By Scott Sierzenga
Western Herald
TOLEDO, Ohio – After suffering a tough loss earlier in the season to the University at Buffalo, the Broncos didn’t disappoint the second time around in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, taking the match in three consecutive sets.
The Western Michigan University volleyball team kicked off its MAC Tournament with a bang winning relatively easily 25-14, 25-14 and 25-21.
The Bronco defense came to play today, holding the Bulls to a .035 hitting percentage and also tacking up four blocks in the three sets. The Brown and Gold hit .246 and had 11 more kills with 43 and 10 more digs with 72 than Buffalo in the game.
There were four Broncos in the game with 10 or more digs. Senior libero Caitlin Strimel led all WMU players with 21 digs and Allyson Doyle finished with an impressive 19 in the three set match. Both Michelle Moore and Jillian Mitchell finished the match with double doubles and Mitchell posted 12 digs to go with her 31 assists, while Moore finished with a game-high 12 kills and 10 digs. Buffalo’s Tori Beckman led all players with 23 digs.
The Broncos started off the match with a 5-0 lead after a Katie Eberling kill and didn’t look back as they progressively took a larger and larger lead. With the score 18-12 in the first set, the Broncos went on a 7-2 run to end the set and put all the momentum on their side of the court.
The Bulls weren’t about to lay down and let WMU take advantage of the momentum early. Buffalo was the first to score in the second set and they clawed and fought to keep it close until the score reached 12-9 when the Broncos turned up the heat. They fired off 10 straight points to put the set out of reach, all coming off of Doyle’s serve. Jessica Brown, who finished with 11 kills, fired off three straight kills during the run followed by a Doyle ace then another kill by Brown. Mitchell kept feed Brown who was the hot hand at the time.
The third set played out closer but the Bulls fell short once again to the Broncos. WMU isn’t out of the woods and into the championship game just yet though, as they play the No. 3 seed Miami University of Ohio on Saturday, a team the Broncos have also already lost two this season.
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