McIntyre shows her defensive strength in Robert Morris Tournament
After only two tournaments this season, it is apparent that the volleyball team has many strengths.
One of them is junior outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre.
McIntyre is a prime example of just how explosive CMU volleyball can be. Throughout the Robert Morris/Duquesne Tournament in Pittsburgh, she showed her mental and physical toughness, which included a five-set match to start Saturday’s action.
“A lot of her kills came in some non-perfect situations where you have to be creative and aggressive,” head coach Erik Olson said. “She certainly was aggressive all weekend.”
McIntyre key in her team’s only match victory in this weekend’s tournament against Robert Morris. In this particular match, she had 16 kills and had a grand total of 50 throughout the weekend.
Even in a losing effort, McIntyre led the charge, adding nine kills in Saturday afternoon’s loss to Xavier.
This particular effort drew high praises from her coaching staff. Olsen saw his outside hitter as a "force."
“It’s probably one of the best performances I’ve seen of her in her career,” Olson said. “Not just from an attacking standpoint, but she was a great passer for us. I think she’s kind of locked in."
Due to her stellar performance, she was named to the all-tournament team. Despite the accolades, McIntyre remains humble and is a prime example of a team player. McIntyre's goals lie with improving the team.
"I got a lot of nice sets from Kelly (Maxwell)," McIntyre said. "We still have a lot to improve on."
The team aspect is something that Olson is pleased with.
“She did some really good stuff for us out there,” he said.
Now, McIntyre and the rest of the team look forward to next weekend’s Hofstra Tournament, but before they can do that, they must have a solid week of preparation during practice.
"We're going take these losses, and even our wins, into account," McIntyre said. "What we talked about was learning from what we did this weekend, so we want to make sure we make the proper changes and bring that forward into next weekend"
