewas are expected to return nearly their entire roster in the fall.
"If that doesn't motivate you to get after it in the offseason, I'm not sure anything will," he said. "I'm confident my group will do that. I'm confident that this weekend will stick with my group for a long time. Does it put us at another level of a work ethic and a grind where we say, 'We're right there; we've got to get two points better'? I certainly hope so.
"I'm confident that we have the right people; but we've got to work through it."
The Central Michigan volleyball team will have to wait five months to respond when the fall season gets underway in August.
The Chippewas squandered a two-set lead on Saturday, falling to Miami (Ohio) in a Mid-American Conference match at McGuirk Arena.
It was CMU's final match of the season and it came less than 24 hours after the Chippewas suffered the same frustrating and heartbreaking fate in falling in five to the RedHawks in a match they needed to win in order to keep alive their MAC Tournament hopes.
"We have a choice right now," said CMU coach Mike Gawlik who, in his five years in charge of the program, has taken it from the depths of the MAC to contender status. "We're frustrated, I know the team's frustrated. The question is, what do we do from here?
"We have to sharpen some things within our program and a lot of that is from the neck up. We're not completely broken, but it's a skill to be a finisher, and it's a skill to sprint through the finish line. That's a skill right now that we need to sharpen."
The Chippewas (11-11), as they did on Friday, won the first two sets, 25-23, 25-20. And then the RedHawks (13-8), as they did on Friday, won the final three, 25-15, 25-23, 15-7. With its two wins on the weekend, Miami punched its ticket to next week's MAC Tournament.
It marked the fourth time in CMU's last six matches that it dropped a five-setter. Three times in that stretch the Chippewas lost after taking the first two sets.
"I feel like we go into this I-hope-it-was-enough mentality, and that gets you beat," Gawlik said. "I've got to be better for the group. I've got to re-focus us because we are not in the right head space in sets three, four and five."
Savannah Thompson had 18 kills to lead the Chippewas, while Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez had 16, and Sierra Gray added nine. Kendall Braate had a team-high 21 digs and setters Kamryn Olson and Grace Butler combined for 56 kills.
Gawlik said he hopes the bitter taste of this weekend turns into motivation. The Chippewas are expected to return nearly their entire roster in the fall.
"If that doesn't motivate you to get after it in the offseason, I'm not sure anything will," he said. "I'm confident my group will do that. I'm confident that this weekend will stick with my group for a long time. Does it put us at another level of a work ethic and a grind where we say, 'We're right there; we've got to get two points better'? I certainly hope so.
"I'm confident that we have the right people; but we've got to work through it."
Team Stats
Miami
CMU
Kills
65
64
Errors
16
29
Attempts
158
177
Hitting %
.310
.198
Points
76
76
Assists
57
59
Aces
4
6
Blocks
7
6
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
18
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
16
Aces
2
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
Libero/Setter
/ Volleyball
Setter
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
/ Volleyball
Setter/Opposite
/ VolleyballMiddle Blocker
/ VolleyballOutside Hitter
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