Volleyball ends season with 3-0 win over Valpo

By Nicholas Grenke
Western Herald

(Chyn Wey Lee/Western Herald) WMU senior outside hitter Michelle Moore spikes the ball over Valparaiso's Katie Britton during Saturday's 3 - 0 win over Valparaiso. Moore had a career high with 0.556 hitting percetage.

The Western Michigan University volleyball team ended its regular season on a high note Saturday night by defeating Valparaiso University 3-0. During the game WMU set a season high mark in hitting percentage as a team.

The Broncos bounced back from a tough loss in the Mid-American Conference Championship game to Ohio University Nov. 22 to win the last home game for the senior class.

“After a tough loss it’s a testament to our seniors and team that we could come back to practice the very next day without losing confidence and get ready,” WMU head coach Colleen Munson said. “It shows this team’s heart and determination.”

WMU had trouble at the beginning of the first set breaking through Valparaiso’s tough defense, falling behind 13-16 early before Munson called a timeout.

The Broncos then rattled off three straight points behind a strong kill by senior Katie Eberling and an ace by senior Michelle Moore tying the score at 16 and causing a Valpo timeout. Down 16-17, Eberling again blasted a kill through the defense to tie. The Broncos took the lead for good at 23-22 by finishing off the set with two kills by Moore.

“We knew we had to come out a little harder and we started clicking better, are passes were better are set got better and ultimately our hits got better,” Moore said. “We figured it out, it just took a little while.”

In the second set the Broncos again came out a tough start against the crusaders trading points early to a tie score of eight. WMU then went up quickly 11-8 on three key errors by Valparaiso and didn’t look back with a 25-19 win.

“Initially we had to feel them out but we have to be an aggressive team,” Munson said. “As it went on we established more of our tempo and didn’t look back.”

After the intermission, the Brown and Gold came out firing, going up 10-1 on a kill by MAC Freshman of the Year Jessica Brown before coasting to an easy 25-15 win to seal the game.

“When we went in the locker room we discussed strategy and what needed to be improved but ultimately we just had to be more disciplined on defense,” Moore said. “Once we did that everything picked up.”

During the game, WMU had a season best .378 hitting percentage while Moore set a career best with a .556 hitting percentage. Moore also had 15 kills and no errors to lead the Broncos. Senior Caitlin Strimel led all players with 26 digs to bring her career total to 2,583, fifth best in NCAA history.

“You’re warming up and you realize that it’s the last time you’ll be playing in this gym, in front of these fans, which have been so great,” Eberling said. “We went out with a win here, and that a great thing for a senior to say.”

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Posted by heraldstaff on Nov 29 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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