Volleyball Keeps Pace in MAC With Senior Night Sweep

Saturday, November 9

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

4:00 PM

Central Michigan University

22-6,13-3MAC

Kent State

2-24,1-15MAC

Kent St.

Central Mich.

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

11/9/2024 7:16:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Chippewas head into final week of regular season one game out of first place

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A celebration. The hope is, there will be a couple more.

The Central Michigan volleyball team honored five student-athletes on Senior Night on Saturday at McGuirk Arena, sweeping Kent State for the second straight match in a Mid-American Conference contest.

All of the seniors contributed as the Chippewas posted a 25-18, 25-19, 25-17 victory, improving to 22-6, 13-3 MAC.

They remain in second place, one game behind first-place Bowling Green, which is 14-2 in league play. The regular season champion hosts the MAC Tournament.

The Chippewas, who have clinched a spot in the tournament, close the regular season next weekend with two matches at Akron. The Falcons close with two at home against Ohio. If CMU and Bowling Green finish in a first-place tie, the Chippewas will host the tournament because they defeated the Falcons in their one and only meeting during the regular season.

"The important thing for us is we just keep our head down and focus on Akron," CMU coach Mike Gawlik said. "We can get caught up in a lot of other things – the standings and who's playing and who and what needs to happen.

"What needs to happen is we need to win matches and if we want to be in the hunt at the end and if we want to be in the hunt to host, we've got to continue to play as hard as we can and play with a little bit of butterflies in our stomachs and that's the kind of volleyball we want to be playing at the end of the year.

"We've worked really hard to put ourselves in a good spot and now we have to hold our composure. It's about climbing to the top of the mountain in the regular season and then we can have a fistfight at in the MAC Tournament. I'm excited about how we're playing and how we're clicking on all cylinders. I think we're peaking at the right time."

Grace Thomas had 13 kills and Lauren Schrock had 11 to lead the Chippewas past the Golden Flashes (2-24, 1-15).

CMU attacked at .330, its third highest percentage of the season, and had just three service errors with five aces after making just one service error with five aces in Friday's sweep.

"Aces are one way to measure serving, but it's not the exclusive way," Gawlik said. "I feel like we had so many times where we brought their attack off the net or their setter off the net and created those out-of-system situations where our block can really get to work and that's the value of strong serving.

"Serving is such a weapon for us and there are matches where we miss a few. Tonight we missed three in three sets. We're not giving away points and that makes us tough to beat."

The Chippewas never trailed in the first set or the third. They found themselves in an 8-4 deficit in the second, and then reeled off six consecutive points for a 10-8 lead they never relinquished.

CMU set the tone with a .486 attack percentage in the first set.

"We said that our challenge was going to be playing against our own standard and that's no disrespect to Kent but it's just keeping our expectations high and what we're capable of," Gawlik said. "There were times that Kent State pushed and had three- or four-point runs and you've just kind of got to weather the storm and just kind of get back to work. We handled that with a lot of composure and poise."

It was the final regular season home match for Schrock, Krystina Kasson, Aly Gurtiza and Linnea Willer along with Emma Dukate, who suffered a season-ending injury in October.

"It was a special night for them in not only celebrating their final match in McGuirk, but also in performing well and being pivotal in helping us find a way to win," Gawlik said. "Senior Night is always a good night. You're celebrating people who have put their hearts and souls into a program, and we have five really wonderful seniors. They've given us a lot.

"We are unfortunately missing out with Emma Dukate who's out with an injury and has served a really important role for us from the neck up. She's vital to what we do, and I know it's tough to not be out there with your teammates, but I promise that she's had impact in our gym and impact in our huddle and impact on our team and I think that's what any senior is looking for, to be impactful, and there's a variety of ways to do that.

"Four of our athletes were able to do that on the court tonight, but Emma brings that in a different way, and I think that should be celebrated as well."