2012 Volleyball Record Book - Central Michigan University Athletics

2012 Central Michigan VolleyballCentral Michigan University2012 Volleyball Record BookHead coach Erik OlsonEighth-year head coach Erik Olson capturedthe program’s first Mid-American ConferenceTournament title in 2011 ending the 33-yeardrought and sending the Central Michiganvolleyball team to its first trip to the NCAATournament.During his tenure at CMU, six of Olson’s recruitingclasses (2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) havebeen ranked among the nation’s top-100, with his2012 class leading the MAC.In 2011 he recorded his 100th win in the team’s third match of the seasonagainst Saint Louis. The team defeated five teams, who had a higher RPIincluding No. 16 Northern Illinois in the championship match. He alsowas able to defeat Ohio for the first time in his career while at the MACTournament.Olson secured four straight winning seasons from 2006-09, the first stretchof four consecutive winning seasons since 1986. CMU was 75-47 duringthe four-year run, a stretch that included the program’s first postseasonwin since 1982, its first appearance in the Mid-American ConferenceTournament semifinals since 1996, its first 20-win season since 1985 andthe biggest one-year turnaround in MAC history. The program’s strugglesin the late 1990s seem to be a distant memory, with visions of playing for aMAC title replacing those thoughts.CMU posted its fourth straight winning season in 2009 (17-13), and reachedthe MAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1996. The Chippewastallied postseason victories over Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois toreach the semis. The last time the Chippewas had four straight winningseasons came in the program’s first 13 seasons, when Central postedwinning records from 1974-86.In 2008, Olson was named MAC Coach of the Year after Central just missedposting its second straight 20-win season at 19-11 and earned a bye in theopening round of the MAC Tournament thanks to a 12-4 league mark andsecond place finish in the West Division. The 12 MAC wins were the mostsince 1994, when the Chippewas finished 14-3. He is the first head coach inprogram history to earn MAC Coach of the Year honors.The 2007 campaign saw CMU take another step forward in its resurgence,posting its first 20-win season since 1985 with a 22-10 overall record.CMU also posted just its second double-digit win MAC season since1996 with a 10-6 league mark, good enough for second place in the WestDivision. Central went on to defeat Toledo in the opening round of theMAC Tournament, ending the 24-year postseason victory drought. TheChippewas got off to the best start in program history at 8-0 and postedtwo eight game winning streaks.Olson began the rebuilding challenge by recruiting and signing sometop-notch talent. A pair of his early recruits, Kate Fissel and Whitney Evers,each finished their careers last season as two of 12 players in school historyto tally at least 1,000 kills. Kaitlyn Schultz was named MAC Freshman ofthe Year in 2008, just the second Chippewa to garner the honor. She alsofinished her career as the only Chippewas to earn All-MAC honors all fouryears. In all, Olson has mentored seven first-team All-MAC choices (Fisselin 2007, Evers in 2008, Schultz in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and LaurenKrupsky in 2009) and seven second team All-MAC picks. The Chippewashave also had an honoree on the MAC All-Freshman squad in three of thepast five seasons (Lauren Krupsky in 2007, Schultz in 2008 and McIntyre in2011). Schultz was also named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2008.Olson has also made academics a priority with CMU earning the GamePlan/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award six straightyears, an award that carries a minimum of a 3.30 team GPA. The Chippewasposted their highest GPA during the 2011-12 academic year under theOlson regime. The volleyball program was also awarded the 2007-08 DickEnberg Team Leadership Award, recognizing the CMU program which bestmeets the following five criteria – overall grade point average, academicprogress rate, community service, athletic performance and commitmentto excellence. The Chippewas have had eight academic All-MAC choices inOlson’s seven seasons.Olson came to CMU after spending three seasons as the Hurricanes’ topassistant, helping Miami to a record of 66-22 (.750). Miami reached theSweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and finished in the Top 25 poll.Olson’s primary responsibility was mentoring the middle blockers andteam blocking.Prior to Miami, Olson was the assistant coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee forone season in 2000. The Panthers went 23-5 and won the MidwesternCollegiate Conference regular season title that year, receiving an at-largebid to the NCAA Tournament.The Milwaukee native graduated from Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1997 witha bachelor’s degree in geology. He was a four-year letterwinner for thePanthers and served as team captain in 1995. Upon completion of hiscareer, Olson ranked in the top five in several career statistical categories,including holding the school’s all-time blocks record. In 1991, he wasa member of the North Shore Volleyball Club team that won the 19 andunder national championship.Erik and his wife, Becky (Stewart), were married in 2002. She was a fouryearvolleyball letterwinner at Northern Illinois, earning first team All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference honors in 1996 and first team All-MACand AVCA all-district honors in 1997.The couple have two children, Nathan (six) and Samuel (four), and reside inMount Pleasant.The Olson FileYear School /Team Position1994-96 Marquete University (Wisc.) HS Boys’ Head Coach1997-99.. Shorewood HS Girls’ Varsity Head Coach2000. . Univ. Wisc.-Milwaukee Assistant Coach2001-03.. Univ. of Miami (Fla.) Assistant Coach2004-Present Central MichiganHead Coach2011 MAC Tournament Champions Record Book - 62011 NCAA Tournament Qualifier