This season ended with the Chippewas playing their best volleyball of the season, coming away with a Mid-American Conference championship and NCAA tournament appearance.

CMU earned the No. 6 seed in the MAC tournament. A shot at the title looked slim playing the top three seeds in the tournament.

Starting off by sweeping the No. 3 seed, rival Western Michigan and three-time defending MAC champions No. 2 Ohio was huge for the Chippewas.

They then found themselves against the No. 1 seed Northern Illinois and its dominating sophomore outside hitter Lauren Wicinski with the MAC title on the line.

Defense stepped up holding Wicinski to a .158 hitting percent and CMU won a dramatic five-game match earning its first ever MAC championship and NCAA tournament appearance.

Senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz anchored the title run. She finished her career as the most decorated player in program history by adding a MAC title and tournament MVP to her four All-MAC first team honors. The former MAC Freshman of the Year was also the program’s 14th member of the 1,000 kill club.

The season came to an end in the first round of the NCAA tournament, losing to the eventual runner-up Illinois.

The Chippewas were swept as the Fighting Illini were just too much.

CMU had come a long way since losing the season opener to Iowa on Aug. 26.

Injuries during the season to Schultz, junior right-side hitter Jocelyn VerVelde and outside hitter Val DeWeerd kept the Chippewas on their heels.

Schultz had the best hitting percentage on the team (.407), and sixth best in the nation.

Schultz is leaving, along with fellow seniors like defensive specialist Kelsey Detweiler who didn’t have eye opening statistics, but her presence was felt on the floor and was vital to her team’s success. Setter Catherine Ludwig is also done, but CMU will recover and reload.

Freshman outside hitter and All-MAC freshman team honoree Kaitlyn McIntyre is back. She led the team in kills on the season, setting a new freshman single-season program record with 409.

Three sophomores will all be returning for their junior years. Sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell was the floor general for the offense leading the team with 1,314 assists. That putting her at No. 40 in the nation with 10.95 assists per game.

Maxwell’s classmate Jenna Coates was the leader on the defense recording 544 digs, the fourth most in program history in a single-season. Rounding out the impressive returning sophomores is middle blocker Danielle Gotham. She will help on the defensively after leading the team in total blocks (116) this year.

The team was young this year and with experience returning, the Chippewas have a great chance of repeating as MAC champions.

The Chippewas were swept in three games against the No. 3 overall seed Illinois.

“We’re there we just have to continue to play aggressively,” said head coach Erik Olson. “This program just made a huge step forward and is forever changed.”

The Fighting Illini finished the season as the No. 1 RPI team in the nation. It was a an important step for the Chippewas just to be in the tournament.

“We’ve really grown since last season,” said senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz. “It’s a big accomplishment just getting here for the first time so that is a big step for us and I’m really proud of our team.”

The Chippewas struggled to get anything going in the first game falling to an early 15-5 deficit, but they battled back to lose the game 25-16 meaning they outscored Illinois 16-10 to finish game one. CMU lost that game 25-15.

In game two CMU jumped out to an early lead on the Illini and the two battled back and forth but the Chippewas couldn’t pull out the win and was dropped 25-22. In game three it was back and forth yet again, still the Fighting Illini pulled away to win 25-18.

“We kind of freaked out a little in game one but we settled down,” Olson said. “We were there, just a few points here and there and a little push and this match goes longer.”

Schultz led the offensive attack with 11 kills while sophomore setter directed 34 assists. Junior outside hitter Lindsey Dulude added in nine kills of her own.

“Schultz was pretty good behind the setter (Maxwell) and was pretty effective,” Olson said.

On the defensive side the Chippewas recorded 40 digs with sophomore libero Jenna Coates and Dulude leading the way with nine while senior and junior defensive specialists Kelsey Detweiler and Samantha Brawley each had six.

Schultz career came to end tonight. Her four years is arguably the best of any CMU volleyball player ever.

She is the only one to earn four All-Mid-American Conference honors, she is one of 14 in the 1,000 kill club, she led her school to its first MAC Championship, won the tournament MVP and got it into its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

“It’s sad that it’s my last time playing with these guys,” Schultz said. “They were probably my favorite team by far.”

The Chippewas make the trip to Champaign, Ill., to play the No. 3 Illinois at 7 p.m. in the first round of the 64-team tournament.

“We have to come out of the gate really hard and play with high emotion,” said head coach Erik Olson. “If we pass in-system, we can play with speed and if we don’t play (Illinois) with speed, we’re done.”

