Gold wins the Maroon & Gold volleyball match
The Central Michigan volleyball team showed off its talents for the first time in the Maroon & Gold match Saturday at McGuirk Arena.
With the veteran team battling for positions, the competition was heated during the exhibition.
It didn’t exactly help the coaching staff with the problem of clearing up the depth chart.
“Our separation between setters changes every afternoon and morning,” said head coach Erik Olson. “Between (Hallie) Enderle and (Danielle) Gotham, they both played great and it’s a good problem to have.”
Enderle, a freshman, led the maroon team in kills and blocks in all three games while Gotham, her setting competition was right behind freshman Kaitlyn McIntyre all day in kills.
CMU broke into two different teams with the gold side being all CMU players and the maroon side consisted of Lisa Johnson and Lauren Krupsky, both graduated last year from the team. Also joining the maroon side was volunteer assistant Rodnei Santoes.
The gold team won all three regularly scored matches in the scrimmage with McIntyre leading the way by recording the most kills in all three games.
“(Kaitlyn) McIntyre had a big day in her first match, recording 16 kills which is a big deal for a first day,” Olson said.
The 16 kills came in the third and final match where she also recorded eight digs, three blocks and two assists as her team won the match 15-11.
“I felt really good,” McIntyre said. “The other girls have helped me out a ton and it felt normal.”
Coach Olson wouldn’t mind if McIntyre produced those kind of numbers on a normal basis.
In the first game of the gold team’s sweep, McIntyre recorded 13 kills while senior Kaitlyn Schultz lead the team in block attempts with five. Sophomore Jenna Coats racked up 12 digs and senior Catherine Ludwig had 29 assists.
The second game was almost identical to the first. The same names came up big for the gold team, recording their second straight 25-20 win over the maroon team.
Coach Olson wasn’t only getting his team ready, he was also preparing the fans so they can help out when CMU play its home opener at McGuirk Arena against in-state rival Eastern Michigan on Sept. 20.
“It was a really great atmosphere,” McIntyre said.”It was really cool. Just running out gave me chills.”
McIntyre and the rest of the volleyball team open up its regular season Friday when they travel to the University of Iowa to play the Hawkeyes in the first match Iowa Invitational.
