Central Michigan University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Oakland And Ohio
10/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2000
MOUNT PLEASANT-- The Central Michigan University volleyball team (11-10, 6-4 Mid-American) looks to get back on track this week after a tough time last week. The Chippewas dropped two straight, ending a four-match winning streak.
Central will attempt to regroup against Oakland (5-14, 2-7 Mid-Continent) on Tuesday, Oct. 24, and Ohio (16-7, 9-3 Mid-American) on Friday, Oct. 27. Both matches begin in Rose Arena at 7 p.m.
The Oakland match will be a rematch of a 3-0 CMU sweep in Rochester on Sept. 26.
"Oakland has been improving all season and I'm sure its young players are producing more," head coach Elaine Piha said. "We will just have to deal with our side of the net. The team needs to get back its offensive rhythm and to using its strengths. We have to get back to our intelligent attacking, we were leading the MAC in attack percentage in conference games before last week."
The Ohio match is a key one in terms of the MAC playoff race. The Bobcats lead the MAC East Division.
"Ohio is having a great year," Piha said. "The Bobcats got off to a good start but they have lost a few lately. We are kind of in the same boat in that regard. We've got to step up in this match, though. It will show who deserves the higher spot in playoff seeding."
The Chippewas went 1-2 last week but the biggest loss was the one of senior Jennifer Mitchell (Lake Odessa) to an injury. She suffered a sprained ankle against Eastern Michigan and missed the Akron and Toledo matches last week. She is scheduled to return on Friday versus Ohio.
CMU defeated EMU in five games last Wednesday. The Chippewas jumped out to a 2-0 lead after taking games one and two, 15-5 and 16-14. Mitchell was injured in game two and the Eagles took game three, 15-0, and game four, 15-10. Central fought back to win the finale, 15-11.
Sophomore Jenny Young (Plymouth) posted a match-high 21 kills and Kristin Tack (Saginaw/Jr.) followed with 18 kills and Mollie Hunter (Trenton/Fr.) 15 kills and 17 digs.
The team posted 98 digs in the match and were led by Hunter's 17. Jessica Rocho (Honolulu, Hawaii/Sr.) added 16 and 58 assists and four others were in double figures in digs.
Akron swept CMU on Friday by scores of 15-11, 16-14 and 15-6. The first two games were back-and-forth with many sideouts before the Zips took game three commandingly.
"Akron is so solid defensively," Piha said. "Our young players had trouble with the transition game. We couldn't terminate."
Young had 17 kills and Tack recorded 13. Rocho tallied 37 assists, 21 digs and three total blocks (two solos). Jennifer Trott (Canton/So.) had 12 digs.
Things started off well for CMU against Toledo and the Chippewas took game one, 15-4. The Rockets bounced back to win the next three and take the match, 15-12, 15-13, 15-9.
"We couldn't put together a string of plays," Piha said. "We'd be in a good situation and then we'd miss a serve or have an unforced error and let them back in.
Hunter led CMU's attack with 18 kills, 11 digs and seven total blocks. Tack and Young each recorded 14 kills. Rocho had 42 assists and 10 digs and Elizabeth McKinnon (Oxford/So.) had three kills, eight digs and six total blocks.
"We have to learn how to fight more," Piha said. "We will have to challenge the team's courage this week. We are at a point where we had have had success this season and now we have the taste of not winning in our mouths. We'll have to see how well we can bounce back."
HEAD COACH ELAINE PIHA: CMU head coach Elaine Piha is in her third season as head coach. Piha was a CMU assistant for two seasons before assuming the head job on an interim basis for the 1998 season. Piha is joined by first-year assistant Kathy Jewell and second-year graduate assistant Sara Plinska. Piha sports a 28-49 career coaching record.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS:
Oakland is 5-14 overall and 2-7 in the Mid-Continent Conference. The Golden Grizzlies have lost six straight and nine of their last 10 with the lone win coming against Valparaiso.
Carmen Trippett averages 3.27 kills and Tess Pierce adds 3.20 kills per game for OU. Jaime Puckett leads the team in digs with 2.68 per game and Pierce leads in blocks with 1.08 per game.
Head coach Ed Tolentino is in his second season at Oakland.
Ohio has won two straight to remain the East Division leader at 9-3. The Bobcats are 16-7 overall. Ohio had a seven-match winning streak come to a close when it lost three straight to Ball State, Western Michigan and Bowling Green two weeks ago.
