Saturday, November 23
Bowling Green, Ohio
6:30 PM
Central Michigan University
24-7,15-3MAC
2
vs
3
No. 3 Ball State
22-9,13-5MAC
1
2
3
4
5
F
Ball St.
25
25
21
21
15
3
Central Mich.
19
16
25
25
9
2
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
“The Best Part About Us is that we are Us.”
11/24/2024 12:03:00 AM | Volleyball
Central Michigan Volleyball fell to Ball State in five sets in the semi-final game of the 2024 Mid-American Conference Tournament.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – "We made the choice to go for it, we made the choice to be aggressive, but most importantly we made the choice to stay together."
Ending his ninth season at the helm of Central Michigan Volleyball, Head Coach Mike Gawlik explained that his team achieved their incredible success on those pillars.
The Chippewas dropped their final match of the season in five sets to No. 3 Ball State in the semi-final match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament where CMU entered as the No. 2 seed. Central Michigan finished the regular season at 24-6 (15-3 MAC) to cap off their winningest season since 1983.
Although the match did not tilt in the way of the Chippewas – many successes were found throughout the course of the night. "It has been a really awesome year. I think we just played hard. We were in every match that we played and we put ourselves in the position to win a lot of matches."
Throughout the course of the 2024 season, Central Michigan was never swept in a match. Five of the seven matches that the Chippewas did drop since August, were five-set losses; proving the hard fight the team gave every night.
Prior to the match against Ball State, Gawlik and his staff asked three things of their athletes "We wanted them to be aggressive from start to finish – no matter the score, we asked them to play aggressive as a team."
His squad listened and they did just that. Although the match opened with two Ball State set victories, there was absolutely no quit the Chippewas. Throughout sets one and two, CMU recorded just two blocks compared to the Cardinals' five.
The quick change came entering set three as CMU peeled off ten blocks between sets three and four. "We made some adjustments in our matchups after set two. Ball State had Carson Tyler, the MAC Freshman of the Year on their left side, and we felt she was just going around the block, so we shifted the personnel out there and found success."
Success was right as Central Michigan forced the fifth set, where they ultimately ended their season.
Leading the charge for the Chippewas was redshirt junior Abby Olin. Olin, who just recently earned Second Team All-MAC honors, charted 14 kills for CMU, while adding six total blocks. Olin ends the 2024 season with 36 solo blocks, which makes here the single season record holder in program history for the category.
Playing in their final matches as Chippewas, Lauren Schrock and Krystina Kasson also found offensive success in the evening thriller. Schrock charted 13 kills, Kasson added 10 and three blocks.
Aly Gurtiza, the defensive specialist for the Chippewas, ended her collegiate career with 1,819 digs, placing her in fourth place in program history. In the game with Ball State, Gurtiza charted 18 digs – a season high.
"This senior class was special. I think they showed that when you are diligent to the process, the work will pay off. I hope that is what our returning players see from that class. Our strength of us is the fact that we are us. This is one of the better teams that I have coached. Record aside, the way we play together and the way we all understood our role and played it so well, was just really special."
Ending his ninth season at the helm of Central Michigan Volleyball, Head Coach Mike Gawlik explained that his team achieved their incredible success on those pillars.
The Chippewas dropped their final match of the season in five sets to No. 3 Ball State in the semi-final match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament where CMU entered as the No. 2 seed. Central Michigan finished the regular season at 24-6 (15-3 MAC) to cap off their winningest season since 1983.
Although the match did not tilt in the way of the Chippewas – many successes were found throughout the course of the night. "It has been a really awesome year. I think we just played hard. We were in every match that we played and we put ourselves in the position to win a lot of matches."
Throughout the course of the 2024 season, Central Michigan was never swept in a match. Five of the seven matches that the Chippewas did drop since August, were five-set losses; proving the hard fight the team gave every night.
Prior to the match against Ball State, Gawlik and his staff asked three things of their athletes "We wanted them to be aggressive from start to finish – no matter the score, we asked them to play aggressive as a team."
His squad listened and they did just that. Although the match opened with two Ball State set victories, there was absolutely no quit the Chippewas. Throughout sets one and two, CMU recorded just two blocks compared to the Cardinals' five.
The quick change came entering set three as CMU peeled off ten blocks between sets three and four. "We made some adjustments in our matchups after set two. Ball State had Carson Tyler, the MAC Freshman of the Year on their left side, and we felt she was just going around the block, so we shifted the personnel out there and found success."
Success was right as Central Michigan forced the fifth set, where they ultimately ended their season.
Leading the charge for the Chippewas was redshirt junior Abby Olin. Olin, who just recently earned Second Team All-MAC honors, charted 14 kills for CMU, while adding six total blocks. Olin ends the 2024 season with 36 solo blocks, which makes here the single season record holder in program history for the category.
Playing in their final matches as Chippewas, Lauren Schrock and Krystina Kasson also found offensive success in the evening thriller. Schrock charted 13 kills, Kasson added 10 and three blocks.
Aly Gurtiza, the defensive specialist for the Chippewas, ended her collegiate career with 1,819 digs, placing her in fourth place in program history. In the game with Ball State, Gurtiza charted 18 digs – a season high.
"This senior class was special. I think they showed that when you are diligent to the process, the work will pay off. I hope that is what our returning players see from that class. Our strength of us is the fact that we are us. This is one of the better teams that I have coached. Record aside, the way we play together and the way we all understood our role and played it so well, was just really special."
Team Stats
BSU
CMU
Kills
64
58
Errors
24
26
Attempts
169
175
Hitting %
.237
.183
Points
81.0
75.0
Assists
61
57
Aces
6
5
Blocks
11
12
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
11
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
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