Volleyball drops pair of home matches
Taking two losses at home this weekend, Central Michigan University’s volleyball team (7-11, 2-4 in MAC) sits in second to last place in the west division after falling to Western Michigan University Friday and Northern Illinois University Saturday.
The Huskies captured momentum quickly Saturday, dominating the first two sets.
With its back against the wall, CMU took a victory in the third set to avoid the sweep at McGuirk Arena.
Junior Angelique White led the way with nine kills. Freshman Jordan Bueter added five of her own in the loss.
The Huskies regained momentum in the fourth set taking the match 3-1 with strong blocking and stingy defense that kept the CMU attack contained.
“I did not like how we played this match tonight,” said CMU head coach Erik Olson. “It’s been a long time since we have played the way we played tonight. It’s not what I want, we have to do better.”
Olson said the Chippewas should reflect on the quality of the team that handed them their most recent loss.
“NIU showed up and did their thing. I don’t think they did anything special,” he said. “They’re the hot team in the conference right now.”
White finished the match with 15 kills and Bueter tallied 12 kills and 10 digs. White and Bueter were the only Chippewas with double digit kills. Freshman setter Kylie Copple totaled 40 assists in the loss.
In Friday’s highly anticipated matchup against rival WMU, the Chippewas the Broncos topped CMU in four sets. It was the fifth straight match that WMU has beaten CMU.
“You want to beat Western, but truly, for me it’s just another loss,” Olson said.
Copple said the team is staying positive despite the pair of losses over the weekend.
“If anything, it makes us more driven,” she said. “We have to get back at it and work on the things that need fixing.”
Now at the bottom of the conference, Olson said that his team needs to play more inspired to get back into the MAC championship picture.
“Our competitive intensity this weekend was just not there,” he said. “Our teams need to be doing that every single day, it can’t be like that. That comes from the heart of our team which is every person on this team.”
