Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Bring Three-Match Win Streak Back Home
10/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan volleyball team brings its three-match win-streak home this weekend when it hosts Mid-American Conference East opponents Akron and Buffalo.
The Chippewas (12-7, 5-3) will host the Zips (4-17, 1-7) on Friday night and the Bulls (9-13, 2-6) on Saturday; both matches begin at 7 p.m. inside McGuirk Arena.
Home Sweet McGuirk
The Maroon and Gold are 3-1 at home this season. They are averaging more kills (13.6 to 12.2), a higher hitting percentage (.265 to .200), more sets (12.4 to 10.8), more digs (13.24 to 11.65) and more blocks (2.29 to 1.82) per set than their opponents while at home.
MAC Play
The Chippewas are currently fifth in the MAC West. The West continues to be a dominating division with three of its teams located in the top 50 RPI rankings. Ball State is the highest ranked at 39th. Behind them is, Northern Illinois (44) and Western Michigan (48), with CMU in 90th. Ohio is the highest ranked East team at 86th.
The Chippewas as a team are currently second in the MAC in conference hitting at .260. They are third in assists (13.03 per set) and blocks (2.09 per set) and sit fourth in kills (13.94 per set).
Kaitlyn Schultz is now number one in conference hitting percentage at .455. She also sits sixth in kills with 3.24 per set, fourth in blocks with 1.09 per set and third in points per set at 4.15. Kaitlyn McIntyre claims the ninth spot on the kills list averaging 3.15 per set, while Kelly Maxwell is the second best setter in conference play averaging 11.27 assists per set. Jenna Coates is sixth in MAC play aces with 10 on the season, and in digs averaging 4.09 per set.
NCAA Rankings
Schultz currently is 27th in the country with a .376 hitting percentage. Maxwell holds down the 67th spot for assists per set at 10.48 on the season.
Making History
In the second set against Bowling Green last Friday, Schultz became the 14th Chippewa to hit kill 1,000. Schultz currently has 147 kills on the season and a .376 hitting percentage. Shultz has hit above .400 in all but one match over CMU's last six contests, in which they have gone 5-1.
McIntyre is continuing to move up the CMU freshman kill's list with 229 total kills on the season placing her 15th.
Sets to Win
When the Maroon and Gold win the first set they are 9-1 on the season, 8-1 when they win the second, and 7-2 when winning the fourth. As a team they are strongest in four-set matches with a 5-2 record. In the month of October the team has posted a 4-1 record, all in MAC play.
Scouting the Zips
Akron comes into Friday's contest with a 1-7 conference record after dropping two last weekend to Northern Illinois, 3-2, and Western Michigan, 3-0. The conference's fifth best offensive player in Courtney Jarvis is leading the Zips with her 3.55 conference kills average. As a team they out block their opponents 1.78 to 1.56 per set.
CMU holds a 15-11 all-time advantage over Akron, and are riding a three-match winning streak.
Stopping the Bulls
Buffalo enters Saturday's match on a four-match skid (will play Eastern Michigan on Friday). They also dropped both their matches against Western Michigan and Northern Illinois last weekend in three sets each. They are fourth in conference play in both aces (1.22/set) and blocks (2.08/set). Dana Musil and Abby Niekamp lead the offense with 2.99 and 2.58 kills per set respectively. Kayla Nagle is second in conference play in serving aces with 0.39 per set.
The Chippewas have the Bulls number with a 13-2 overall record. The last time CMU lost to UB was in 2005.
How to Follow
Live stats will be made available on CMUChippewas.com along with live video and commentary. All of CMU's home contests can be seen on the CMU Sports Zone. Fans can also follow the in-game action on Twitter.
