Volleyball looks to end losing streak
The volleyball team looks to rebound after losing consecutive matches last weekend for the first time since Aug. 28.
The Chippewas play Miami (Ohio) at 7 p.m. today in Oxford, Ohio, and Bowling Green at 3 p.m. Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio. After jumping out to a 3-0 start in the MAC, the RedHawks lost two of their last three, including a 3-0 sweep against Ohio.
“Miami is a different sort of MAC team,” said coach Erik Olson. “They take a lot of chances in guessing who we are going to set, and they will be a challenge. But I really like how we have been training this week.”
Central will have the opportunity to break a three-way tie for second in the Mid-American Conference West division with two victories.
“Last weekend, we didn’t play with much emotion,” said senior libero Alexis Lonneman. “Our passion has gotten a big boast this week in practice.”
Central is averaging 1.74 aces per set, the most in the MAC. Junior outside hitter Lauren Krupsky leads the team in aces and ranks second overall in the conference. Senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Hurt ranks fourth overall with a 0.36 per-set average.
Miami senior Maria Leahy leads the team with 108 aces, but has struggled with arm control, as she has nearly twice the amount of attack errors than the person second on her team.
The Falcons
The Chippewas will finish competition this weekend against Bowling Green.
The Falcons, 0-6 in the MAC, have not won a set in the last five matches and have not won a match since Sept. 12 against Robert Morris.
Bowling Green’s defense has given up the best hitting percentage to its opponents in the conference and its serving has twice the service errors to kills.
After losing matches to Northern illinois and Western Michigan on the road last weekend, Olson said the team is focused to stop the trend.
“We don’t ever want to lose two games in a weekend,” he said. “You can believe there is a big work ethic to get us back on track this week.”
