Road tournaments will be key for CMU volleyball
The Central Michigan volleyball team has a long road ahead to get into the postseason.
But if it can come into McGuirk Arena on Sept. 29 against Eastern Michigan with a good record, CMU could have a solid case for an at-large bid, if they can’t come away with a Mid-American Conference championship.
CMU starts its 13-match road trip on Friday at the Iowa Invitational.
It will start out playing against the host Iowa, who finished last in a strong Big Ten Conference last season and No. 108 overall.
Next up the Chippewas will play Marquette, who finished with a record of 23-9 and fourth in the Big East.
It finished No. 47 overall, but was denied of the NCAA Tournament.
CMU will finish up the invite with Saint Louis, who finished last season at 19-13 overall, good enough for third in the Atlantic 10 Conference and No. 58 in the nation.
Marquette is a young team this season with only one senior and three juniors and with this invite being the first of the season, it could be ripe for an upset. CMU could very well come out of this invite at 2-1 with a win over Iowa and an upset over either Saint Louis or Marquette.
Next up is the Oakland Tournament where CMU finds itself playing Oakland University and Wright State. It should have no problems with either of those teams winning, its first tournament of the season.
The team will continue its road trip and travel to Indiana and play in the Butler Tournament.
Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay and Elon of the Southern Conference had good seasons last year, but CMU is stronger.
The big test for the Chippewas is the host Butler, who finished second in the Horizon League at 21-10 and No. 96 in the nation. Butler has a very young team and CMU could very well win this tournament as well as putting them at 7-1 to start the 2011 campaign.
That takes CMU to West Virginia for the Marshall Tournament where they can easily sweep by beating George Mason, East Carolina and Marshall. This would give CMU a 10-1 record.
After the MAC Tournament, it heads to California for a match against Long Beach State and UC-Irvine.
Long Beach State was solid last year going to the NCAA Tournament, only to lose to San Diego in the first round.
UC-Irvine struggled last season and should be no problem for CMU as it ends the regular season.
The Chippewas three most important non-conference games are against Marquette, Saint Louis and Butler.
If they can win two of those three, they should come out with a non-conference record of 11-2.
