2008 Woodie Awards
Win gives CMU best MAC start since 1996
By: D.J. Palomares
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Sports
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It eventually fell on Eastern Michigan's side, giving the CMU volleyball team a 26-25 lead in the first set Thursday.
Central (10-7 overall, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) would go on to win the first set 27-25 and use the momentum to win the match 3-1 at Rose Arena.
The team is off to its best MAC start since going 4-1 in 1996.
"It feels good to get a win," said defense specialist Erika Neumann. "I just think we should have brought a little more intensity, a little more fire, a little more drive, kind of like the way we played against Western would be really nice every match."
CMU won the first set despite giving up two five-point leads.
"We had a lot of mental errors," said coach Erik Olson. "I don't feel like we were fired up appropriately for Eastern. We have to have the desire to beat Western, Eastern, Buffalo, Akron, Kent State all equally."
The Chippewas won the match despite committing a season-high 32 attack errors. They recorded a .136 attack percentage.
The volleyball team had a season-high 12 services aces. Neumann led the Chippewas with four aces, bringing her season total to six.
"Our serving was the key to taking them out of their offense," Olson said. "They became less aggressive once we served them out of their system."
Freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz tied the team lead with 12 kills and had just one attack error. Schultz leads the team in hitting percentage against MAC foes with .331 and is hitting .396 against MAC foes.
"We could have played better," Schultz said. "We could have communicated a lot better. I was expecting Eastern to play a little better than what they did."
Eastern Michigan drops to 2-3 in the MAC with the loss.
Junior outside hitter Vicotoria Randolph led the Eagles with 11 kills. Eastern Michigan freshman Ashley Mason led her team with 25 digs.
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