Chippewas serving errors lead to 0-3 posting at Chippewa Invite
It was another disappointed outing for Central Michigan University’s volleyball team as the squad was shutout at its own Chippewa Invitational tournament.
The Chippewas now stand at 0-6 on the season.
CMU struggled with their serving from the tournament’s beginning to its end. The Chippewas totaled 36 serving errors through three matches, nearly doubling the amount of their opponents.
Similar to last week’s tournament in Omaha, the Chippewas failed to win the second set of each match losing by a combined score of 75-63. Last week the women were outscored 75-55 in the second set.
Coach Erik Olson said he was frustrated with the amount of runs the women gave up to their opponents during the first home action of the year they saw.
“We have to eliminate the amount of runs teams are getting on us,” Olson said. “The types of errors we are making at the service line combined with those runs are really killing us right now.”
A common theme in the tournament for the Chippewas was letting the lead slip.
In each match, the women allowed their opponents to keep the match close and eventually gain the lead.
“We have to find a way to do a better job closing out sets. That’s the gutting it out part.” Olson said. “I don’t think people respect how talented these women are. But once we get in sync, we will be deadly.”
Here is a match-by-match breakdown of the tournament:
Marshall:
CMU fell to the Thundering Herd 3-1 Friday night after falling behind 2-0 during the first two sets.
“I don’t like how we played in the first half of the match,” Olson said. “Marshall made us play.”
Green Bay:
The Chippewas took on Wisconsin Green-Bay in the first of two matches on Saturday.
CMU led 24-18 and seemed to be on its way to an easy victory when WGB rallied and cut the lead to 24-23.
CMU held on to win 25-23, but the damage was already done. In the fourth set, WGB jumped out to a commanding 15-6 lead and won 25-13.
The Phoenix sealed the deal in the final set, leading to a 15-8 victory and taking the match 3-2.
Butler:
In the final match of the invite, CMU hosted Butler and was seemingly over matched by the Bulldogs aggressiveness and blocking. Butler’s defense kept the Chippewas sweeping the women in three sets.
CMU junior Angelique White said she thought the team’s aggression level was satisfactory.
“There were highs and lows. But there was not as much aggression as I know we need,” White said. “But we’re still learning, and we fought hard.”
White was named to the All-Tournament team finishing the event with 35 kills and 13 blocks. Freshman Jordan Bueter tallied 27 kills and 29 digs.
Even with the struggles the team has faced thus far, senior Kaitlyn McIntyre insists the team is not dwelling on the negatives.
“I don’t think our confidence level has necessarily taken a dip,” McIntrye said. “We know we have the potential to be good. We are good we just have to prove it. I told the team in the locker room that if we keep trusting the process and keep working hard, it will come.”
Olson said he feels the team is still poised to have a good season, but first needs to breakthrough with a few wins.
“We are our own worst enemy,” he said. “Once we get that monkey off of our backs we are going to be insanely good.”
