Volleyball Falls in Three to Illinois State

Friday, September 4

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

4 p.m.

Central Michigan University

0-5,0-0MAC

Illinois State

3-1,0-0MVC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Illinois St.	25	25	25	3
Central Mich.	18	22	12	0

Photo by: Katrina Shammami - @mediabykat

9/4/2026 5:53:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Central Michigan charts double digit blocks for the second consecutive match in loss to Illinois State.

By: Julia Bice

MOUNT PLESANT, Mich. – Central Michigan Volleyball continued to be a blocking presence at the net, charting double-digit blocks for the second straight night in the Heart of the Mitt Invitational against Illinois State. But the Chippewas dropped their match to the Redbirds, 0-3 as they fell 18-25, 22-25 and 12-25.

CMU's offense was led by Taylor Cripe, who recorded 10 kills and added a team leading eight digs with 14 points. Cripe, Jaliyah Cohnes and Brytn Lyon all recorded aces. Brenna Storz notched a career high seven blocks.

Central Michigan moves to 0-5 on the year while the Redbirds are now 3-1.

How it happened
Illinois State took a 2-0 lead, but Alexis Carper, making her first career start, put CMU on the board when she forded a block out of bounds that was last touched by the Redbirds.

CMU fell victim to a 3-0 run as Illinois State took a 13-9 lead. An ace from one of the Redbirds right side hitters forced that timeout, and the same player scored on back-to-back aces out of the timeout, sending the teams in to the media timeout with the score CMU 9, ISU 15. The Chippewas got the ball back at the service line trailing 12-20 via service error from ISU. That let CMU go on a 4-0 run cutting the deficit to 4. The final point CMU scored in that run came on a block from Taylor Cripe that was challenged by ISU head coach, Allie Matters, but the Redbirds lost that challenge.

Central Michigan faced set point at 17-24 – but Cripe scored via roll shot to get the ball back on the Chippewas' side of the net. Illinois State ultimately took set one, 25-18.

Set two opened with two points in a row for CMU, via a service error for ISU and an attack error. CMU went on to take an 8-4 lead, and Illinois State called a timeout – their first of the afternoon. The Redbirds came within one at 8-7 in favor of CMU. At the media timeout, CMU trailed by just one. Brytn Lyon recorded the first ace of the afternoon for CMU to bring the score to 18-19, Jailyah Cohnes then charted a kill to tie the second set at 19 all. Tied at 19, 20 and 21, Coach Wilson called a timeout down 21-22 after back-to-back points for the Redbirds.

Illinois State reached set point with its seventh ace of the day, the sixth for Ruth Ziegler.

Central Michigan dropped set two, 22-25. The Chippewas hit .290 as a team in the set with four more blocks, entering the third set at 10 already on the afternoon. In the third set, CMU started down 0-4 to Illinois State but went on to tie the set at eight. The Redbirds led 15-8. The Redbirds closed the match on a 10-4 run and defeated CMU 25-12.

Central Michigan returns to McGuirk Arena on Saturday to face the Redbirds in a rematch at noon, then closes out the weekend at home against Michigan State at 6 p.m.

For the latest news and updates on CMU Volleyball, follow the team in X (@cmuvolleyball) and on Instagram (@cmuvolleyball).

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