Des Moines, Iowa – The Central Methodist University volleyball team; whom are currently receiving votes in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, suffered their first conference loss on Tuesday evening to the 11th ranked Grand View University Vikings. CMU won the first two sets, before dropping the next three sets to fall 3-2.
With the loss, Central Methodist moves to 34-4 overall and 10-1 in Heart of America Athletic Conference play. With the victory, the 11th ranked Vikings improve to 23-6 overall and 9-1 in The Heart.
"We played extremely hard tonight," said CMU head volleyball coach Allison Jones-Olson. "Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end. We have two more big matches left and we need to come back and work hard to give us the best opportunity to win those."
The Eagles jumped on the Vikings early, in a battle of the top two teams in The Heart. Central outhit Grand View 34% to 15% in the first set, on their way to a 25-22 victory. In the second set, Central capitalized on Grand View's 11 team errors. The Eagles also outhit the Vikings once again, this time 28% to just 12%. CMU won the second set in extra time 29-27.
The wheels began to fall off for CMU in the third set. Central was outhit 23% to 7%, and subsequently were outscored 25-15 in the third set. The fourth set would not be much kinder to the Eagles, as they improved their hitting percentage to just 13%, while Grand View hit 31% and defeated CMU 25-19 to even the match at 2-2.
The decisive fifth set went down to the wire, and even required extra time. A controversial double-hit call went against the Eagles late in the set, and they were unable to rebound; falling 17-15 in the fifth set. The Vikings claimed a hard-fought comeback victory, by a final of 3-2.
In the losing effort, Madison Bond (JR/Jefferson City, Mo.) led the Eagles with 16 kills. Caitlin Petty (SO/Leopold, Mo.) had a team high 44 assists, while Erin Dodd (SR/Pittsburg, Ill.) led CMU with 25 digs.
The Eagles return to action this Friday, when they travel to Atchison, Kansas to face Benedictine College. First serve is schedule for 7pm.
For more information about Central Methodist University athletics, visit http://www.cmueagles.com. Follow CMU athletics on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cmathletics and on Twitter twitter.com/cmueagles.