Amber Merrill averages 4.88 kills, 2.95 digs and 0.71 blocks per game. Kris Whitfield adds 2.85 kills and 2.64 digs per game.
Mike Lessinger is in his first season as head coach after serving as an OU assistant for two years.
MAC LEADERS: CMU ranks fourth in the MAC in service aces (1.64), fifth in hitting percentage (.210), ninth in kills (14.20), assists (12.79) and digs (15.22) and 10th in blocks (2.00).
Jessica Rocho ranks seventh individually in assists (10.11) and digs (3.15) and 15th in service aces (0.29). Jennifer Mitchell ranks seventh in hitting percentage (.296) and 10th in blocks (0.99). Jenny Young is eighth in kills (3.78) and 13th in hitting percentage (.264).
IRON-MITCHELL'S STREAK ENDS: Last week was a rarity for the CMU volleyball team. It marked the first time senior Jennifer Mitchell was not on the court for a game or a match in her four-year career. Mitchell missed the first games of her career against Eastern Michigan after suffering an ankle injury in game two. She missed her first matches against Akron and Toledo. She had a string of 101 straight starts come to an end. The middle hitter is expected to return on Friday.
ARE YOU SMELLIN' WHAT THE ROCHO'S COOKIN': Senior Jessica Rocho moved up a notch in two categories of the CMU record books last week. Rocho now ranks fourth in career assists with 2,749 and eighth in career digs with 819. She also set two career highs last week by posting eight kills against Toledo and two block solos versus Akron. Rocho had 21 digs in the Akron match to mark the second time this season she has posted 20-plus digs in a match.
PRODUCING BIG NUMBERS: Jenny Young continues to lead CMU's offense. She is averaging 3.78 kills per game and her average climbs to 4.08 in conference matches. Young has posted 287 kills this season, already surpassing her freshman year total of 276. The outside hitter had match-high kill totals of 21 versus Eastern Michigan and 17 against Akron last week.
McKINNON STEPS IN: In Jennifer Mitchell's absence, sophomore Elizabeth McKinnon got the starting nod. McKinnon started against both Akron and Toledo for the first starts of her career. In fact, the sophomore has seen limited action this season, her first year of competition. The 6-0 middle hitter had six kills, five digs and two blocks against Akron and three kills, eight digs and six blocks against Toledo.
CROC-KILL-DILE HUNTER: Freshman right-side hitter Mollie Hunter had two big matches last week. She recorded 15 kills, 17 digs, a block and two aces in the win over Eastern Michigan. Hunter then had a team-high 18 kills, 11 digs, seven total blocks and four aces versus Toledo. She is averaging 2.14 kills, 1.82 digs and 0.80 blocks per game. Her 0.29 service aces a game are tied for the team best in that category with Jessica Rocho. Hunter has been in double figures in kills in seven matches this season.
QUICK HITTERS: CMU is now 3-0 in five-game matches after defeating EMU last weekend ...?Last weekend the Chippewas lost back-to-back games for only the second time this season. CMU dropped three straight at the LMU Volleyball Classic.
ON THE TUBE: Select CMU home volleyball matches will be airing on CMU's student television station, MHTV, Channel 34, on a tape-delay basis. Following is a list of the remaining games scheduled to be televised: Oct. 21 vs Toledo, Nov. 1 vs Eastern Michigan, Nov. 10 vs Ball State, Nov. 17 vs Northern Illinois
UP NEXT: CMU will play three key MAC matches next week. The Chippewas host Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, Nov. 1, and then head to Western Michigan on Friday, Nov. 3, and Northern Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 4.
| MAC Standings |
| West Division | ||
| Team | MAC | Overall |
| 1. Ball State | 9-1 | 16-4 |
| 2. Western Michigan | 9-1 | 14-5 |
| 3. Northern Illinois | 8-3 | 18-5 |
| 4. Central Michigan | 6-4 | 11-10 |
| 5. Toledo | 4-6 | 7-12 |
| 6. Eastern Michigan | 3-7 | 4-17 |
| East Division | ||
| 1. Ohio | 9-3 | 16-7 |
| 2. Bowling Green | 6-5 | 13-7 |
| 3. Akron | 5-5 | 10-11 |
| 4. Miami | 4-6 | 8-13 |
| 5. Kent State | 3-6 | 6-13 |
| 6. Marshall | 1-9 | 3-20 |
| 7. Buffalo | 0-11 | 4-18 |
