Olson: Ownership must be taken during losing stretch
Women’s volleyball head coach Erik Olson realizes ownership needs to be taken for the team’s recent slide.
After the weekend’s back-to-back losses at home, CMU has lost six of its last seven games and is tied for last place in the Mid-American Conference at 1-5.
Despite the struggles, there are no plans to change game lineups at this point.
“We’re putting some of the ownership on the team,” Olson said Tuesday. “We just feel the team has to be a little more prepared as individuals and as a team.”
Olson remains positive, noting that the team is statistically very close to some of the top teams in the MAC. The Chippewas rank fourth in hitting percentage (.222 per game), ahead of Eastern Michigan, Akron and Kent State. But defensively, they rank fifth in blocks, seventh in kills and 10th in opponents’ hitting percentage.
One key problem Olson said needs to be addressed is the team’s ability to score points at crucial junctions in matches. In Saturday’s 3-1 loss against Western Michigan, CMU failed to capitalize after taking a 13-10 lead in the third set. The Broncos scored five consecutive points and held on to the lead the rest of the set.
“We just have to win the right points at the right time, and that’s a little bit of a desire thing,” Olson said.
Senior Lauren Krupsky, who ranks fifth in the conference with a team-high 241 kills, said the team must keep playing the way they have in the past.
“We need to continue working on being us and playing CMU volleyball,” Krupsky said.
Serving is among the areas where improvement is needed. Olson said the team’s ability to put pressure on their opponents with an aggressive serving style will be important going forward.
Because of a high number of errors early in the season, Olson feels his team has taken their foot off the gas pedal when it comes to serving aggressively.
Freshman setter Kelly Maxwell saw more playing time in Saturday’s match against WMU, making a quarter of CMU’s sets. Junior starter Catherine Ludwig has started at the spot for much of the season.
“I think they backed down, whereas we would have created so many more opportunities if we were serving tough,” Olson said.
The Chippewas have time to turn things around. After spending much of the first season on the road, half of CMU’s remaining 10 games before the MAC tournament are at home.
The team looks to get back into the winning column this weekend with two games at Finch Fieldhouse. CMU plays Bowling Green (6-14, 1-5 MAC) at 7 p.m. Friday and Miami (7-12, 2-4 MAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
