Volleyball Battles Before Falling in 4 Sets to Host Iowa in Hawkeye Invitational

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Central Michigan volleyball kicked off its weekend at the Hawkeye Invitational with a four-set loss to host Iowa, turning in gutsy performances in sets three and four.

Despite drawing a matchup against a Power 5 opponent which plays in the Big Ten in their first taste of action on the weekend, the Chippewas welcomed the challenge.

"Whenever you have an opportunity to play a team that's either in the Power 5 or in a good conference, I feel like it's a really good challenge to play against a different type of athlete, different kinds of physicality, and just a different style of volleyball," said CMU coach Mike Gawlik, whose team saw its win streak end at three matches.

The Chippewas (3-4) are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 9 (4 p.m. ET) against Grand Canyon then then are slated to finish the weekend with Missouri State on Sunday, Sept. 10 (noon ET).

The Hawkeyes won the first two sets, 25-17, 25-20, before the Chippewas rebounded to take set three, 25-18. Iowa took the fourth set, 25-23, to take the match.

Sets one and two didn't ultimately favor CMU, but it received statistical production from its outside hitters. Junior Krystina Kasson led the Chippewas in kills through the first two sets with five in the first and four in the second. Graduate student Devon Bright added four and two, respectively.

Kasson finished as the match's leader in kills from either side, with 14 on 34 attempts for a .324 hitting percentage.

Sophomore setter Claire Ammeraal led the Chippewas with 40 assists and junior libero Aly Gurtiza posted a team-high 29 digs.

With sets one and two in the rearview mirror, CMU turned it on in the final two sets. Set three began with the Chippewas scoring 10 of the set's first 15 points behind three assists and two kills from Ammeraal.

CMU led by as many as seven points before closing out the set and sending it to a fourth. A trio of CMU players, sophomore middle blocker Brooklyn Conner, Ammeraal and junior outside hitter Lauren Schrock, registered four kills during the set.

"It took us two sets to kind of settle in and be ready for that style of volleyball, but I thought we answered the call when we finally got in there in the third set and kind of made a decision that we were going to put it out there on the line and really just go for it," Gawlik said.

Set four was the most closely contested of the night, with the lead changing hands six times and tying nine times. Ammeraal led with four kills and eight assists while Kasson added four kills. Gurtiza had 11 of the Chippewas' 28 digs in the set.

The match came down to the review of a call that initially made the score 24-24 on a CMU attack. However, the call was overturned, resulting in a called attack error and a win for Iowa.

"I'm proud of the way we played," Gawlik said. "I wish we could have gotten into a fifth set. I think we could have made something happen if we had gotten into that fifth set. A couple plays here and there we've got to be tighter on, a little bit more organized. But it wasn't for a lack of effort, that's for sure."

Volleyball Battles Before Falling in 4 Sets to Host Iowa in Hawkeye Invitational

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Team Stats

Krystina Kasson

Lauren Schrock

Claire Ammeraal

Devon Bright

Players Mentioned

Claire Ammeraal

Devon Bright

Brooklyn Conner

Aly Gurtiza

Krystina Kasson

Lauren Schrock

Players Mentioned

Claire Ammeraal

Devon Bright

Brooklyn Conner

Aly Gurtiza

Krystina Kasson

Lauren Schrock