Central Michigan University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Ball State and WMU
11/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2000
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MOUNT PLEASANT-- The schedule makers were not kind to the Central Michigan University volleyball team (14-12, 8-6 Mid-American) this week.
The Chippewas play the two Mid-American Conference (MAC) leaders, Ball State (21-4, 14-1 Mid-American) and Western Michigan (18-5, 13-1 Mid-American), on back-to-back nights.
CMU meets BSU on Friday, Nov. 10, in Rose Arena at 7 p.m. Central then meets rival Western Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. The CMU-WMU football game takes place earlier in the afternoon in Kelly/Shorts Stadium at 1 p.m.
"We're excited to play these two teams at home," head coach Elaine Piha said. "We seem to play well against the better teams at home."
Piha says the team knows it faces a big challenge this week but there is much to be gained.
"It is important that we keep trying to improve and the way we do that is by seeing good competition," she said. "We're looking to continue to make improvements so that we can peak at the MAC tournament."
Ball State defeated CMU, 3-1, in Muncie, Ind., earlier this season and Western Michigan swept the Chippewas in Kalamazoo last weekend.
"I think the Western match will be totally different," Piha said. "We'll be looking to take more control and one of the advantages of playing them right away again is it keeps everything fresh in our minds as to what they do."
The Chippewas are coming off a pair of losses last weekend after defeating Eastern Michigan on the home court earlier in the week.
Central dropped game one against EMU, but came back to win the match, marking the seventh time this season the team has come back to win after losing the opening set.
EMU took the opener, 15-7, but CMU then won three straight, 15-4, 17-15, 15-8.
CMU actually led, 7-3, in game one but the Eagles scored 12 straight points to take the frame.
Mollie Hunter (Trenton/Fr.) posted a match and career-high 24 kills. She had 10 digs and five block assists. Jenny Young (Plymouth/So.) added 22 kills, nine digs and three block assists and Jennifer Mitchell (Lake Odessa/Sr.) had 17 kills, 11 digs and six block assists.
Kristin Tack (Saginaw/Jr.) recorded 13 kills and six digs. Five CMU players were in double figures in digs and Jennifer Trott (Canton/So.) led the way with 16.
Jessica Rocho (Honolulu, Hawaii) had 68 assists and 10 digs.
The Chippewas then lost to their other in-state sister, MAC co-leader Western Michigan, on Friday by a 3-0 count.
The Broncos won 15-11, 15-10, 15-9.
Young had 14 kills, Mitchell 12 and Tack 10. Rocho chipped in with 41 assists.
No player was in double figures in digs.
WMU recorded 59 kills with a .271 hitting percentage while Central had 47 kills and hit at a .153 clip. The Broncos outblocked the Chippewas, 12-8.
"I think the team was surprised we could compete with them," Piha said. "But we didn't follow the game plan or take them out of their offensive set. Western is a great ball control team and it is athletic. We just did too much reacting to what Western was doing."
CMU was also swept by Northern Illinois on Saturday. The MAC's third-place team won by scores of 15-9, 15-9, 15-6.
Young was the lone Chippewa in double figures with 14 kills. Mitchell had eight kills, a team-high eight digs and two block assists. Tack also chipped in with eight kills
Rocho tallied 31 assists.
NIU posted 60 kills with a .304 hitting percentage compared to CMU's 37 kills and .153 attack percentage.
"We just couldn't pass or get the ball to Jessica (Rocho)," Piha said. "Our attacks were not in good locations and we weren't moving NIU's blockers. We understand that we can compete with them, we just didn't play well.
"We know we didn't have a good weekend, but not all is lost. There are some things we found we need to work on."
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 31-51 career coaching record.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: The Ball State Cardinals have won five straight and 14 of their last 15. Their lone MAC loss was a five-gamer at Northern Illinois.
Megan Hammons leads the team with 4.81 kills and Susie Meshberger is right behind with 4.29 and 1.08 kills. Hammons and Meshberger rank No. 2 and No. 3 in the MAC in kills per game. Julie Zylka is second in the MAC in blocking with 1.29 per game.
Reigning MAC "Player of the Year" Emily Sallee leads the MAC in assists with 14.03 and earlier this season became the MAC career leader in that category.
Hammons and Meshberger were second team All-MAC selections last season.
BSU is coached by veteran Randy Litchfield in his 12th season.
