Volleyball travels to Buffalo, Akron this weekend
Now, it’s about turning a positive run into a solid one.
The Central Michigan volleyball team looks to extend its two-game winning streak in search of a better seed in the Mid-American Conference tournament this weekend when it hits the road to play two more conference opponents.
CMU (9-11, 3-5 MAC) travels a state south to play Akron at 7 p.m. today before making the trek northeast to play MAC East leader Buffalo at 6 p.m. Saturday.
After sweeping both Bowling Green and Miami last weekend, the Chippewas offense has seen a slight spike statistically. While fourth in offense in the MAC, the team boosted its overall blocks to 2.3 per game, good for third in the league. Its aces have also increased to 1.25 per game, ranking fourth.
Sophomore outside hitter Val DeWeerd said the wins over the weekend helped ignite an offense that began to slow down. Part of the serving struggles were because of the aggressive style CMU pushes.
“I think it definitely ‘gets the mokey off the back,’" DeWeerd said. “It gets it out of the way and it gets us back to being aggressive.”
DeWeerd said that getting over those errors and serving more aggressively will be critical to the team moving forward.
The Chippewas will be challenged offensively on today by Akron’s defense, which is holding opponents to a .172 hitting percentage. Junior Tina Dimitrijevs leads the conference with a .377 hitting percentage, while the Zips (13-7, 5-3 MAC) are hitting at just a .203 mark.
Serving will be important in Saturday’s match as the Bulls (14-9, 2-5 MAC) limp into the weekend, having lost six of the last seven matches. Despite the recent slide, Buffalo’s defense ranks first in the MAC, allowing opponents to hit at a .139 percentage.
Despite the serving game dipping in the last few weeks, CMU head coach Erik Olson said he is positive that recent practices will clean up any serving issues. The Chippewas have served 106 aces in 1622 attempts for a 1.4 ace per set average. But within those attempts have been 190 errors, something Olson said needs improvement.
“We look at our opponent’s hitting percentage and it’s just been too high over the last couple of weeks,” Olson said. “One of our strengths has always been serving.”
Because of the defensive performances of both opponents this weekend, DeWeerd said that serving will be most important.
“That’s going to be a huge emphasis of the weekend,” she said. “And our defensive positioning, and digging the line shot, will increase our defensive play.”
The Chippewas, as usual, will also look to senior Lauren Krupsky, who averages 3.55 kills per set and a .251 hitting percentage. Junior blocker Kaitlyn Schultz, named MAC Offensive Player of the Week, will also be on the opponent’s radar this weekend after a 3.67 kills and 4.67 points per set weekend against Bowling Green and Miami.
