Second consecutive road trip for volleyball team
Another road tournament is set for the Central Michigan volleyball team this weekend.
In fact, its only in the second of four straight road tournaments to open the season. The first home meet isn't until Sept. 29 against Eastern Michigan.
CMU (1-2) heads to Oakland University in Rochester Hills for matches against Oakland (2-1) and Wright State University (0-3).
The match against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies is at 7 p.m. Friday, with a noon, Saturday game against the Wright State Raiders.
“We’ve been working on defensive setup and being a lot more disciplined in the blocking area, as well as our defense,” said head coach Erik Olson. “We’re also cleaning up our side-out game with better ball control and decisions.”
The Chippewas, coming off a big win against Saint Louis (2-1), are looking to start a winning streak by coming out of the three-team tournament with a trophy in hand, but in order to come out on top they can’t look past host-OU and the WSU.
“We should see a hard fighting Oakland team on its home court,” Olson said. “We’ll have to be patient and do a good job.”
The Golden Grizzles are known for their defense under head coach Rob Beam, who has 50 wins going into his fifth season. Prior to Beam, the program recorded 48 wins in its previous eight.
The Raiders offer different problems for the Chippewas.
“They do what they do and we have to play smart,” Olson said. “We have to execute on our side of the net.”
The Chippewas look for a better start against Oakland than they did against Iowa last weekend.
“Against Iowa, we didn’t come out with our intensity, our purpose and drive, so coming out right away is very important to us,” said junior outside hitter Val DeWeerd. “Part of it is being able to put the parts together and being intense all at the same time.”
A strong start by CMU could occur due to the fact that it doesn't have to travel out of the state.
“I would like to think the bus ride doesn’t affect our playing because it’s like a free time for us,” DeWeerd said. “But it would be nice in a sense that we don’t have to stop somewhere and stretch.”
The Chippewas are trying to keep up with Western Michigan and Northern Illinois.
The Broncos (3-0) won the Marriott Cavalier Classic at the University of Virginia, beating the host No. 71 RPI ranked Cavaliers (2-1) three games to one.
The Huskies had the most impressive win of the weekend, sweeping last season No. 16 RPI ranked team Cincinnati (2-3).
“Western (Michigan University) had a nice win against Virginia and Northern Illinois getting that win against Cincinnati was big,” Olson said. “If they (the Huskies) had won that tournament, that would’ve caused some concern.”
Junior right side hitter Jocelyn VerVelde, who played against Iowa but not Marquette and Saint Louis wasn’t practicing Wednesday and is doubtful to play this weekend with abdominal discomfort, but may practice Thursday.
