Written by: Parker Perry
The University of Akron Volleyball team has opened their 2012 regular season, and slowly has come out of the gate with a 2-4 record.
Akron has played in two weekend tournaments; the first was in South Carolina where they finished 1-3, the next at home in their first hosted tournament where they finished with a 1-1 split.
In the Akron invitational, the Zips hosted Quinnipiac, out of Connecticut, and Montana State. The tournament was shortened due to Hurricane Isaac. The storm prevented Southeastern Louisiana to make the trip to Northeast Ohio.
In first game Akron captured an early win against Quinnipiac in straight sets.
“A win always feels good,” said Akron head coach Ron Arenz, “It’s good to come home, play well and see the team execute a lot of the things we have been working on in the last week.”
However nice the win was however, Arenz knew that their next opponent was going to be a formable opponent. Before the game, Arenz said that he felt that MSU was going to be a nice challenge for his squad. He was correct in that assumption.
Montana State played what their coach Kyle Weindel called “virtually flawless”. He told Montana media after the game that he felt really good about where his team was at and thought that the victory over Akron was a great one for his program.
“It’s a really good win for us. Akron is a good team that has played tough, tough competition and played well the entire match.”
The split in Akron came after the Zips fell in a hole in South Carolina the week before.
In Akron’s first game of the season, the team went into the match on a ten game losing streak dating back to last season. Akron outhit UNC-Ashville more than three times better (.282-.086). In beating UNCA three sets to one, outside hitter and a player that Akron will have to rely on throughout the course of the 2012 campaign Chelsea Harvey delivered with 15 kills. Another contributor was Paiton Twitty, who came up with eight blocks in the victory.
Akron continued the tournament but was unable to notch a second win. They fell hard at the hand of the hosting team South Carolina, falling in straight sets three-zero. Although in every statistical category the Zips seemed to have played evenly with the Gamecocks, it was their unforced errors that left the Zips short in each of their sets. Akron scored nineteen points in two of the three sets.
Akron continued the tournament, but again fell. East Tennessee State and Temple took down UA three to one and three to zero respectively.
Akron will next play in their second home tournament of the year. The Zips invitational will welcome SIU Edwards, Binghamton and Youngstown State. The invitational will give the Zips a chance to up their record and give them confidence heading into their final tournament and conference play. Akron will play Buffalo in the first Mid-American Conference game Thursday, September 20th.