MAC Volleyball Tournament Central
Central Michigan Head Coach Erik Olson -
VIDEO
Central Michigan Lindsey Dulude -
VIDEO
Central Michigan def. Western Michigan, 3-0
Boxscore
GENEVA, Ohio - Senior Kaitlyn Schultz had 16 kills to lead the Central Michigan volleyball team past in-state rivals Western Michigan, 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-23), in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
With the win the Chippewas (16-12, 8-8) snap a five-match losing streak to the Broncos (23-8, 12-4), and sweep WMU for the first time since Nov. 11, 2007. This also marks the highest RPI team the Maroon and Gold have beat this season as WMU was ranked 33rd.
"Our serves made the difference tonight," said head coach Erik Olson. "We served them really tough, which created a lot of opportunities for our defense to get the blocks that we did. We were able to get WMU out of system, which slowed up their offense and allowed us to exploit them. Our group tonight played great. The defense brought balls up that the offense was able to turn into points."
Finding themselves down 19-17 in the third set, the Chippewas called a timeout to regroup. Following the timeout a kill by Lindsey Dulude along with two Bronco errors handed CMU a 20-19 lead. The set remained close until Val DeWeerd was able to break the 23 tie with a kill. Schultz would follow DeWeerd with a kill, and a WMU attack error handed CMU its quarterfinal win.
The Maroon and Gold opened set one on a 5-0 run with two kills from Schultz and one from Dulude. The front row would each record a kill and the lead was out to 8-1. Setter Kelly Maxwell got involved in the scoring with a kill of her own and her team saw itself out to a 13-3 lead. Dulude and DeWeerd teamed up to score the final three points of the set and the Chippewas claimed a 25-16 set one win.
Six different CMU players recorded kills during set one as it hit .447.
CMU once again claimed the early lead in the second set, 9-4, following back-to-back kills from Schultz. Three straight WMU errors pushed the Chippewas ahead 16-7. Two kills by Dulude coupled with an ace and a kill from McIntyre and the Maroon and Gold won set two 25-13.
The third set was much tighter, as both teams battled for points. CMU grabbed a lead at 11-10 following kills by DeWeerd and Dulude. Schultz would build upon her team's lead when she recorded back-to-back kills. The Broncos were not ready to go quite yet, as they fought back and tied the set at 16. CMU was able to jump back in front, 20-19, following a kill by Dulude. The Chippewas would hold off a late push from WMU and capture the sweep with a 25-23 set three win.
As a team the Chippewas hit .274 while holding WMU to .086. They out blocked the Broncos eight to five and behind Jenna Coates out-dug WMU, 53-32.
Dulude finished the match with 11 kills while Kaitlyn McIntyre added 10. Maxwell fed the offensive attack with 47 assists and Coates led the defense with 20 digs.
The Chippewas will return to action tomorrow in the MAC quarterfinal against the winner of tonight's Ohio versus Miami match. The contest tomorrow begins at 5 p.m. inside the SPIRE Institute.