CMU volleyball falls to NIU in 5 sets, kicks off MAC play
The first two sets on Thursday night had Chippewa fans prepared for a road win. The NIU Huskies, on the other hand, had other plans, running away with a 3-2 win over CMU.
The Central Michigan volleyball team took a hard loss to Northern Illinois in their first Mid-American Conference game of the season, letting go of a 2-0 set lead. After dominating in the first set with a 25-14 win, CMU kept it rolling with a 25-20 win in the second. Although, the Huskies flipped a switch in the third, fourth and fifth set, winning by just 2, 3 and 4 points consecutively.
CMU and NIU started off neck and neck in the first set until an ace by Taylor Cripe fired the Chippewas up. 3 strong middle hits in a row from Grace Thomas sent CMU to a 17-11 lead and a Husky error closed out the first set, CMU taking this one 25-14.
Defense and touches at the net were key to CMU’s win in the second set, but NIU put up a better fight this time. Service errors for both teams kept the score close, and NIU stuck with the Chippewas for as long as they could. Cripe played a major role in this set, punching in her 8th kill of the night and dominating the outside in this 25-20 set win.
The rest of the night didn’t go quite as well for the Chippewas, though. NIU took an early 3-8 lead in the third set, which was silenced by massive kills from both Natalia Rejment and Abby Olin. A run by the Huskies prompted head coach Arielle Wilson to call a timeout, and her Chippewas hit the ground running after this. CMU pushed to 21-21 with a 5-point run.
However, this wasn’t enough to put the Huskies away and NIU secured their first win of the night. After surviving the third set, the Huskies came out with an early lead in the 4th and never looked back, taking that set as well.
Volleyball is a game of runs, and this was on full display in the 5th set of the match. Izzy Swiercz opened with an important kill, sparking a 4-0 early CMU lead. NIU answered with a side out point, then pushed to an 8-6 lead thanks to their 4-point run. Although CMU secured control of the floor after a successful challenge, this run was immediately followed by 4 quick points from the Huskies, closing the match.
Although the Chippewas came out with a loss, there was plenty to be proud of in their performance. Rejment and Cripe controlled the outside, both putting up 17 kills. Abby Olin was a force in the middle with 9 kills and 4 blocks. Swiercz had 8 kills. Alina Anderson had a great night on the defensive side with 26 digs. Setter Keelyn Muell ran the offense well, walking away with 49 assists.
The Chippewas are back at it tomorrow evening in Kalamazoo against the Western Michigan Broncos at 6 p.m.