The Broncos are on a roll having won 12 straight matches. That streak started after their lone MAC loss to Ball State. WMU's last six matches have all been 3-0 sweeps.
Western plays at Toledo on Friday before coming to Mount Pleasant.
Four different players average over three kills per game. Monyka Paul leads the way with 3.51 and 2.70 digs.
Zakiya Pope averages 1.14 blocks per outing.
Cathy George is in her seventh season as head coach at WMU.
MAC LEADERS: Jessica Rocho ranks fifth in the MAC in digs (3.29), seventh in assists (10.70) and 12th in service aces (0.32). Jennifer Mitchell ranks eighth in hitting percentage (.296), 11th in kills (3.43) and 12th in blocks (0.99). Jenny Young is sixth in kills (3.98) and 14th in hitting percentage (.261).
KILL CRUSHER: Sophomore Jenny Young pounded out the kills last week totalling 50 with an average of 5.0 per game. Her totals raised her season average to 3.98 kills per game. The outside hitter ranks sixth in the MAC in kills and is second-best among sophomores. Young has now posted double figures in 17 straight matches. She had 22 in the win over Eastern Michigan.
ROCHO MOVING UP LIST: Setter Jessica Rocho is now third in CMU history with 2,965 career assists. She's 119 away from moving into the No. 2 spot. Jennifer Dick (1992-95) is the all-time CMU leader with 3,414. Rocho ranks seventh in the MAC in assists with 10.70 per game. She has the second-highest dig total (882) by any setter in CMU history. Dick also holds that mark with 1,155.
BIG GAME HUNTER: Freshman Mollie Hunter posted the first 20-kill match of her career in the win over Eastern Michigan. She had a match-high 24 to go along with 10 digs, five block assists and an ace. She is averaging 2.39 kills and 0.86 blocks per game this season.
CHIPPEWA FIRST APPROACHING: Jennifer Mitchell now needs 19 digs to set a first in CMU volleyball history. She is looking to become the first Chippewa player to post 1,000 career kills, 800 career digs and 350 career blocks. She already has the kill (1,065) and blocks (354) marks met. The senior ranks in the top 10 in seven categories of the CMU record books.
THE "K" IS FOR KILL: Junior Kristin Tack has been posting big numbers for the Chippewas lately. She has averaged 3.93 kill per game over the last four matches. Her season average is 3.02 kills per game. She had her string of seven straight double figure matches come to an end at NIU when she posted eight.
MAC TOURNAMENT PICTURE: The top eight teams in the conference at the end of the season qualify for the MAC tournament. The first round is held on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at the campus sites of the top four seeds. The semifinals and finals are held at the site of the top remaining seed. The final four will meet on Nov. 24-25 or 25-26. If the season were to end today, the field would be: 1. BSU (14-1) .933, 2. WMU (13-1) .929, 3. NIU (10-4) .714, 4. Ohio (11-5) .688, 5. BGSU (9-6) .600, 6. CMU (8-6) .571, 7. Akron (8-7) .533, 8. KSU (7-7 .500.
QUICK HITTERS: In half of its wins this season (7), the Chippewas have lost the first game of the match but came back to win ... CMU's eight MAC wins matches its 1998 total and the 14 overall wins are the best since 1996 when the team went 17-11.
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: Nov. 10 vs Ball State, Nov. 17 vs Northern Illinois.
UP NEXT: The Chippewas close the regular season next weekend with a pair of matches. CMU hosts Northern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m., before traveling to Toledo on Saturday for a match in Savage Hall beginning at 7 p.m.
| MAC Standings | ||
| West Division | ||
| Team | MAC | Overall |
| 1. Ball State | 14-1 | 21-4 |
| 2. Western Michigan | 13-1 | 18-5 |
| 3. Northern Illinois | 10-4 | 21-6 |
| 4. Central Michigan | 8-6 | 14-12 |
| 5. Toledo | 4-10 | 7-16 |
| 6. Eastern Michigan | 4-11 | 5-21 |
| East Division | ||
| 1. Ohio | 11-5 | 18-9 |
| 2. Bowling Green | 9-6 | 16-8 |
| 3. Akron | 8-7 | 13-13 |
| 4. Kent State | 7-7 | 10-14 |
| 5. Miami | 6-9 | 10-16 |
| 6. Marshall | 1-13 | 3-24 |
| 7. Buffalo | 0-15 | 4-23 |
