Central Michigan University Athletics
Volleyball Heads Back Out on the Road
10/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
With the Mid-American Conference season winding down, the Central Michigan University volleyball team heads out on the road for two key matches this weekend.
The Chippewas travel to Akron on Friday, Oct. 27, and to Buffalo on Saturday, Oct. 28. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
CMU enters this weekend 15-8, 5-5 in the MAC after putting together one of its best weeks of volleyball last week. The Chippewas went 3-1 with the one loss coming in a five-game thriller to IPFW.
The most important victories in that stretch come over Ball State and Toledo which entered the weekend tied with CMU for second in the MAC West Division standings. The Chippewas now sit alone in second with a two-match lead over third-place.
“I thought our team did a good job of playing our type of volleyball last week,” CMU head coach Erik Olson said. “We played with a lot of intensity and never allowed playing four matches in seven days affect our effort.
“I also thought we were fresher last week then the previous month just because the illness bug was with us for a couple weeks and that hurt us a little bit. Now that everyone is back healthy, it has made a difference because we are a team that needs all our parts to be successful. Being a balanced team is what we strive for and it is tough to do that when players are not 100 percent due to illness.”
One area where Olson has continued to see improvement in is the team’s practices.
“We are becoming more consistent in practice and that translates over to our matches,” Olson said. “We have tried to have shorter practices and be more to the point, and it has paid off. The team has had good focus and there is a sense of excitement surrounding the team right now. Hopefully, things continue to build this week and we carry some momentum into the weekend.”
One area of improvement for the Chippewas has been its defense. CMU has upped its digs average almost two per game over the past couple weeks and still ranks among the MAC’s top blockers. The defensive improvement culminated against IPFW with 106 digs and 14.0 blocks. The dig total was CMU’s top mark this season by 32 digs and the blocks total was just 0.5 away from matching its season-high.
“It is nice to see all the hard work we have put into our defense during practice pay off,” Olson said. “ I think one important part of our defensive success lately has been our scouting reports. Our staff does a great job of preparing them and the players have done a great job of learning what is in the report and using that on the court. We continue to try to get better but I like the strides we have made.”
One thing that Olson and is staff will try to guard against this weekend is CMU overlooking Akron and Buffalo, two team that have struggled in MAC play. Akron is last in the East Division at 1-9 while Buffalo is fifth at 2-8.
“We never want to take a team lightly,” Olson said. “Our motto all season has been to treat every match the same and just go out an play our best volleyball every time we step on the court. Akron and Buffalo are both very capable of beating us, so we can’t just show up and expect a win. We have to have the same focus and toughness we had last weekend and just try to get better every time out.”
Akron enters the weekend on a 10-match losing streak after it opened the MAC season with a five-game victory over Kent State. Jennifer Stewart leads the Zips with 3.42 kills per game while Brionna Patterson is second with 3.42. Kara Smith is averaging 9.44 assists per game and Kim Horn has a team-high 3.74 digs per game.
The Bulls have lost their last four and seven of their last eight heading into this weekend. Buffalo is the top serving team in the Mac with 1.91 per game and is third in total blocks with 2.36 per game. Jenna Mape leads the team in kills with 3.37 per game while Nikki Morzenti is second with 3.28 per game. Kelsey Lueders leads the team and is second in the MAC with 1.32 blocks per game while Lizaiha Garcia tops the Bulls in digs with 4.65.
The Chippewas travel to Akron on Friday, Oct. 27, and to Buffalo on Saturday, Oct. 28. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
CMU enters this weekend 15-8, 5-5 in the MAC after putting together one of its best weeks of volleyball last week. The Chippewas went 3-1 with the one loss coming in a five-game thriller to IPFW.
The most important victories in that stretch come over Ball State and Toledo which entered the weekend tied with CMU for second in the MAC West Division standings. The Chippewas now sit alone in second with a two-match lead over third-place.
“I thought our team did a good job of playing our type of volleyball last week,” CMU head coach Erik Olson said. “We played with a lot of intensity and never allowed playing four matches in seven days affect our effort.
“I also thought we were fresher last week then the previous month just because the illness bug was with us for a couple weeks and that hurt us a little bit. Now that everyone is back healthy, it has made a difference because we are a team that needs all our parts to be successful. Being a balanced team is what we strive for and it is tough to do that when players are not 100 percent due to illness.”
One area where Olson has continued to see improvement in is the team’s practices.
“We are becoming more consistent in practice and that translates over to our matches,” Olson said. “We have tried to have shorter practices and be more to the point, and it has paid off. The team has had good focus and there is a sense of excitement surrounding the team right now. Hopefully, things continue to build this week and we carry some momentum into the weekend.”
One area of improvement for the Chippewas has been its defense. CMU has upped its digs average almost two per game over the past couple weeks and still ranks among the MAC’s top blockers. The defensive improvement culminated against IPFW with 106 digs and 14.0 blocks. The dig total was CMU’s top mark this season by 32 digs and the blocks total was just 0.5 away from matching its season-high.
“It is nice to see all the hard work we have put into our defense during practice pay off,” Olson said. “ I think one important part of our defensive success lately has been our scouting reports. Our staff does a great job of preparing them and the players have done a great job of learning what is in the report and using that on the court. We continue to try to get better but I like the strides we have made.”
One thing that Olson and is staff will try to guard against this weekend is CMU overlooking Akron and Buffalo, two team that have struggled in MAC play. Akron is last in the East Division at 1-9 while Buffalo is fifth at 2-8.
“We never want to take a team lightly,” Olson said. “Our motto all season has been to treat every match the same and just go out an play our best volleyball every time we step on the court. Akron and Buffalo are both very capable of beating us, so we can’t just show up and expect a win. We have to have the same focus and toughness we had last weekend and just try to get better every time out.”
Akron enters the weekend on a 10-match losing streak after it opened the MAC season with a five-game victory over Kent State. Jennifer Stewart leads the Zips with 3.42 kills per game while Brionna Patterson is second with 3.42. Kara Smith is averaging 9.44 assists per game and Kim Horn has a team-high 3.74 digs per game.
The Bulls have lost their last four and seven of their last eight heading into this weekend. Buffalo is the top serving team in the Mac with 1.91 per game and is third in total blocks with 2.36 per game. Jenna Mape leads the team in kills with 3.37 per game while Nikki Morzenti is second with 3.28 per game. Kelsey Lueders leads the team and is second in the MAC with 1.32 blocks per game while Lizaiha Garcia tops the Bulls in digs with 4.65.
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