Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Return To Rose Arena
9/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2003
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MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Central Michigan University volleyball team (6-9, 0-2 Mid-American Conference) will try to get things back on track in conference play inside the friendly confines of Rose Arena against Toledo on Friday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m.
The Chippewas dropped their first two conference matches to East Division foes, Akron and Kent State, last weekend. It will be their first contest of the against a West Division opponent.
CMU has played 12 straight matches away from Mount Pleasant, going 5-7 in that time. The Chippewas last home tilt was a 3-0 win over Illinois Chicago on Aug. 30 in the Super 8 Classic.
"Anytime the athletes get to sleep in their own beds it is a good situation," said head coach Elaine Piha. "Everyone is excited to play in front of the home crowd and all their friends and family."
The Chippewas have lost six of their last seven conference home openers. They swept the Rockets a year ago after being swept in the 2001 season.
ACROSS THE NET
Toledo -
The Rockets are off to a slow start this season. They are 4-10 overall and dropped their first two conference matches last weekend.
UT fell to Miami on Friday, Sept. 26, 3-0 in its first MAC contest. The Rockets nearly pulled off an upset win over Ball State on Saturday, Sept. 27, in Muncie, Ind. They eventually fell in five games after nearly snapping the Cardinals 56-match home win streak.
"Toledo has been struggling so far this season," said Piha. "But, it showed what it could do last weekend when it took Ball State to five games."
Although the Rockets only have four wins, they are not without talent. Corrie Magnus leads the MAC with a .359 hitting percentage and Rachel Mohler is tops in the conference with 0.67 aces per game.
Toledo is second in the MAC averaging 2.40 aces per game.
"Toledo is a team that can surprise you," said Piha. "It runs a basic offense but its service game is tough."
LAST WEEK
The Chippewas picked up a non-conference win over Oakland on Tuesday night, 3-0, before dropping their first to conference matches of the season. CMU lost to Akron on Friday night, 3-2, and fell to Kent State on Saturday, 3-1.
CMU 3, Oakland 0
CMU scored a non-conference victory over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Tuesday evening, 3-0.
CMU stymied OU as the Chippewas hit .205 to Oakland's .000.
It was a team effort in the Chippewa win as 10 different players recorded a kill. Leading the way for the Chippewas was Tamara Fant, who collected a match-high 11 kills. Meghan Moore and Emily Lovejoy each bagged nine kills.
Shaleene Glombowski tallied 34 assists.
Ali McCrite had 11 digs to led CMU's defensive efforts while Lovejoy collected 10. Moore led the Chippewas at the net with four block assists.
CMU has won 33 of 39 games over the Golden Grizzlies since 1998, going 17-0 in that time.
However, Oakland tried to get off on the right foot in game one. The first set was a battle as both teams fought for control of the game. After going back-and-fourth, the teams were deadlocked at 18 when Mary Ochmanek stepped in to serve. Her serves lifted the Chippewas to a 22-18 lead on four straight points. Two of those points were aces. Ochmanek had three aces for the match. The Chippewas went on to win game one, 30-23.
The Chippewas led the entire way in games two and three. CMU won game two, 30-21. Game three saw the visitors jump out to a 13-5 lead, en route to a 30-18 win. The Chippewas ended the match by hitting .353 in game three.
Akron 3, CMU 2
The Chippewas had to feel as though history was repeating itself as it watched a 2-0 lead to Akron erased on Friday evening, eventually losing 3-2.
The last time the Zips and Chippewas hooked up, in the 2002 MAC tournament, CMU suffered the same fate after blowing a 2-0 lead.
On Friday, the Chippewas grabbed the victory in game No. 1 despite a hitting percentage of only .093. Akron managed to fight off match point with CMU up 29-28, but eventually fell, 32-30.
The Chippewas came out firing in game two, hitting at a scorching .353 percent while holding Akron to .089. The Maroon and Gold cruised to a 30-24 victory and a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead in the match.
