Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Eastern Mich
EMU Tops Volleyball in MAC Opener, 3-1
9/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 22, 2004
MOUNT PLEASANT - After taking game one, 30-24, the Central Michigan University volleyball team dropped three straight to fall to rival Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night in the Mid-American Conference's first league match of the season.
The Eagles came back to take the final three games 30-25, 30-23, 30-19. EMU improves to 5-6 while CMU falls to 3-8.
"We were fired up for game one but we weren't for the rest," head coach Erik Olson said. "We just weren't pushing hard and EMU wanted it more."
The Chippewas took the early advantage after EMU hit just .020 in the opener. It was a tight game throughout and the final six-point margin was the largest lead of the game for CMU.
However, errors proved costly for the Chippewas the rest of the match as CMU committed 11 service errors, six ball handling errors, four blocking errors and 29 hitting errors for a .189 hitting percentage.
"Most of our errors were in the net," Olson said. "If we have errors, we want them to be because we are too aggressive and hitting them too far out of bounds. Hitting the ball into the net is a mental error that we can't have."
The Chippewas got a 20-point effort out of sophomore Meghan Moore who notched 17 kills, four block assists and a service ace. Mary Ochmanek and Kristen Buter each added 11 kills.
EMU's Emily Bush posted 17 kills on .500 hitting and Lindsay Piccolini added 13 kills for the Eagles who hit .228 for the match.
Setter Jaimeson Whitman got the starting nod for CMU and she tallied 33 assists and 10 digs. "Jaime won the starting job in practice all week and in warm-ups tonight," Olson said. "She had 10 digs and didn't hurt us on the block ... she's just running the offense better right now."
Freshman setter Courtney Kersten did see action in three games and she notched 14 assists.
CMU's leading attacker, Emily Lovejoy, was held to just nine kills on .226 hitting. Middle blocker Melanie Klein added three blocks, including two solos.
Ali McCrite tallied a match-high 28 digs in the back row.
The Chippewas continue and three-match conference homestand this weekend as Akron comes to Rose Arena on Friday and Kent State on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.
