Volleyball sits McIntyre, splits pair of weekend matches


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Morgan Taylor | Staff Photographer Freshman setter Kylie Copple, left, sets the ball to junior middle blocker Angie White during their game against Bowling Green State University on Thursday in McGuirk Arena.

With an opportunity to move up in the conference standings, Central Michigan University’s volleyball team was unable to take advantage this weekend.

The Chippewas looked sharp in their 3-1 win against struggling Bowling Green State University on Thursday, but lost to Miami (Ohio) Saturday 3-0.

CMU is now 8-12 overall and 3-5 in the Mid-American Conference. Coach Erik Olson said he did not expect CMU to be at “this point” during the season.

“We could be farther along,” said Olson. “I would like to be a little bit further than we are right now. “

The women were without senior outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre for the second straight match Saturday due to injury.

Unlike Thursday’s match against BGSU, her absence was noticeable against Miami as the RedHawks defeated CMU in straight sets.

“McIntyre is a great passer,” Olson said. “When she was injured I thought that would be the most impactful thing. I’m hopeful she’ll return to the lineup soon.”

Olso said he did not want to compromise McIntyre’s health for the benefit of the team.

“You play her tonight and lose her for a couple of weeks just to get a W, or you sit her for a few days to get her better and she’s good to go for the rest of the way,” he said.

After connection issues arose in the first set against Miami, Olson rotated between freshman setter Kylie Copple and senior Danielle Thompson to try and find some consistency with his hitters.

“The location of our sets weren’t great,” Olson said. “We were having some ball handling errors out of it as well.”

The switch seemed to spark the women as they rallied and had set point leading 25-24, but a serving error gave momentum back to Miami and it closed out the set 27-25.

Miami jumped out to an early lead in set two, but this time there was no rally from the Chippewas as they fell 25-17. The RedHawks finished the match winning the third set 25-20.

Even with the rocky road the Chippewas have been on so far, defensive specialist Kristen Reenders said the team still believes in each other.

“I think we are coming together a lot more as a team right now,” Reenders said. “We know what we need to work on this week. Our team morale is ok, we’re just a little disappointed.”

The women start a road stretch this week with matches against Akron and Buffalo.

 

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