The Central Michigan volleyball team won its third straight match, defeating Bowling Green, 3-2, in Friday’s Volleyball Night.
Bowling Green jumped out to an early lead, taking the first set 25-16. But Central Michigan then came back strong, taking two sets in a row, 25-21 and 25-21. Bowling Green came back to take the fourth set 25-18, but Central Michigan won the match with a 15-11 victory in the deciding set.
Central Michigan head coach Mike Gavlik said, “This win feels so good. Last week we talked about turning over a new leaf between the first half and second half of conference play. We said that with seven of our next nine games at home, we knew we would play well at McGuirk. We’re going to play well in front of our home fans. The schedule is what it is, and we’ve been on the road most of the first half of the season. So, after winning two games last weekend and then winning today, especially after getting outscored in the third set, our response to the tournament, the season and the MAC tournament was, ‘Hey, we’re not going anywhere and we’re not going to back down.’ We know we’re always confident for the fifth set, and I really liked the aggressiveness of our offense today.”
Central Michigan junior Lauren Schrock started the match off strong, scoring six runs in the first set and hitting at a 45.5 percent clip. After playing relatively close in the initial stages, Central Michigan went on a 5-0 run over the first 15 points of the first set to take an 11-4 lead. They led by as many as 10 points in the first set before eventually winning 25-16.
Said Schrock: “I think a big part of it is we don’t know any of those stats and I don’t think it really mattered who was on the opposite side tonight.” Schrock was referring to Central Michigan and Bowling Green’s records from previous meetings.
Schrock chipped in 18 points to lead Central Michigan in the game, just one point shy of his career high.
Schrock said, “I think it’s really easy to do when I have teammates and a coaching staff like I do. It feels very rewarding when you see the smiles on people’s faces and know that they have your back 100%. That’s what drives me to be rad, knowing that everyone on the team has my back.”
Gavlik mentioned that Central Michigan was confident in itself when facing the fifth set. Calmness and relying on each other, rather than individual effort, were key to that confidence.
Sophomore Claire Amelar said, “Looking at our innings, it’s obvious that we had some low points. I think that’s when it gets a little bit individual. So when we’re really playing as a team, we can look at each other and say, ‘Yeah, you get the next ball. I’ll help you get your next ball. If you’re going to hit the ball, I’ll cover you. If you’re going up to block, I’ll be behind you on defense.'”
Amelar was key to Central Michigan’s performance. She led the team with 39 assists, while also picking up five points and three blocks. Setter Christina Carson led Central Michigan with four blocks and libero Allie Gutiza led the team in defense with 17.
Central Michigan committed only four service errors in the five-set match, all four of which occurred in the second set. Gavlik said, “We had a bad serving error in that set. We wanted to stay aggressive at the serve line and that probably cost us in that set – it was an evenly matched set – but we played well and attacked well.”
Bowling Green was led by sophomore outside hitter Lauren Hovey. Hovey chipped in 32 points in the game, just three shy of Bowling Green’s program record for a five-set game. In response, Gavlik said, “Hovey is legit.”
Central Michigan will face Miami (Ohio) University on Saturday (Oct. 28) at McGuirk Arena. The game will begin at 4 p.m. ET and will be a “Pink Dig” themed game for Central Michigan.
