Volleyball sweeps Toledo behind 12 kills from Turnage

By Scott Sierzenga
Western Herald

(Thomas Doherty/Western Herald) Senior outside hitter Michelle Moore spikes the ball over Toledo's Liz Sundburg (19) and Cassie Kleespies (7) during Saturday's game.

The Western Michigan Univeristy volleyball team dominated the University of Toledo 3-0 at home to improve its record to 18-9 and 10-2 Mid-American Conference, and improve its impressive home record to 10-1 this season.

Since losing back-to-back games two weeks ago, the Broncos have won four straight games and haven’t lost a set in their last three games. Sophomore Ashley Turnage led the Broncos in this match with a new and improved offensive attack to add to her stellar defense, she set career highs in kills with 12, attack percentage with .647, and eight blocks.

“The whole week in practice I was playing really well,” Turnage said. “My mindset was offense.”

Her four blocks in the first set got the Broncos off on the right foot and put all the momentum on their side of the court.

“She blocked really well last night and played well offensively tonight,” head coach Colleen Munson said. “Overall, we tried to come out of the gates early.”

The Broncos did just that compiling a 25-16 victory in the first set. The Rockets did put up a better fight in the second and third sets only losing by three and four points respectively. The early start could have led to the errors that Toledo made later in the game as they were making mental mistakes and not completing the plays that should be made. The Rockets finished with a .027 hitting percentage and 11 errors.

“We came out focused and ready to play and they haven’t been able to match it,” Munson said.

The Broncos look to complete their five game home stretch on Thursday against Northern Illinois University (13-12, 7-5) at 7 p.m.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Oct 31 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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