The odds are stacked up against CMU. The Chippewas come in as the lowest-rated team in the region, playing the third-best team in the nation and traveling to Illinois home arena (Huff Hall). On paper it appears they have no chance.

Then again, Chippewas weren’t supposed to win the Mid-American Conference Championship, but they did.

The team feels it has nothing to lose.

“Illinois has quite a bit to lose where we have very little,” Olson said. “We only have one opportunity to lose, so we want to take advantage of that.”

CMU hopes to play like it did in the MAC Tournament when it took out Northern Illinois, Ohio and Western Michigan, two of which are still in the NCAA Tournament – NIU and WMU.

“We just need to take it like we did in the MAC Tournament, one game at a time and keep playing our volleyball,” said senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz. “We can’t worry about who is on the other side.”

This isn’t the first time the Chippewas and the Fighting Illini have played each other. The two have met six previous times and CMU holds the 4-2 advantage.

“I’m looking forward to playing them and playing someone outside of the MAC,” Schultz said.

The MAC hasn’t prepared the Chippewas for what they’re about to face, but they did see Iowa from the Big Ten Conference on Aug. 26, losing in five sets.

“We haven’t seen anything like (Illinois) in the MAC,” Olson said. “We have Northern Illinois as a low-contact team whereas Illinois is a high contact so we have been working on our defense behind our blockers.”

If CMU gets the upset, it faces either Marquette or Western Kentucky on Saturday for a shot at a spot in the final 16 teams.

So who are the Fighting Illini, and what makes them good?

“They’re low error as attackers, they hit from a high contact point, they’re tall and they serve tough,” said CMU head coach Erik Olson. “They have a mindset of, ‘It’s okay to serve tough and have some errors as long as you have some reward out of that.’”

With a philosophy like that you do get your aces but also have errors and that is one of Illinois’ flaws. With a tall team it’s tougher to get to the ball on defense.

“They have high service errors and they’re OK on defense,” Olson said. “We can make a dent in their passing with our serves and their middle blockers are pretty slow.”

Third year head coach Kevin Hambly has taken his team to the sweet sixteen in both his previous seasons.

The Fighting Illini are led by two senior outside hitters Michelle Bartsch and Colleen Ward. Junior middle blocker Erin Johnson, freshman middle blocker Anna Dorn, junior setter Annie Luhrsen and senior defensive specialist Rachel Feldman have appeared in all 120 sets for the team.

They also have a 6-foot-6 freshman outside hitter in Liz McMahon.

“Their two outside hitters (Bartsch and Ward) are pretty good and McMahon’s shot chart is difficult to defend,” Olson said.

Some players might think blocking against a 6-foot-6 athletic hitter is intimidating but senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz welcomes the challenge.

“I’m not too worried about it, people have tried to hit over me before and have jumped higher, it’s whatever,” Schultz said.

So how do they compare with CMU?

Luhrsen is No. 29 in the nation in assists per set, just 10 spots ahead of CMU’s sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell. Illinois top blocker Dorn comes in at No. 32 in the nation whereas CMU’s top blockers (Schultz/sophomore middle blocker Danielle Gotham) aren’t in the top 200.

The Fighting Illini’s top digger is sophomore libero (defensive specialist) Jennifer Beltran who is No. 189 in the nation, Chippewa’s sophomore libero Jenna Coates is No. 154. Dorn is their top hitter with a .341 attack average where Schultz is No. 5 in the nation at .414.

CMU has made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and, it faces No. 3 Illinois on Friday at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill.

Something has to give with this matchup.

The Chippewas are 4-2 all-time against the Fighting Illini, but UI is 14-1 at home this season.

CMU earned its way into the NCAA Tournament with an improbable run through the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

It swept No. 3 Western Michigan and No. 2 Ohio en route to a five-set victory over No. 1 Northern Illinois.

Illinois earned an at-large bid as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament.

The team started 20-0, not dropping a set until its third game.

The top-four seeds in last season’s NCAA Tournament were ousted in the first two rounds, so the Fighting Illini should not count out the Chippewas — a team playing its best volleyball at the right time.

The winner of the CMU-Illinois match faces the winner of the Marquette-Western Kentucky matchup on Saturday at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill.

The Chippewas are 1-1 in their last two matches against teams in the NCAA Tournament. It beat the Huskies to win the MAC Tournament, but fell to No. 23 Long Beach State in four sets on Friday.

NIU, Ball State and WMU join CMU from the MAC to earn spots in the field of 64.

Five teams, including CMU, are making their first appearences in the NCAA Tournament.

