Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Look to Sweep the East
11/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan volleyball team will look to rebound, when it faces Eastern Michigan on Thursday and Ohio on Saturday. Both matches will be on the road and begin at 7 p.m.
Tough Last Outing
Last weekend the Chippewas (14-9, 7-5) dropped their last two home matches of the season to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois 3-1. Kaitlyn McIntyre led the offense with 33 total kills while hitting .236, followed by Kaitlyn Schultz who chipped in with 29 kills and hit .473. Jenna Coates once again was the match-high digger in both contests with a total of 47 (5.88 per set).
Road Warriors
The Maroon and Gold have spent two thirds of their season on the road. They currently carry a 4-4 overall record and are 2-2 in the Mid-American Conference. They are however, out-hitting their opponents .217 to .182 on the road, along with setting, digging, aces and blocks.
CMU will finish the rest of its season on the road with four straight contests followed by the MAC tournament.
Strong MAC West
Currently the MAC West has four of the six teams ranked in the top 64 in the country. NIU leads the way ranked 20th followed by WMU at 28th, Ball State 33rd, and Eastern Michigan in 64th. CMU sits at 103 while Toledo is 130. In the East Ohio is the highest ranked at 52nd with Bowling Green the closest at 163.
NCAA Rankings
Schultz has jumped up to 11th in the country in hitting percentage, hitting .398 on the season. Kelly Maxwell is 51st in the country in assists per set at 10.71. As a team the Chippewas are 67th in the NCAA for kills per set averaging 13.48.
MAC Rankings
CMU still sits second during conference play with a .255 hitting percentage. It is third in blocks with a 2.09 per set average and fourth in kills and assists. Individually Schultz leads the conference in hitting percentage at .461 and is fifth in blocks averaging one per set. Maxwell has slipped to the third spot in assists per set averaging 11.43 while Coates is fifth in digs with her 4.74 average.
Record Setters
Following last week McIntyre has passed Schultz on the all-time freshmen kills list for sixth place with her 278 total kills on the season. She is now just 119 away from first place, Emily Lovejoy, who had 397.
Schultz is on pace to record one of the best season hitting percentages in Chippewa history. She currently has a season hitting percentage of .398, which places her second. She has also moved into 12th place on the all-time career kills list with 1,069. She has recorded 294 total block assists moving her into the seventh position in the all-time block assists list.
In-State Rivals
The Eagles (19-8, 7-5) enter Thursday night also on a two-match skid dropping 3-1 matches to both WMU and NIU last weekend. Rachel Iaquaniello who is averaging 3.98 kills per set in MAC play is leading them offensively. Haley Stein leads the conference in digs per set with 6.12, and has her team second in the conference in digs per set with 18.37.
When these two teams met earlier this season CMU slipped away in a 3-2 win at home. Schultz recorded the best match of her career with 21 total kills while hitting .462.
Sweeping the East
In order to complete a perfect sweep of the MAC East Division CMU needs to defeat the Bobcats (17-9, 9-3), who sit atop the East. OU enters Saturday's match on a 2-0 run following two wins over Bowling Green and Miami last weekend. Kelly Lamberti leads the offense averaging 3.64 kills per set. During conference play Katie Post is hitting .382, and leads the conference in blocks with 1.48 per set. OU holds its opponents to the second lowest hitting percentage in the conference at .169 and leads the conference in blocks with 2.84 per set.
The Chippewas fell to the Bobcats last year 3-2 in Mount Pleasant, but hold a 25-17 advantage overall.
How to Follow
Live stats for both matches will be made available on CMUChippewas.com. Fans can also follow the in-game action on Twitter.
