Volleyball to face bottom dwellers

By Parker Perry, Sports Editor

The Zips volleyball team (6-11, 0-8 MAC) still have not won a match in Mid-American Conference play.

Akron will play the Eastern Michigan Eagles (12-11, 2-6 MAC) on Friday and the Central Michigan Chippewas (9-11, 3-5 MAC) on Saturday night.

Eastern Michigan have done a good job at limiting their errors so far this season. They have only committed 423 errors, while their opponents have given them 540 free points. Eastern Michigan rely on their opponents to make mistakes, as their kill totals are low. Eastern Michigan have only put the ball away just over 1,000 times.

They have been the victims of 1,150 kills.

Along with not putting their opponents away on their own, they also have had trouble separating themselves from their opponents in kill percentage. Both the Eagles as well as their opponents land their kills 19 percent of the time. The Zips cannot make mistakes throughout Friday night’s match and instead must force Eastern Michigan to win points.

The Zips will have to take a similar approach when they face Central Michigan the next day. The Chippewas do not even have 1,000 kills to their name. They have fallen victim to kills 869 times. Their kill percentage is a bit higher than their East Division rivals at 21 percent, but their defense is not. The Chippewas allow about 20 percent of their opponents’ attacks to land on the floor.

The weakness for Central Michigan is that they commit a lot of errors themselves. Central has committed 449 errors so far this year, which is 80 more than their opponents have.

The Zips compare well to both teams. The Zips have done an average job at keeping their own mistakes low. They have only committed 412 errors and 175 in conference play.

Akron has been led all season by senior Alex Cocklin. She has tallied 188 kills as she tries to lead her team to their first MAC victory of the season.

If the Zips can limit their mishaps they will have a fighting chance over the weekend.