The fourth set between the Central Michigan volleyball team and the University of California-Irvine was one for the ages.

CMU stormed back and won a thrilling 37-35 set victory and used that momentum to outlast the Anteaters in five sets Saturday in Irvine, Calif.

After dropping the opener to UCI 25-16, CMU was able to get going into the break with a split after it ran away with game two, 25-11 with a hitting percentage of .484.

The Anteaters took game three 25-16, holding the Chippewas to a hitting percentage of just .069 percent.

In the final set, CMU won the match 15-10.

In the win against UCI, the only roster change head coach Erik Olson made was in game two, when he took out junior outside hitter Lindsey Dulude and put in fellow junior outside hitter and middle-blocker Katie Schuette.

CMU put up some big numbers in the high-scoring win.

Senior middle-blocker Kaitlyn Schultz recorded 28 kills with a .533 hitting average and seven blocks.

Sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell passed out 61 assists and recorded eight digs.

Freshman outside hitter recorded 12 kills and 19 digs, while sophomore libero Jenna Coates had 17 digs of her own.

Junior right side hitter Val DeWeerd also had 12 kills and Schuette added eight kills.

Junior defensive specialist Samantha Brawley was tough with her serves recording four aces and had seven digs.

The momentum from Saturday was a day late, however, because the Chippewas weren’t as fortunate when they played the No. 23 Long Beach State.

CMU won the first game 25-19, but the rest of the way it was all 49ers as they took games two, three, and four in demanding fashion (25-14, 25-15 and 25-19).

The entire active roster played in the loss to LBSU.

She recorded career kill No. 1,000, won her fourth All-MAC honor, was named to the All-MAC Tournament team, won the tournament’s most valuable player award and her Chippewas are now MAC champions, going to the NCAA Tournamemt.

“Winning the MVP is probably the biggest honor of my life,” Schultz said. “It’s a great achievement.”

The Highland native was a dominating force in the MAC Tournament, recording 44 kills, nine blocks and four aces as CMU took down the top three teams on its way to claiming the championship.

“I can’t do it without everybody else and winning the tournament was awesome,” Schultz said.

The Chippewas have a 58-51 record during her career. She has called three different venues home (Rose Arena, Finch Fieldhouse and McGuirk Arena) and now brings back the school’s first-ever MAC title.

“She (Schultz) is our first four-time All-MAC player,” said head coach Erik Olson. “She is a phenomenal player and she really grew as a blocker in this final season. She is an offensive player, but she figured out blocking in the offseason and that was huge for her.”

Schultz started out her career as Miss Michigan Volleyball Player of the Year. She followed up the hype by being named as MAC Freshman of the Year in her first season.

She recorded a hitting percentage of .341 that ranked second in the MAC and earned her the second All-MAC honor as a sophomore.

She found a solid connection with sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell and it has paid off in a big way for Schultz, Maxwell and the rest of the MAC Champions.

Her junior year she recorded her biggest kill total of 24 in a lose against Miami of Ohio in last seasons MAC Tournament and earned her third All-MAC honor.

“Everything just fell in place for me, it was amazing and I’m glad I had this team to do it with, I love them,” Schultz said. “Now it’s time for the NCAA Tournament and we’re going to play it like we did here and not care who is on the other side of the net.”

Sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell celebrates with team mates after winning 3-2 over NIU at the MAC Championships Sunday afternoon in Geneva, Ohio. (Adam Niemi/Staff Photographer)

GENEVA, Ohio – Cinderella most always spoils the ball.

Northern Illinois was the favorite, with its No. 1-seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament. Simply, they were supposed to be the life of the party.

Then No. 6-seeded Central Michigan arrived. CMU beat NIU in five sets to win its first-ever MAC championship here on Sunday.

“’This is ours,’ that’s all I heard,” said CMU head coach Erik Olson about the team’s talk on the bench. “They were on a mission.”

In five loud and fast-paced sets, Northern Illinois (27-6, 15-3 MAC) was sent home early from the party.

The Chippewas heads to its next ball — but none like it has ever been invited to before — their first-ever NCAA tournament on Dec. 2 and 3. The location is still to be determined.

The momentum CMU rode to its first championship had been built over the last two days with 3-0 wins against both No. 2 Ohio on Saturday and No. 3 Western Michigan on Friday.

“This is what aggressiveness will bring to you,” Olson said. “It was learned against Ohio, at Ohio.”

All-Tournament sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell said the team was not shaken before the decisive fifth set against NIU.

