LONG BEACH, Calif. - Kaitlyn McIntyre had 15 kills as the Central Michigan volleyball team fell to the No. 23 team in the country, Long Beach, 3-1 (25-19, 14-25, 15-25, 19-25) Friday night.
Riding its three-match win streak to California, the Chippewas (18-13) looked to keep the momentum going with a win over 49ers (22-6). After falling behind 2-1 heading into the fourth set, CMU hoped to regain some life as it jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind two kills from McIntyre. It would put together another 5-0 run with Lindsey Dulude leading the charge to make the set 14-7. The 49ers came roaring back and scored seven straight points to knot the score. They would follow up that run with eight more straight points and claim the fourth set, 25-19.
The Chippewas got two kills from Dulude to begin set one as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The Maroon and Gold were forced into a timeout as the 49ers fought back to tie the set at 10. Dulude and Kaitlyn Schultz teamed up for back-to-back points and pushed the lead out to 15-12. LBSU again fought back and cut the lead to 16-15. McIntyre turned on the offense as she had four of the team's final nine points and the Chippewas claimed the first set, 25-19.
Set two was locked at four when the 49ers' offense went to work on an 8-1 run to take a 12-5 advantage. McIntyre smashed a kill to stop the run but the home team tore off another six-point run and won set two, 25-14.
The 49ers took control of set three, scoring six unanswered points to jump out 14-6. Dulude stopped the run with back-to-back kills followed by kills from Schultz and Sam Brawley and the Chippewas trailed 16-11. That would be it for the CMU offense as LBSU finished the match 25-15.
The Maroon and Gold hit a blistering .484 in the fourth set but struggled after only hitting .150 on the night. LBSU boasted a .301 hitting percentage while out blocking the Chippewas 18-6.
Dulude finished the night with 13 kills while Schultz had 11. Both Jenna Coates and Dulude had 11 digs for the defense.
CMU will spend one more day in California when it meets UC Irvine tomorrow for a 10 p.m. eastern match. It will return home on Sunday and find out where it is heading in the NCAA tournament at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
