Central Michigan Life – Volleyball struggles early, takes ultimate three units for weekend sweep at Toledo

The high-ranking middle blocker Lisbeth Rosario-Martinez stepped behind the baseline and took a breath before serving.

In a tight fifth set at seven, their teammates had to find a way to take the lead.

Rosario-Martinez served the next eight points, all scored by the Chippewas to take a five-set win over Toledo at the Savage Arena.

After a 3-1 win over Toledo (3-10) at the Savage Arena on March 12, the Chippewas struggled to hold off the missiles and deliver their own offensive and dropped the first two sets. The CMU (9-7) fought their way back and refused to retire to earn the weekend sweep.

Head coach Mike Gawlik said the service pressure his team brought to the table was a strong factor in the turnaround that allowed the reserves to sweep. The CMU totaled eight service aces with only two service errors, an improvement over last night’s match.

“We wanted to fight all the way through whatever the end was,” said Gawlik. “By the middle of the third set we were 13-7 and two sets down to zero … it doesn’t look very good so in our group we said, ‘We have a choice to make. We will cash it.” or will we keep fighting? ‘”

“I said what defines who we are is how we fight when things don’t look good … and we found a way to get back into that one, and after we won the third set, when we didn’t really play ours at best, we felt like they made a mistake in letting us back into the game. “

Impact moments

The Chippewas found their fights immediately against Toledo, several attack errors let the Rockets score a hit. The CMU found points to break the rhythm but couldn’t do more than a two-point series to turn the tables and lost the set 25-13.

CMU and Toledo entered the second set with points traded by mistake and the Chippewas were able to score some hits early in the set to back off. Toledo found his rhythm again and was able to end the offensive of the CMU. At the end of the set, he scored a big hit to secure the 2-0 lead. The Rockets won 25:20.

The Chippewas took a set to stay in the match and snapped their funk. Both CMU and Toledo scored races in the third set, but CMU took advantage of fewer mistakes and won the first set 25 to 20.

After Toledo was unprepared, the Chippewas opened the fourth set with fire under their feet and scored a strong hit with a 12-point lead at 20-8.

The Rockets had no plans to go down without a fight and broke the rhythm of the CMU hard. They took 11 of the 14 endpoints of the set, forcing the Chippewas to a time limit of 24-21. The Chippewas were able to break the funk and get to the last point necessary to stay alive. They won 25-22.

The CMU couldn’t afford to allow another long Toledo run. Both teams only needed 15 points to win the game. With all hands on deck, both the Chippewas and the Rockets fought hard, exchanging leads at the beginning of the fifth set. After the CMU had reached the seven-point mark, they forced Toledo to both timeouts and took the series with a 15-7 victory with the next eight points.

Hit player

Junior outside hitter Savannah Thompson had an all-round strong match, scooping 19 kills, 11 digs, two assists and two aces.

Senior setter Grace Butler led with 24 assists.

The newcomer Kamryn Olson contributed 19 assists, one kill, 16 digs and two aces for the CMU.

Junior middle blocker Megan Sivertsen led the Chippewas with seven blocks and demanded four kills.

Junior libero Kendall Braate led by 25 digs, adding four assists and two aces to her stats.

Next

The Chippewas will return home on March 16 at 6:00 p.m. to face Eastern Michigan (6-8) at McGuirk Arena.