COLUMN: Consistently inconsistent

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If someone asked me to sum up the Central Michigan volleyball season so far, it would be simple.

Inconsistent.

Watching the Chippewas season has been like a roller coaster. It has been fun with a lot of up and downs and Friday’s loss against Ball State made me sick to my stomach from a fan perspective.

It has been like that all season, starting off with the Iowa Invitational.

The Chippewas dropped the first two sets against Iowa, but got it together and forced a game five. After that, they dropped the fifth set. CMU was then blown out by Marquette in three-straight sets.

After two hard losses, there would be no way CMU would regroup and beat the tournament champions, Saint Louis. But that is exactly what happened. The Chippewas dominated, sweeping them in three sets.

That takes us to week two at the Oakland Tournament.

Inconsistent play haunted CMU again the following week against Oakland, losing the first two matches, but the Chippewas forced another five-set match and of course, they lost.

The next afternoon the ride would continue and CMU swept Wright State.

The Butler Tournament was next and CMU seemed ready after easily beating Austin Peay in the first two sets. But the Governors took the third set and forced junior right side hitter Jocelyn VerVelde to take over the fourth set.

VerVelde ended up reinjuring herself. The Chippewas later faced injuries to junior outside hitter Val DeWeerd and senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz.

The next morning CMU couldn’t get anything rolling and it lost to Elon in four sets. But of course, they came back after that loss and beat the host Bulldogs in three-straight sets.

The Chippewas then headed to the Marshall Tournament without starters VerVelde, Schultz and DeWeerd.

Turns out that didn’t matter. They beat George Mason and East Carolina in four sets and then swept host Marshall, leaving as the tournament champions.

Schultz and DeWeerd were cleared to play against Northern Illinois and Western Michigan and VerVelde had shown improvements. All signs were pointing up for CMU.

But when they went down to DeKalb, Ill., NIU showed the Chippewas why they were picked to win the Mid-American Conference, winning the match in three-straight sets.

The team then traveled to Kalamazoo and looked good, winning the first set. But WMU would win the next three games.

The Chippewas didn’t look bad against their rivals and they were coming home for the first time against Eastern Michigan.

EMU pulled ahead winning the first two matches. But CMU rallied and won in five sets, something they struggled with all season.

Later that weekend, CMU handed Kent State two bad losses, but the Golden Flashes didn’t fold. They forced a fourth set and made CMU use a recently cleared VerVelde and the match ended in four.

Then this weekend happened. Losing in three games against Ball State and coming back to win in five against Toledo

With the recent five-set wins, it looks as if the five-set losses are behind the team. With a full roster, the season looks bright again for the Chippewas. With two equally matched opponents in Bowling Green and Miami (OH) this will be the weekend is important to focus on.

They need to win both matches to prove themselves. A split wont prove anything.