Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Battle Three Conference Foes
10/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Central Michigan University volleyball team (6-10, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) will look for its first conference victory of the season with three matches against MAC foes this week.
The Chippewas start the week with a match versus arch-rival Western Michigan (10-4, 3-0 MAC) on Wednesday, Oct. 8, inside Rose Arena.
CMU will look to improve its home record to 2-3 on the year. It went 1-2 in the season-opening Super 8 Classic in August and lost to Toledo, 3-2, on Friday, Oct. 3.
The Chippewas will hit the road on Friday for a pair of contests in the state of Ohio. First up for CMU will be a match against Bowling Green (9-7, 1-2 MAC) on Friday, Oct. 10, in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Chippewas will head to south to Athens, Ohio for a tilt with Ohio (12-3, 3-0 MAC) on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Both Western Michigan and Ohio have yet to lose a match in MAC play this season. CMU is on a three-match losing streak and has dropped seven of its last eight contests. The Chippewas need to show more consistency in order to snap out of their current slump.
"We need to have our individual players compete more consistently," said head coach Elaine Piha. "Every player needs to show up every night."
Playing only one match last weekend should help CMU get some much needed rest for the MAC stretch run.
"It is always nice to get some rest for the team," said Piha. "We had some injuries and a couple of players had some minor nicks that will be helped by the time off."
ACROSS THE NET
Western Michigan -
The Broncos enter Rose Arena with an unblemished conference record. They have started the MAC season 3-0 with wins over Buffalo, Bowling Green and Toledo.
The Broncos hold the edge over CMU on paper but the Chippewas always play a little tougher against it's instate rival.
"We always seem to get up a little more for Western," said Piha. "The team always likes to get a win against an instate team.
"The Broncos are an athletic team that has a lot of confidence right now. We have to bring consistency to the match in order to have a chance to win."
The Broncos lead the conference in hitting percentage at .258 percent. They have two players in the top 15 in the MAC in hitting percentage with Shaylen Jackson in the top spot hitting at a .380 clip.
The Chippewas broke WMU's nine-game stronghold over them last season by taking both of the meetings. The Broncos own the all-time series lead, 35-30.
Bowling Green -
The Falcons may be a little tired when the Chippewas come to town after playing three straight five-game matches, losing two of them.
BGSU has sent out mixed signals as of late. It defeated Toledo on Oct. 1, a team CMU lost to, and then fell to Buffalo on Oct. 5, a team CMU defeated in a nonconference match.
"Bowling Green is a lot like us," said Piha. "It has different players show up every night. Whoever has more people play consistently will be the winner."
The Falcons are led by junior Taylor Twite. She is ranked second in the MAC in hitting percentage (.339). She has recorded 226 kills and 54 blocks (11 solo, 43 assisted).
CMU and BG split its matches last season with each team winning on the road.
Ohio -
The Bobcats have been on a roll since the beginning of September, rattling off ten straight wins, which ties a school record.
Ohio is undefeated in MAC play and is ranked #32 in the AVCA/USA Today Poll.
The Bobcats are coming off an emotional win at Ball State where they defeated the Cardinals for the first time since 1985.
"Their entire team is performing well," Piha said of Ohio. "They are a good team all around and we need to control the pace in order to beat them."
The Bobcats are at the top of the list in several MAC statistical categories. They are second in hitting percentage (.251), third in kills (15.24/game) and blocks (2.75/game) and fourth in assists (13.65/game).
The Chippewas defeated the Bobcats 3-0 last season in Mount Pleasant. CMU owns the all-time series lead 28-9.
LAST WEEK
The Chippewas had a light week in which they played only one match, a 3-2 loss to Toledo at home.
Toledo 3, CMU 2
The Chippewas fought back from a 2-0 deficit to Toledo but was defeated in the fifth game on Friday night in Mount Pleasant.
The Chippewas started the match off a little sluggish. They trailed from wire to wire in the opening game, eventually falling to the Rockets, 30-27.
The second game started off even worse for CMU as it fell behind 20-9. The Chippewas mounted a valiant comeback, fighting off match point three times to pull within 29-26. But, a Melissa Reynolds (Port Huron/Sr.) attack was blocked by Carrie McCaw and Kelsy Culver to end the game at 30-26.
After the intermission CMU fell behind 3-2 early in game No. 3 but never trailed after that. The game went back and forth but the Chippewas took the 16-15 and never relinquished it, going on to a 30-25 victory.
In game four, CMU made sure there was no doubts about the match going to a deciding fifth game by exploding to a 26-15 lead. The Chippewas hit a scorching .417 percent and held on for the 30-23 win.
The deciding stanza saw the visiting Rockets jump out to an early 7-2 lead. The Chippewas slowly chipped away at Toledo's lead, pulling within one point at 11-10. CMU tied the game at 12 with an Emily Lovejoy (Traverse City/Jr.) kill.
The Rockets reached match point by rattling off two straight points. Tamara Fant (New Baltimore/So.) kept CMU in the game with a kill to bring the score to 14-13, but Rachel Mohler's match-high 22nd kill of the match put an end to the contest.
For CMU it was its seventh loss in its last eight conference home openers and third straight loss this season.
Toledo's previous two matches had both gone to five games, losing both of them.
The Chippewas had three players notch 15 kills: Lovejoy, Reynolds, and Meghan Moore (Elwell/Fr.). Moore also recorded a match-high seven block assists.
Liz Passen had 10 kills and hit at a .412 clip. She also tallied five block assists.
Shaleene Glombowski (Marysville/Sr.) paced the match with 57 assists to go along with her season-high four block assists.
CHIPPEWA NOTES
Block Party -
Freshman Meghan Moore continues to be a force in the middle for the Chippewas this season.
The middle hitter notched seven block assists, tieing her season and career best. She leads the team in total blocks (76), solo blocks (11) and block assists (65).
Moore is currently sixth in the MAC with 1.26 blocks per game.
"Setting" at the Top -
Chippewa setter Shaleene Glombowski became CMU's all-time assist leader with her 52-assist performance against Valparaiso on Sept. 20.
Glombowski started the season in fifth place with 2,846. She has recorded 718 assists this season and now has 3,621 for her career.
She is currently in 18th place in the all-time MAC standings and is the conference's active leader.
CMU Career Assists
Shaleene Glombowski 3621
Jennifer Dick 3414
Jessica Rocho 3112
Karen Hubbard 3084
Movin' Up the Ladder -
A couple of CMU athletes, besides Shaleene Glombowski, have been creeping their way into the Chippewa record books.
Emily Lovejoy has already put her stamp on the CMU career charts in kills and total attacks.
She sits in second in attempts with 3,193 and in seventh in kills with 1,101. She is in her junior campaign with one full season left.
Senior Liz Passen is in seventh in all-time block assists. Her 56 this season give her 243 for her career.
Sophomore Ali McCrite moved into the top ten in digs with her 15-dig performance against Toledo on Friday, Oct. 3. She is tied for ninth with 824 digs.
"Point" of Interest -
The box scores printed off after volleyball matches this season may have a different look to them than in past seasons.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) has requested that a category for points be added to official stat sheets.
Points are given out as such; one point for kills, aces and solo blocks and half a point for block assists.
The Chippewas are led by Meghan Moore who has tallied 243.5 points this season. She is followed by Emily Lovejoy with 228.5.
Rough Start -
Since joining the MAC in 1983, the Chippewas have started 0-3 in conference play four times. CMU went on to 0-4 only two of those times.
This year's squad is 0-3 and will try to get its first win on Wednesday, Oct. 8, against Western Michigan.
