Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Host Full Weekend Of Action
2/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 18, 1999
The Central Michigan University volleyball team (5-13, 2-6 Mid-American) looks to use home court advantage this weekend to break a four-match losing streak. The Chippewas host Ohio (6-14, 0-8 Mid-American) on Friday, Oct. 22, and Marshall (12-7, 6-2 Mid-American) on Saturday, Oct. 23. Both matches begin in Rose Arena at 7 p.m..
"It's been difficult for our young team to play on the road," coach Elaine Piha said. "We hope to focus our energy on a strong home performance. We're in the mode where we need a win, but we need to mentally go after it. Playing in front of the home crowd should help because the team is playing in front of the people who support it. It's good for our young team that we finish the season with a lot of home matches."
The Chippewas are coming off a pair of tough, 3-0 losses. MAC-leading Western Michigan defeated Central last Wednesday, 15-3, 15-7, 15-11. CMU then fell to Bowling Green on Saturday, 15-3, 15-9, 15-7.
Jennifer Mitchell (Lake Odessa/Jr.) led CMU against the Broncos with 10 kills, six digs and four block assists. Outside hitter Jenny Young (Plymouth/Fr.) added nine kills and three block assists.
Kristin Tack (Saginaw/So.) posted a team-high 10 kills against BGSU while Young added nine and a pair of block assists. Setter Jessica Rocho (Honolulu, HI/Jr.) tallied 24 assists and a team-high nine digs.
"We started slowly against Western and I think we were intimidated because we knew it's record and that it had good hitters," Piha said. "Bowling Green looked strong and played well, almost flawlessly. We didn't step out on the floor to compete and we ended up playing a lot of defense."
The WMU match marked the third straight match that CMU faced one of the MAC's top teams. "We did a lot of learning in those three matches and we hope to take those losses and gain from them," Piha said.
COACH PIHA: Head coach Elaine Piha is in her second season at the helm of the Chippewa program. She has a career record of 16-29 after guiding Central to a 11-16 finish last season as an interim head coach. The 1998 team made a four-match improvement in the win column from the previous year. Piha was a CMU assistant for two seasons before assuming the head job. She came to CMU from Missouri Valley College where she was a head basketball coach and assistant volleyball coach. Piha is joined by second-year assistant Teri Wilholt and first-year graduate assistant Sara Plinska.
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS: Ohio is looking to pick up its first MAC win. The Bobcats are 6-14 overall and have lost nine straight.
Amber Merrill leads the Bobcats with 4.37 kills per game and Katie Mullen adds 4.34 kills and 2.51 digs.
Central defeated Ohio, 3-1, earlier this month in Athens on Oct. 2. Tennille Hileski posted a career-high 15 kills in that match and Kristin Tack added 15 of her own. Ohio has won three of the last five meetings in the series.
SCOUTING THE HERD: Marshall enters the week in second place of the MAC's East Division. The Thundering Herd are 12-7 overall and 6-2 in conference action. MU plays at MAC-leading Western Michigan on Friday before coming to Mount Pleasant.
Marshall operates with a balanced offensive attack led by Wendy Williams and her 3.35 kills and 4.39 digs per game. Five Herd players average better than 2.00 kills per game.
MU leads the all-time series, 3-2. Central fell to Marshall by a 3-0 count earlier this season. Jenny Young led CMU with six kills in that match.
KILLER INSTINCT: "We need to get mentally tough and compete and battle for each point," Piha said. "We're solid at siding out, but we need to score when we have the serve. We're not serving aggressively enough and our blocking is improving. Those are two ways we could increase our scoring."
HITTING WOES: The Chippewas have struggled with their hitting the past four matches. CMU hit .110 over that stretch with three of the matches below the .100 mark. Central is now hitting .162 on the season compared to its opponent's average of .233.
SOLID STARTER: Redshirt freshman Kendra DeVries (Fremont) continued her solid play since being inserted into the starting lineup. The middle hitter had four kills, seven digs and a block solo against Western and two kills, four digs and a pair of blocks against BGSU. She now has six block solos on the year, which ties for second-best on the team.
500-500: Middle hitter Jennifer Mitchell is known for her solid all-around play. She has 483 career digs and with 17 more will become a 500-500 career player for kills and digs. Mitchell has 635 career kills to date and 235 career blocks.
CHIPPEWA AT`TACK': Sophomore Kristin Tack was the lone Chippewa with a double figure kill total at Bowling Green. She posted 10 for her team-best 11th double-digit match. Tack is second on the team with a 2.98 kills per game average.
YOUNG BLOOD: Frosh Jenny Young continues to lead CMU in the kills department. She is averaging 3.10 per game and has 183 for the season. She also adds 0.41 blocks per game. Young had nine in each of CMU's matches last week. The outside hitter is hitting .214 this season.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: CMU is fighting for a spot in the MAC postseason tournament. The top eight teams in the conference qualify for the MAC tournament to be held Nov. 23-27. First round matches are held at campus sites with the highest remaining seed hosting the final four. The tournament winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
UP NEXT: The Chippewas hit the road for Buffalo on Oct. 29 and Northern Illinois on Nov. 3. Central then returns home to host five straight matches, four of them conference clashes.
