Volleyball Bows in MAC Tournament Semifinal

Monday, November 21

Muncie, Ind.

4:30 P.m.

Central Michigan University

20-11,12-6MAC

Ball State University

24-7,15-3MAC

Central Mich.

Ball St.

Photo by: Samantha Blankenship / Ball State University

11/21/2022 8:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Outstanding season comes to an end with four-set loss

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MUNCIE, Ind. – A bittersweet end to a competitive and memorable season.

The Central Michigan volleyball team's journey in the Mid-American Conference Tournament reached an end on Monday in the semifinals as the Chippewas fell in four sets to host and No. 1-seed Ball State at Worthen Arena.

The Chippewas fell, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 22-25.

CMU finished 20-11. The Cardinals (24-7) advance to the championship to play the winner of second-seeded Bowling Green and sixth-seed Buffalo. Ball State is the defending MAC Tournament champion.

"I said to the group at the end that I'm really proud of the way we played," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "We said that if we played really, really well, we would put ourselves in a position to win, and I felt like that was true, but we didn't win.

"I thought we were in a position to win … in three of the four sets we were in a position to close it out. We had some big plays from players on our team and had people step up in big moments, and I'm sure as we look at video there's going to be some moments that we want to grow from, learn from, and be better at next time.

"But I didn't think (we lost) because we backed down. I didn't think it was because we were scared of the moment."

Just as they did on Sunday in a quarterfinal against Toledo, the Chippewas set the tone in the opener after breaking away from a 13-13 tie. CMU reached set point, 24-22, to force the Cardinals' second timeout of the set. An attack error gave Ball State a point to cut it to 24-23, and then an Anna Erickson kill finished it and put the Chippewas up one set.

Ball State flipped the script and led, 21-13, in the match-tying second set. The Chippewas would not draw closer than five points the rest of the way.

CMU broke away briefly and led on a four-point jump, 18-14, but was short-lived as an 8-1 run earned Ball State the 22-19 lead in the third set, which featured 10 ties. Though the Chippewas scored four of the final seven points of the set, the Cardinals moved up, 2-1, on the match.

A competitive finale brought 14 ties, the last at 20-20. As Ball State moved up, 23-20, a kill from Mallory Hernandez and double block from Elly Medendorp and Claire Ammeraal slowed the momentum and brought the Chippewas within one, 23-22, but they would get no closer. Ball State's Natalie Mitchem threw down the final two kills of the set for the win.

Hernandez, a senior, delivered 18 kills for a .304 hitting percentage. Erickson, also in her final season with the Chippewas, finished with 11 kills.

Medendorp finished with 10 kills and seven blocks while freshman setter Claire Ammeraal contributed 46 assists, 14 digs and seven blocks.

Natalia Rejment and senior middle blocker Maddie Whitfield had eight kills each. Sophomore libero Aly Gurtiza finished with 26 digs.

The Chippewas finished 20-11 including 12-6 in MAC matches. It marked the second time since 2007 that CMU has won as many as 20 matches, and their 12 league victories was a high-water mark in Gawlik's seven years in charge of the program.

CMU's quarterfinal victory over Toledo was its first win in the MAC Tournament since 2011.

"I'm proud of the group and I think we've been playing some really good ball," said Gawlik, whose team swept two matches from Ball State to open MAC play in late September. "It stings to bow out of the tournament that you think that you can win, and I do think we could've beaten Ball State … I'm really proud of the way that we went after it.

"We were right there, and it stings, but I think that's what's going to drive us in the offseason, to be better for this moment later on. I think that experience from Ball State maybe was something that just kind of held (them) together in some bigger moments and that is something that we are now gaining, and something that we can capitalize on when we're back here."