Volleyball heads to MAC Tournament as No. 1 seed

By Mark Rudi
Western Herald

(Robert Youngs/Western Herald) Western Michigan junior libero Caitlin Strimel delivers service on November 10 against Ball State. The top-seeded Broncos will open the MAC tournament against eighth-seeded Toledo on Friday.

For the first time since 2000, the Western Michigan University volleyball team will look to capture the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship.

The Broncos (23-4, 14-2 MAC) are the No.1 seed for the MAC Tournament at the Seagate Centre in Toledo, Ohio. However, the Broncos will not prepare any different.

“We’ll prepare the same way we have all along,” head coach Colleen Munson said. “Just take them one set at a time and we’re working on our side of the court and try to improve on the details of the game we know that will help us be successful down the road.”

Western Michigan will be looking to win the MAC Tournament and secure the MAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“I say we prepare the same way we have every week,” sophomore outside hitter Allyson Doyle said. “I think that’s how we did so well for the whole regular season, that we take every team the same way. Obviously it will have a different outcome if we do win, but just stay composed and focused on the goal.”

Since the Broncos are the No. 1 seed, they know that everyone in the tournament is gunning for them and looking for that last spurt to get into college volleyball’s “big dance.”

(Robert Youngs/Western Herald) Allyson Doyle, shown here in a match against Buffalo on October 18, and the top-seeded Western Michigan Broncos will open MAC Tournament play against Toledo on Friday.

“Every team in the MAC is good. Anything can happen,” junior setter Jillian Mitchell said. “I think it’s just a matter of knowing we are the No. 1 team. We’re put up there for a reason and we have to go in like we know it. We have to keep our confidence and keep our composure and just play like we have been playing the whole season. I think that we’re capable of doing just that.”

The 2007 MAC Tournament is a great example that anything can happen. Western Michigan went into the 2007 tournament as the No. 2 seed after winning the MAC West Division. However, the Broncos were upset by No. 7 Eastern Michigan University, 3-1.

The tournament also ended in a surprise when No. 3 Miami University of Ohio shocked No. 1 and nationally ranked Ohio University. The RedHawks beat the Bobcats 3-0 to win the tournament and gave Miami the automatic bid the NCAA Tournament.

No. 4 Central Michigan University, No. 2 Ohio, No.3 Miami and No. 5 Bowling Green State University are all dark horses in the 2008 tournament and will look for one final run at the NCAA Tournament.

No. 6 Northern Illinois University, No. 7 Ball State University and Toledo will look to shock the conference and pull a Cinderella-like upset.

“It’s nice that we’re No.1 and I think we know that in the back of our heads that people are going after us. But we’ve been ranked No.1 from the beginning. So it’s like every team that we’ve played has been giving us their best,” Mitchell said.

The Rockets (14-16, 5-11 MAC) defeated No. 9 University of Akron 3-1 Tuesday night to advance to the second round of the MAC Tournament. The Broncos defeated Toledo twice in the regular season, winning 3-0 on Oct. 10 at University Arena and 3-1 last Saturday in Toledo.

Junior outside hitter Michelle Moore led the Broncos with 20 kills and 11 digs in the win over the Rockets last Saturday. Doyle chipped in with nine kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Mitchell, who was named MAC West Volleyball Player of the Week Monday, quarterbacked the offense with 50 assists.

“They’re a good team. They got a lot of weapons,” Munson said. “They play hard and they play aggressive.”
The Rockets weapons include senior right side hitter Shannon Strachan and freshman outside hitter Amber DeWeerdt. DeWeerdt is fifth in the MAC with 3.37 kills per set and Strachan is seventh in the conference with 3.20 kills per set. DeWeerdt recorded a match-high 17 kills in Toledo’s win over the Zips.

The Rockets also have a talented setter in freshman Kassie Kadera. Kadera is third in the MAC with 10.76 assists per set and recorded a match-high 54 assists against Akron Tuesday.

“We have to play very good ball on our side of the court,” Munson said. “We can’t worry about the other side. We have to worry about our side of the court.”

Strachan and DeWeerdt had 18 and 12 kills respectively against WMU last Saturday, but had problems getting kills as the Broncos compiled 11 blocks. Sophomore middle blockers Kate Corbett and Jaime Gotham had five and three of blocks respectively. The Rocket offense hit only .176 for the game with 53 kills and 23 errors.
“Toledo, like every team, is going to give us 110 percent. We expect them to do that again and even more so because of the tournament,” Doyle said.  “We play our game and we’re better then any team in our league and we know that. We know everyone’s going to give us their best.”

If the Broncos win Friday, they will face either Central Michigan or Bowling Green in the semifinals on Saturday. Both the Chippewas and Falcons have victories over the Broncos, but WMU also has a win over CMU. Bowling Green defeated the Chips 3-0 in their only meeting of the season on Oct. 16 in Mount Pleasant.

The winners of the two semifinal games will play each other Sunday afternoon for the MAC Tournament Championship.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 20 2008. 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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