Volleyball Wins MAC Opener

Friday, September 24

Mount Pleasant, MI

6 P.M.

Central Michigan University

7-6,1-0MAC

Northern Illinois

6-5,0-1MAC

Northern Ill.

Central Mich.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

9/24/2021 9:36:00 PM | Volleyball

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CMU, NIU close league-opening weekend on Saturday night

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- In the first match of the Mid-American Conference season on Friday, the Central Michigan volleyball team pulled out a four-set win over Northern Illinois at McGuirk Arena.

The Chippewas (7-6) and the Huskies (6-5) are set to close the weekend series with a match at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

CMU and NIU strung together a nail-biting first two sets. The Chippewas emerged victorious in both, 26-24 and 29-27. The Chippewas stumbled in the third set, losing 25-14 before making a quick recovery and securing the victory in the fourth, 25-16.

"I felt like we just took our foot off the gas on our side (in the third), not to say that we thought we were cocky," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "I thought it was a little bit of, 'we're fine, we're fine.' And there's a fine line between calmness and that complacency and not having enough urgency.

"We don't want to get to the point of panic, but we want to make sure we're a little bit more urgent."

Freshman Linnea Willer landed a career-high 22 kills on a .514 hitting percentage, leading the Chippewa offense. Willer found lots of success with the assistance of setter Grace Butler, who totaled 29 assists, and libero Aly Gurtiza, who added nine assists while finishing with 28 digs.

"Grace would just give me really great sets," Willer said. "I could see the block and see that their middle wasn't closing, and I felt that I had my cross shot open; it really helped."

As the rest of the MAC season awaits, Gawlik has set a strong, clear goal for his team to maintain confidence and turn around weaknesses.

"We had a team meeting after the pre-conference was over," Gawlik said. "One of the things that we said we need to be better at is to remember who we are.

"Regardless of what the score is, we have to remember that the good is good and we have to stay the course."