Volleyball Rallies to Win in Five over Grand Canyon in Exciting Fashion

Saturday, September 9

Iowa City, Iowa

4:00 PM

Central Michigan University

4-4,0-0MAC

Grand Canyon

4-4,0-0WAC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Grand Canyon	25	26	18	24	13	2
Central Mich.	17	24	25	26	15	3

Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography

Volleyball Rallies to Win in Five over Grand Canyon in Exciting Fashion

9/9/2023 8:44:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: Julia Bice

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Central Michigan did what they did they do best – reverse swept an opponent in an exhilarating fashion.

The Chippewas defeated Grand Canyon in Xtreme Arena 3-2 to win their grab their first win of the Hawkeye Invitational.

Central Michigan advances to 4-4 on the season while Grand Canyon drops to a mirroring 4-4 on their season.

A focus for Head Coach Mike Gawlik and his team was coming out of the gate quickly. That was not how the evening went for the Chippewas. CMU dropped the first two sets to the Antelopes (17-25 and 24-26) then found a way to rally in the third set where they were victorious in a 25-18 decision. "We came out of our match yesterday (against Iowa) where we felt that we were in a position to force a fifth set, so one of our goals today was to start off faster. We did not do that today."

Set four was a dogfight that ended positively for the Chippewas (26-24) and the deciding set ended in a 15-13 win for Central Michigan. "We made a few adjustments coming into set two – some personnel, some just in grit and the way we were going about business. We put ourselves in a position to win the second set, and I feel in a way that they stole that one away from us late in the game. I thought that was frustrating because we played a complete set outside of a ball or two."

The rebound and resiliency is what Chippewa Volleyball prides themselves on and that carried into for the push into the third through fifth sets. "I thought our response in set three, four and five was pretty excellent. We had some people step up offensively – that is the best match offensively that I can remember us having at Central Michigan."

An incredible offensive match it was in fact. The Chippewas hit .383 as a group, scoring 80 points and having four players hit .300 or better individually.

Krystina Kasson hit .633 with 20 kills.
Abby Olin hit .522 with 15 kills.
Brooklyn Conner hit .455 with 6 kills.
Lauren Schrock hit .300 with 4 kills.

For a period of time, the Chippewas were hitting over .400 through two sets, which was picking up some slack for the defense that early on was struggling. Central Michigan only killed nine balls in the first set, 13 in the second (.037) but turned it around in the third where they hit .583 as a team with 15 kills. Sets four and five were 16 kill (.379) and 9 kill (.033) continuations, respectively.

This was the Chippewas' fourth five-set game of the season, and the third where they have been victorious. CMU took the Lopes to five sets after taking B10 opponent Iowa to four and in their two games before, defeating Saint Louis and Bradley in five sets each in the Chippewa Invitational.

Offensively, the Chippewas were led by junior Krystina Kasson who hit .633 on the evening with 20 kills. "Offensively, Kasson is a powerhouse. That is no secret. We have a term we use in our program called the "momma" – the person we can turn to and they can help take some big swings when we need them. Kass is did those things for us today, including killing the ball that made us win 15-13." said Coach Gawlik.

Kasson was looking to rebound in the match today after she called in the net for a ball that ended up ending the match for the Chippewas against the Hawkeyes on Friday night. "I think yesterday (Friday), Krystina had a really great match. She made a mistake in that game, and she knew that. As a coaching staff we made sure she knew she had a great match and one play does not define her night. I am hoping that her turning the page after than and having a great night tonight was a big step forward for her. For her to have this night is an incredible bounce back for her and a great way to hit the reset button going into today. Grand Canyon, who is a great team had no answer for her on the right side tonight."

Abby Olin was also a positive offensive force for Central Michigan as she killed 15 balls (.522) and scored 18 points. Olin also recorded an ace and three blocks for the Chippewas in the outing. On the topic, Coach Gawlik said "Abby was also big in that momma role today…we went a different direction than we have in the last few games tonight and she didn't even play in the first set. I know that frustrated her a bit but she was ready today. She didn't play in set one but she killed 15 balls throughout the other four sets. Instead of not getting the start tonight and sulking, she said should was going to be better when she got the opportunity, and she did that."

Brooklyn Conner found her groove today as she blocked five balls for the Chippewas, killed six and scored 8.5 points. Her six blocks in the game is a career high for Conner.

In the backcourt for the Chippewas, Aly Gurtiza remained solid as she dug 18 balls and 6 aces, a career high for Gurtiza beating her previous record of four at Buffalo last season. The six aces for Gurtiza is an impressive line on the stat sheet for many reasons to Gawlik. One of those reasons being a challenge he gave her after the first weekend at SEMO.

"Aly served 37 balls for us tonight. On average, our other servers served around 11 balls tonight…she had six aces and I said to Aly that I didn't think she had six aces in her freshman year. After weekend one, we asked Aly to be a little more aggressive with her serve to put us in a better position to point score. That was really uncomfortable for her to do…it isn't about missing or messing up, it is about putting us in a position to score points. In the last two weeks, Aly has had a dramatic mentality switch and what she is able to bring from the service line was as much to do with us winning tonight as anything."

The Chippewas next will face Missouri State in Iowa City to close out the Hawkeye Invitational. That game is scheduled for Sunday, September 10^th at noon (ET).