There are similarities between the Central Michigan volleyball team and women’s basketball team.

Both teams have plenty of youth, dealing or dealt with key injuries, and have faced tough losses.

The basketball team is led by three freshmen starters, Crystal Bradford, Jessica Green and Jas’Mine Bracey, who also just came off a suspension. The other two starters? Sophomores Kylie Welch and Jordan LaDuke, making up the consistent starting lineup.

Sounds like the volleyball team with freshman outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre leading the team in kills, sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell running the offense and sophomore libero Jenna Coates handling the defensive side of the net.

The biggest blow to the basketball team this season was the injury to junior guard Brandie Baker. She had a slow start to the season, and was just starting to turn things around until she suffered a foot injury in a loss against Hampton over break.

The volleyball team also battled injuries of key upperclassmen all season. Junior right-side hitter Jocelyn VerVelde came into the season with high hopes, but was out most of the season. Junior outside hitter Val DeWeerd was out for a bit. And senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz, who was the centerpiece to head coach Erik Olson’s team, missed a few matches resulting in some tough weeks for the team.

Basketball has lost some difficult games against Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Hampton, Bradley and Northwestern, and at Kent State.

The team also faced turmoil following a fight on Jan. 25 at McGuirk Arena against Ohio. Three players were suspended from CMU.

The volleyball team faced struggles throughout the season too. The Chippewas lost decisively against Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Ball State, EMU and Elon.

But look at how their season ended.

Despite the inconsistent regular season the CMU volleyball team qualified for the MAC tournament as the No. 6 seed. The Chippewas took out the No. 3 seeded Broncos, No. 2 seeded Bobcats and the top-seeded Huskies en rout to the programs first MAC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

That was behind a healthy Schultz and experienced youth.

Maybe the basketball team can copy the volleyball team’s story.

If Baker provides some leadership to this young but experienced team, it could be dangerous.

Sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell celebrates with teammates after winning 3-2 over NIU at the MAC Championships Nov. 20 in Geneva, Ohio. (Adam Niemi/Staff Photographer)

Central Michigan athletics claimed three Mid-American Conference titles this past season, and a regular season MAC-West crown in baseball.

Wrestling, volleyball and gymnastic also won MAC championships.

For wrestling it was the squad’s 10th straight conference title.

“For us to win the championship we needed every single point of every single match …,” said head coach Tom Borrelli. “It was a total team victory.”

Later that same month CMU gymnastics won its second consecutive MAC title in McGuirk Arena on March 20.

Posting a season-high 195.600, the Chippewas made their mark on this season’s MAC tournament title. It was their 12th conference title, and claimed individual winners in the balance beam, floor exercise, uneven bars and the all-around categories.

Volleyball won the program’s first ever MAC championship on Nov. 20.

“This is ours, it is what the team kept saying going into every timeout and every break,” said eight-year head coach Erik Olson. “This win puts CMU on the volleyball map with our first championship in history.”

The Chippewas had to beat No. 16 Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship game. It took a fifth and deciding set, but CMU upset the top-seeded Huskies.

“Our whole team was on fire tonight,” Kelly Maxwell said. “We always talk about how we have to put everything together and this was the time to do it and we did.”

The baseball team couldn’t take the MAC tournament title, but during the regular season they won their division. Much of that was thanks to pitcher Jake Sabol, who was since drafted by the Detroit Tigers.

In the MAC-West clinching game Sabol threw a complete game only allowing two runs in a 5-2 victory for CMU.

“For it to come to down to the final game of the season and for him to be the guy and go out there and throw like that, it makes you feel so good for him and all the time and effort he put in to get to this level,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “It’s a great accomplishment for him.”

The No. 6 Chippewas start the quarterfinals against No. 3 Western Michigan at 1:30 p.m. today at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

CMU dropped its first two matches against the Broncos in four games, but showed improvement in the latest matchup.

