Volleyball uses alumnae match to prepare for start of regular season
The CMU women’s volleyball program took an important step in preparing for the regular season on Saturday.
The Chippewas defeated a team of former players in the annual alumnae game at Finch Fieldhouse, winning all three games by scores of 25-11, 25-16 and 25-11.
Head coach Erik Olson was pleased with the effort from his team and said that it was a good test being six days away from the start of the regular season.
“The mindset is to see how good we can be see how clean we can be,” Olson said. “And I think we did a good job of that.”
The match saw the return of several former players, including Sarah Warner (2004-07), who finished her career at CMU with 949 kills, and Allison Baker, who served as an assistant coach in 2008.
Baker was impressed by the play of the current team, but said the team still needs to work on the little things in order to have a successful season.
“I think that they did a good job,” Baker said. “There’s always room for improvement, but I think they made a good showing.”
Baker said leadership will be an important aspect to the team, especially with nine underclassmen on the Chippewas’ roster.
Junior middle blocker Jocelyn Vervelde made a very strong showing during the match, ending the night with 13 kills.
Olson was very impressed with Vervelde’s showing and said that it is very promising to see strong performances so early in the season.
“She has made huge strides in the last week and that was an outstanding match for her,” Olson said.
Senior Lauren Krupsky, who had seven kills in the match, saw the team’s performance as an overall success and said that matches like this provide a good way to gauge what type of improvements needed before the start of the regular season.
Krupsky said one of the key aspects of early season matches is for the team to build communication, especially with unfamiliar lineups on the court.
“This match is really important because it lets us try out a bunch of different lineups,” Krupsky said. “It’s all about communication and getting the newcomers and everyone comfortable with each other and comfortable with the system.”
CMU begins the regular season this weekend on the road competing in the Purdue Motar Board tournament in West Lafayette, Ind. The Chippewas open at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Northern Iowa and continue at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday against Purdue and Western Kentucky, respectively.
