CMU volleyball picks up third MAC win, sweeps Akron
The Central Michigan University volleyball team celebrates winning the third and final set against Akron 29-27 at McGuirk Arena, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. The team will host Akron again on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 for Breast Cancer Awareness. (CM-Life | Jasmine Brookins)
Central Michigan Volleyball completed its second straight sweep, defeating the Akron Zips (9-10, 2-6) 3-0 on Friday night. With the win, the Chippewas move to 3-5 in the Mid-American Conference, with a 6-14 overall record.
“We talked about accountability,” said head coach Arielle Wilson when her team was hunting for a third set win. “I asked them what they were going to do differently, the girls on the court.
The Chippewas got out to a hot start in the first set before Akron could get into a rhythm for the match. CMU hit at .500, with six different Chippewa players getting in with the scoring action. During the set, freshman outside hitter Taylor Cripe led her team with five kills, including the set winner, giving CMU a 25-21 victory.
Despite some early defensive mistakes in the second set, the Chippewas pulled away to win 25-14. Leading 15-10, CMU went on a four point run featuring three kills in a row by Cripe and another by Natalia Rejment, senior outside hitter. Down 19-11, Akron used a time out to disrupt the Chippewas’ offensive juice, but CMU picked up right where they left off and finished out the set.
Facing a sweep in the third set, Akron found some success offensively, forcing CMU to regroup in order to pull out a win.
The Chippewas responded with vigor to their head coach’s prompting. Losing 15-11, the Chippewas closed the gap at 15-15 through Akron errors and kills by Rejment and Izzy Swiercz, a sophomore outside hitter.
At 24-21, CMU avoided three Akron set points to tie at 24-24. As the Chippewas won the third set 29-27, senior middle blocker Brooklyn Conner hit three kills, contributing three of her team’s last five points.
“In the end, I was really trying to just hype up my teammates and get everyone on board,” said Conner. “I was like, ‘We got to push, everyone’s got to be on this train.'”
Conner had 11 kills (.688) with three block assists and one solo block. Rejment recorded her third straight double-double, recording 14 kills (.242) and 12 digs. Cripe made 12 kills (.375) while assisting two blocks.
“We definitely need to continue to work on ourselves and make sure that this good team doesn’t think that they can come in here and steal a win from us,” said Wilson.
CMU will look to sweep the series against Akron Saturday at 4 p.m. in McGuirk Arena.