“If you look at the box scores of our first two matches with Western, they outscore us 141-139, but we have significantly more errors,” said head coach Erik Olson. “They’re a low-error team and they don’t miss serves.”

The Chippewas recorded 19 service errors to WMU’s seven.

The Broncos have struggled lately, narrowly beating Toledo, then losing both matches last weekend against Northern Illinois and Miami (Ohio).

“Because they’re a low-error team, they keep the ball in play and we just need to do a good job of picking up the ball and turning into something positive,” Olson said. “We’re bigger in the middle, our libero (sophomore Jenna Coates) digs cleaner than theirs and I think we’re more tactical.”

CMU has senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz, the most consistent hitter on the floor. She leads the MAC in hitting percentage at .401.

WMU brings in some strong talent of its own with freshman setter Terin Norris, who is second in the MAC in assists and sophomore libero Lena Oliver, who leads the conference in digs.

“Their libero gets more touches than ours, so in theory we should be able to dig transition better than Western, but we haven’t and I give a lot of the credit to their setter because she puts up some pretty good balls.”

The Chippewas aren’t getting caught up in the hype of the rivalry. They’re looking to take the weekend one game at a time, in an attempt to make a run at the MAC Championship.

“We don’t care who is on the other side of the court,” Schultz said. “We’re worrying about who we are and we aren’t worried about the other side.”

CMU has never won the MAC Tournament before.

Schultz has been practicing with an injured groin this week after pulling it during classes, but she will play this weekend.

“We just have to do what we’ve been working on in practice,” Schultz said. “We need to play together as a team and get excited and be enthusiastic about everything.”

The CMU women’s volleyball team took on Akron Friday evening at McGuirk Arena, winning in a 3-0 shutout. Photo Editor Jeff Smith was there to capture these images.

On Saturday CMU beat Miami of Ohio in four matches.

“We were really playing well in this match,” said Head Coach Erik Olson. “In the first and fourth set, we were quite good.”

The Chippewas set the tone for the match in game one, dominating with a 13-point lead, ultimately winning 25-13.

After a few close games, CMU came out in game four, easily handling the RedHawks 25-12 to finish the match.

“I don’t think this team ever thought game five was an option,” Olson said. “When we were focused, we were good.”

Freshman outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre, junior outside hitter Lindsey Dulude and senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz all had double-digit kills. Junior right-side hitter Jocelyn VerVelde added in nine kills in three games.

“It feels great to be on the court again,” VerVelde said. “I’ve missed it a lot and it felt really nice to be able to play today.”

They weren’t the only ones making an impact on the match. Sophomore setter Kelly Maxwell ran the offense with 54 assists (13.5/game) while sophomore Jenna Coates led the defense with 24 digs.

“We passed great and put together a good effort,” VerVelde said. “Once we got into the swing of things, we put together a good night of volleyball.”

Bowling Green

It took a full team effort by CMU, winning a five-game conference match against Bowling Green Friday night.

“We were pretty solid,” Schultz said. “After the first game, we got our passing down and started playing our volleyball.”

BGSU and CMU traded leads back and forth in all but one game, but the Chippewas outlasted the Falcons 15-12 in the final game.

“We were happy to get the win,” Olson said. “We felt that Bowling Green was out for blood tonight, and that gives credit to our team’s composure.”

The match was the fifth this season to go five games. CMU is 3-2 in those matches this season after going 1-6 last season.

“We finally learned how to finish,” Schultz said. “Apparently, we like playing that way, because last year we struggled with that.”

Olson said he remains calm in the final game of a match.

“If you ask my wife, she’d say she can’t even watch those games,” Olson said. “I don’t think my pulse goes over 70 in any of the matches. You get used to it.”

Schultz recorded 18 kills, including kill No. 1,000. The milestone makes her the fourteenth member of the CMU 1,000-kill club. She also passed Julie Roberts (1978-80) for No. 13 all-time with 1,011.

McIntyre led the team with 22 kills and added six digs.

SportsLine ep. 3 from CMLifeVideo on Vimeo.