Volleyball comes back to beat Akron, completes first weekend sweep of season
Since Sept. 6, volleyball was 10-0 when winning the first set of a match and 0-9 when losing.
CMU (11-11, 5-5 MAC) changed that Saturday, losing set one to Akron (6-15, 0-10 MAC) 25-20, but taking the next three sets 25-17, 25-22, 25-15 to win the match.
“I was very impressed with our team’s resiliency coming out of set one,” said head coach Erik Olson. “We made a lot of changes in terms of our passing defense and offense and did a great job pushing through and closing it out.”
Olson wasn’t stressed about losing the first set brcause the team didn’t have much information about the Zips coming into the match.
“What went wrong in the first set was we didn’t know anything about where they were going to start,” Olson said. “Our team had to learn the scouting report as we (went), and that’s quite unusual this deep into the MAC season to see something like that.”
Saturday’s win gives the Chippewas their first weekend sweep of the season and makes them tied for sixth place in the Mid-American Conference standings with Northern Illinois. The top eight teams advance to the MAC Tournament at the end of the season.
Much of the credit goes to senior setter Kelly Maxwell, who recorded a four set season-high 55 assists in the victory while playing with an injury.
“I think this is the best I’ve felt since I’ve been back,” Maxwell said. “I think we’re managing it really well and my teammates definitely helped me that last part of the fourth set, so it was great.”
One of the turning points in the match was a 5-0 run from CMU in the second set when the game was tied at nine. Two big kills from senior middle blocker Danielle Gotham allowed CMU to take the lead for good in the second set to tie the match at one game apiece.
The South Lyon native had 10 kills Saturday and was one of four Chippewas with double-digit kills.
“This week in practice, we really worked on transitioning and having the middles be up and early,” Gotham said. “I think we did that really well.”
Senior outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre led the team with 19 kills and also had 14 digs and three blocks Saturday.
A 3-0 run in set three when the score was tied 20-20—including a kill from sophomore defensive specialist Kristen Reenders—also helped CMU hold off Akron.
CMU finished off the fourth set on an 8-0 run, which included three service aces in the last four points from senior defensive specialist Jenna Coates.
FRIDAY
The Chippewas had complete control in the first match of the weekend, sweeping Buffalo 25-17 in all three sets.
“This was a very good win tonight,” Olson said after the match Friday. “Buffalo has been a much-improved team and I think their blocking is pretty good. We played one time, one heartbeat and this was a night where we felt like we did in 2011 during the MAC tournament."
Sophomore middle blocker Angie White bested her career-high total in kills with seven, a number that was set by White just a week after she set her career-best total with five. Her fellow middle blocker, junior Hallie Enderle, also collected seven total kills on the night.
“This year, my mental process has been completely different and I have a lot more confidence in myself,” Enderle said.
The match started off with the Chippewas and the Bulls trading points early, but soon enough, CMU began to control the tempo.
“The whole night I felt that we were in control,” McIntyre said. “We were making (Buffalo) change and forcing them to do new things out there.”
