Volleyball to play first home game
The CMU volleyball team returns to Rose Arena this weekend after its longest opening road trip since 1988.
CMU hosts Ball State at 7 p.m. today and Toledo at 7 p.m. Saturday in its first regular season home matches of the year.
“We haven’t played at home in a long time,” said sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Schultz. “I feel really pumped up because I miss playing in Rose in front of our fans.”
The Chippewas won all four matches played against Ball State and Toledo last season, dropping a combined two sets.
Ball State senior Alisha Green leads her team with 151 kills this season. However, she also leads her team with 72 errors and has a .191 hitting percentage.
Defensively, the Cardinals are led by sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Brandl, who has 31 blocks.
Toledo is coming off a five-set victory over Northern Illinois. Sophomore outside hitter Amber DeWeerdt led the Rockets with 19 kills in the team’s first conference win.
Greg Jones is in his first season as Rockets head coach.
“Toledo is excited to play for their new coach,” said CMU coach Erik Olson. “They are leading the MAC in digs per game and are just out there having fun.”
Tied at second
Central sits in the three-way tie for second place in the MAC West as Ball State and Toledo also opened conference play 1-1.
CMU beat Eastern Michigan and lost to Ohio last weekend to open MAC play.
Senior libero Alexis Lonneman was named Mid-American Conference West Defensive Player of the Week after her conference-opening performance last weekend.
Freshman outside hitter Lindsey Dulude has stepped into the number two outside hitter spot for the Chippewas. She has the most digs on the team out of those who are not defensive specialists.
“If we keep playing like we are playing now, we are going to be pretty good,” Schultz said. “We weren’t satisfied with our start last weekend, but we put it behind us and look much stronger now.”
