The Mid-American Conference began to fall in action over the weekend of Sept. 25-26, as the Eastern Michigan Women’s Volleyball team faced its first conference match ups against Western Michigan University and Northern Illinois University.
With head coach, Kimi Olson, absent for the MAC Conference openers over the weekend, Eastern Michigan’s assistant coach, Mike Shearer, lead the Eagles in coaching for both sets of games over the weekend.
Eastern started its first MAC matchup on Friday, Sept. 25, competing against Western Michigan; losing in a four set match (23-25, 19-25, 27-25, 24-26).
Senior Stacey Perinar led the Eagles with 22kills in the game, while Devon Murray pitched in 9 and Jordan Smith with 7.
“Even though we lost I feel pretty good about our match vs WMU," said assistant coach Mike Shearer. “They are a very good team and returned a lot of players from their MAC Tournament Championship team last year
“We lost the first set by 2 points and had 10 hitting errors, which is very high for us. We also lost the 4th set by 2, had 10 hitting errors and had a 3-4 point lead late in that game, so we had opportunities," said Shearer. "I like how the girls fought and considering the amount of errors we committed, I think this could have easily been a 5 set match if not a win for us if we attacked a little smarter.”
As the MAC play continued on Saturday, Sept. 26, the Eagles competed in its second matchup against Northern Illinois University.
The Eagles were still unable to be pull out a win over the weekend, as Northern Illinois swept Eastern in a 3 sets win (19-25,20-25,19-25).
“We are a bit disappointed in our performance against NIU,” says Shearer. They are a good team; one of the two teams receiving multiple votes to win the conference in the preseason coaches poll, but we feel we are a much better team than what we showed on Saturday night.”
The Eagles averaged .137 percent in hitting with 33 kills and 19 errors, compared to Northern Illinois, who average .293 percent in hits during the game, along with 44 kills and only 15 errors.
Stacey Perinar, once again, led the Eagles in kills as she racked up 9, along with Katie Krasowski who had a total of 6 kills.
“Stacey has been carrying quite the offensive load for us this season and is putting up very good attacking numbers, so her influence on the team is massive,” added Shearer. “While that is great, we know we can't get where we want with only 1 person attacking at that level, so we are constantly working to improve our connections with other hitters and improve our passing so we can get the ball to other hitters more accurately and consistently.”
The Eagles continue its journey through the MAC as it competes in its home opener on Oct. 1 against Central Michigan University. The game is set to begin at 7 p.m at the Convocation Center.
