Volleyball sweeps UMBC to cap off tournament

The Central Michigan volleyball team was able to salvage a victory Saturday with a sweep of University Maryland Baltimore County to finish the Adidas/Michigan Challenge after being swept in its first two matches.

On Friday, the Chippewas (3-3) were swept by No. 22 Michigan, and then again by Arkansas on Saturday.

“We certainly put out a great effort this weekend, (we) just really had trouble putting it all together against the good competition,” said head coach Erik Olson. “Our passing communication wasn’t where it needed to be and we got a lot better in that last match.”

On a positive note, offensively, middle blocker Angelique White continued to impress early in her freshman year.

She led CMU in kills in its sweep against the Retrievers (2-6) with 11, and in its loss to the Razorbacks (6-0) with 10.

“We moved (White) to middle one to get her more sets, because she was receiving sets at middle two like one and (Danielle) Gotham at middle one was receiving middle two, so our balance didn’t make sense,” Olson said. “She is a low error, high payout type of hitter.”

White has made an instant impact for the Chippewas in the middle – a spot that had the biggest question mark coming into the new season with the departure of the programs most decorated player, Kaitlyn Schultz.

White has the highest attack percentage at .356 and leads the team in blocks with 18 (0.86 per set).

“I’ve been focusing on adjusting to college volleyball because it’s a lot different than high school and club,” White said. “Just getting used to the different atmosphere has been a big challenge.”

Defensively, junior libero Jenna Coates had another solid weekend. She was the top digger overall in each match, averaging 4.5 digs per set for the tournament.

In the final match, CMU dug up 40 balls, with Coates leading the way with a tournament-high 18 digs.

“(Coates) was the best libero at the tournament in regards to defense,” Olson said. “Her best performance was in the last match, where she did a great job at defending the outside.”