Brian Manzullo

All eyes were focused on the ball senior outside hitter Sarah Warner tipped as it balanced on top of the net.

It eventually fell on Eastern Michigan’s side, giving the CMU volleyball team a 26-25 lead in the first set Thursday.

Central (10-7 overall, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) would go on to win the first set 27-25 and use the momentum to win the match 3-1 at Rose Arena.

The team is off to its best MAC start since going 4-1 in 1996.

“It feels good to get a win,” said defense specialist Erika Neumann. “I just think we should have brought a little more intensity, a little more fire, a little more drive, kind of like the way we played against Western would be really nice every match.”

CMU won the first set despite giving up two five-point leads.

“We had a lot of mental errors,” said coach Erik Olson. “I don’t feel like we were fired up appropriately for Eastern. We have to have the desire to beat Western, Eastern, Buffalo, Akron, Kent State all equally.”

The Chippewas won the match despite committing a season-high 32 attack errors. They recorded a .136 attack percentage.

The volleyball team had a season-high 12 services aces. Neumann led the Chippewas with four aces, bringing her season total to six.

“Our serving was the key to taking them out of their offense,” Olson said. “They became less aggressive once we served them out of their system.”

Freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz tied the team lead with 12 kills and had just one attack error. Schultz leads the team in hitting percentage against MAC foes with .331 and is hitting .396 against MAC foes.

“We could have played better,” Schultz said. “We could have communicated a lot better. I was expecting Eastern to play a little better than what they did.”

Eastern Michigan drops to 2-3 in the MAC with the loss.

Junior outside hitter Vicotoria Randolph led the Eagles with 11 kills. Eastern Michigan freshman Ashley Mason led her team with 25 digs.

“The MAC west knows each other so well, sometimes it can be hard to get a victory,” Olson said. “We didn’t start out very well, but our defense overcame and earned us the win.”

Next up

Central will look to beat Kent State on Saturday for the first time since the 1998 season.

The volleyball team lost its last 11 meetings with the Golden Flashes and has not won at KSU since 1994.

CMU only can hold one practice before traveling down to Kent, Ohio. The short rest is nothing new for a team that usually plays back-to-back matches.

Senior outside hitter Kate Fissel injured her elbow earlier this season in a match against Northern Illinois. She played briefly Thursday against Eastern Michigan, but has not made a start since.

“Fissel is good to go,” Olson said. “But this lineup is hot right now. We are going to need her back in the lineup soon, but it is working right now.”

KSU (12-5, 2-2 Mid-American Conference) defeated Central in three straight sets last season.

Central struggled on offense, committing 21 attack errors and 15 service errors.

Kent State’s outside hitter combo of senior Ashley Feutz and sophomore Lauren Jones have dominated on offense, spiking a total of 434 kills.

The Golden Flashes average nearly five aces per match.

Central are undefeated in road matches against MAC opponents.

“Being 4-1 feels good going on the road,” said senior defensive specialist Erika Neumann. “Kent State is a great opponent, but if we can pull out a victory, it will be the best start we will have had since I have been here.”

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E-mail the author: D.J. Palomares