The Chippewas had the Zips on the ropes in game three, pulling out to a 7-4 lead. UA crept back in the match, slowly chipping away at the lead, and finally knotting it up at 23. UA took its first lead at 24-23 after a CMU attack error. The Zips went on to win the next point and never trailed again, winning 30-28.
Game four was a back-and-forth battle that saw the scored knotted up 16 times. UA took the lead at 24-23 and went on to win, 30-28.
The Zips never trailed in game five, opening up a 9-4 lead. CMU came back to tie it at 14 apiece but an attack error put UA up 15-14 and a block assist from Sandy Lewis and Monica Morlock sealed the Chippewas fate, losing 16-14.
Tamara Fant recorded a match-high .485 hitting percentage and notched a team-high 17 kills.
Freshman Meghan Moore and senior Liz Passen were dominant defensively for CMU. Moore had a career-high ten blocks, also a Chippewa season-high, including three solo and seven assists. Passen had six blocks, one assisted.
Emily Lovejoy and Melissa Reynolds recorded double-doubles in the same game for the fourth time this season. Lovejoy had 14 kills and 13 digs while Reynolds had 11 kills and 12 digs.
Kent State 3, CMU 1
The Chippewas dropped their second straight conference match to Kent State on Saturday night in Kent, Ohio, 3-1.
The match was closely contested throughout, with only the first game being decided by more than four points. The Chippewas lost game one, 30-21.
The second game took the Golden Flashes more than 30 points to come out victorious. They took advantage of the Chippewas .185 hitting percentage to win, 36-34.
CMU came out in game three determined to push the match beyond three games. The Chippewas hit a scorching .324 percent and pulled out a 30-26 victory.
Game four saw another heart-breaking loss for CMU. The Chippewas couldn't take advantage of KSU's .050 hitting percentage and lost 31-29.
The Chippewas recorded a season-high 22 block assists compared to Kent State's eight, but couldn't overcome their 19 service errors.
Melissa Reynolds recorded her second straight double-double. She was tops on the team with 13 kills and was second only to Ali McCrite in digs with 11. McCrite had 19 digs.
Liz Passen and Meghan Moore were the only other Chippewas with 10 or more kills, they had 11 and 10, respectively. Both also added six blocks. Passen had one solo while Moore's were all assists.
Shaleene Glombowski led the Maroon and Gold with 49 assists.
CHIPPEWA NOTES
Young Guns -
The freshman tandem of Meghan Moore and Mary Ochmanek had the best matches of their young career in the Chippewas loss to Akron on Friday night.
Moore smashed a career-high 15 kills and notched a career-high 22.5 points. She also added ten blocks, three solo and seven assists, which were all career-bests.
Ochmanek tallied her first-career kill to go along with her career-high 15 digs. She also tied her career-best three aces.
The two freshmen are tied for the team lead in games played this season with Ali McCrite and Shaleene Glombowksi. They have competed in 58 games this season.
"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 223.0 points this season. She is followed by Emily Lovejoy with 212.0.
Block Party -
Freshman Meghan Moore and senior Liz Passen were dominant at the net in last week's matches for the Chippewas.
Moore exploded for a career-high ten blocks versus Akron on Friday night. She finished the week with 20 blocks in three matches.
Passen had six blocks in each of the conference matches over the weekend after seeing limited action in Tuesday's blanking of Oakland, 3-0.
"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 3,564 for her career.
She is currently in 20th place in the all-time MAC standings and is the conference's active leader.
CMU Career Assists
Shaleene Glombowski 3564
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 third in attempts with 3,152 and in eighth in kills with 1,086. She is in her junior campaign with one full season left.
Senior Liz Passen is tied for seventh in all-time block assists. Her 51 this season give her 238 for her career.
Ali McCrite is just three digs away from cracking the top ten. She broke the single season digs record last season during her freshman year.
