Injuries plague Chippewas for Marshall Tournament
Injuries are starting to spread on the Central Michigan volleyball team.
“It’s a freak thing that a couple of our players are having the same injury,” said head coach Erik Olson. “(Kaitlyn) Schultz is a possibility, but I may just keep her down.”
Along with the senior middle blocker, junior middle blocker Val DeWeerd is down with an apparent calf injury. It is an identical injury she suffered earlier in her career on her opposite calf. All of this worsened with junior right side Jocelyn VerVelde's reoccurring rib injury.
“I wanted to put our starting lineup together, but that isn’t going to happen,” Olson said. “For four weeks in a row we will not have our starting lineup together.”
Despite all the injuries the Chippewas (4-4) look to go into the Marshall Tournament and come out with three wins.
One player benefitting from the injuries is the versatile junior outside hitter/middle blocker Katie Schuette. She started a few games for CMU last weekend at Butler.
“I’ve been focusing on middle and a little bit of right side, but we found out a couple of our players are injured so I’m focusing on middle,” Schuette said. “I feel that every day I get more confident in myself and the coaches are confident in me so that helps.”
Olson is confident with Schuette and the rest of the team as they head to Huntington, W. Va.
“I’m looking to be successful and that will take a solid performance from the veterans who have been out there,” Olson said. “We can play Schuette anywhere. She is so athletic.”
CMU faces off against George Mason (3-6) at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the opener. GMU faced Western Michigan (9-1) and was swept in three games last weekend.
The Chippewas then play East Carolina (2-5) at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
“We don’t have much film on them (ECU), but they play Marshall on Friday so we’ll see them there,” Olson said. “I don’t know a whole lot about them, but we’ll have a scouting report before we play them.”
After ECU, they play host Marshall (1-7).
“They (Marshall) have a real nice right side that can pound the ball and a tall outside hitter, but they have some weaknesses at the setter position,” Olson said. “It’s one of those tournaments where if they can sufficient, we’ll be successful.”
The success of the team could rely on Schuette and freshman middle blocker Hallie Enderle, who expect to see more time this weekend.
“I think we’ll still do pretty well,” Schuette said. “We still have a solid lineup.”
The Chippewas look forward to finishing their non-conference tournament road trip.
“They’re definitely tough, it’s hard to be gone all weekend,” Schuette said. “You get back and it’s time for class and you have to make sure you get your homework done over the weekend and you have to focus on the games.”