“Our whole team was just on fire,” Maxwell said. “We love game fives.”

One of the first things Olson did after handshakes and brief celebrations was study the stat sheets from all five sets. The work is not over, with games against Long Beach State and UC-Irvine on Nov. 25 and 26.

“’We have a big moment,’” Olson said to the team before the game. “I said, ‘Let’s go out there and take it to them. And they did.”

Melissa McIntyre, mother of freshman outside hitter Kaitlyn, said she left her home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin this weekend to make the championship.

“I drove at five o’clock Saturday to get here,” she said while watching the team celebrate. “It’s an eight-and-a-half hour drive, but I had to get here.”

The Chippewas claimed their first-ever Mid-American Conference championship with a five-set win over No. 1 Northern Illinois on Sunday.

“This is ours, it is what the team kept saying going into every timeout and every break,” said eight-year head coach Erik Olson. “This win puts CMU on the volleyball map with our first championship in history.”

CMU took a 2-0 match lead into the break, but the No. 16 team in the nation evened it up, sending it into a fifth and deciding set.

The Chippewas had the chance to win it in set four, but allowed NIU to take it into that final set.

“I was a little uneasy on the bench going into game five, but the players were on a mission,” Olson said.

The Chippewas made it theirs after one final kill by freshman outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre. She led the team with 19 kills and a .385 hitting average.

“We passed really well and played good enough defense,” McIntyre said. “Kelly (Maxwell) had some really good passes and let me go up there and do my thing.”

Maxwell ran the offense through the good and the bad on the day, finishing the match with 59 assists and was an All-MAC Tournament Team selection.

“Our whole team was on fire tonight,” Maxwell said. “We always talk about how we have to put everything together and this was the time to do it and we did.”

The regular season isn’t over. CMU travels to California next weekend, taking on Long Beach State and UC-Irvine, before finding out who it will play in two weeks to start off the NCAA Tournament.

“First time we’re (CMU) going to the NCAA Tournament and we’re really excited,” said sophomore libero Jenna Coates. “We don’t know who we’re playing, but it’s an awesome feeling.”

The Chippewas didn’t beat NIU in its first two meetings of the season, but had the last laugh in the MAC Tournament.

CMU opened the tournament against No. 3 Western Michigan and swept the Broncos after losing the first two times it faced them too.

The team swept No. 2 Ohio in the semifinals. The Bobcats beat CMU during the regular season. It made a run through the top three teams in the MAC on its way to being the top team in the MAC.

It was the first appearance in the MAC championship game since 1982. Senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz was also awarded to the MAC All-Tournament team.

The No. 6 Chippewas couldn’t have picked a better time to knock off their rival then the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament.

 The Broncos came into the match as the No. 33 team in the nation, No. 3 team in the MAC Tournament and two wins against CMU. But it leaves Geneva, Ohio early with a loss.

“Our team came out with great focus and energy and we were near flawless when it came to executing the scouting report,” said head coach Erik Olson. “We played very well and I don’t think there is anything to fix before tomorrow.”

CMU had three players in double-figures kills with All-MAC senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz leading the way with sixteen at a hitting average of .367 percent.

Junior outside hitter Lindsey Dulude added 11 kills of her own qne All-MAC Freshman team honoree Kaitlyn McIntyre recorded 10 kills.

“Everyone on the team was solid today and we were focused from the time we got to Geneva, Ohio to game time,” Schultz said. “We wanted to get one thing done and we did it.”

The offense was ran by sophomore outside hitter Kelly Maxwell, who came into the match with a chip on shoulder after being left off the All-MAC list. She answered by recording 45 assists, while WMU’s freshman setter All-MAC Terin Norris recorded just 24 assists.

“Kelly (Maxwell) had a very good match and made good decisions,” Olson said. “I think there was a little oomph in her because she feels she should’ve made All-MAC.”

Another Chippewa left off the All-MAC list was sophomore libero Jenna Coates, who had the last laugh as well with the Broncos All-MAC libero Lena Oliver. She out dug her 19-9.

“Same thing with Coates, like Maxwell when we saw the release of the MAC Awards our team was disappointed we feel we had more than two All-MAC players (Schultz and McIntyre),” Olson said. “We had little bit to say about that today and Coates was tremendous.”

CMU plays No. 2 Ohio Saturday at the SPIRE Institure in Geneva, Ohio for a shot to play in the MAC Championship match.

“I don’t think there is any need for improvement before semifinals, we were solid,” Schultz said. “It’s all positive here.”