WMU’s Gotham makes her mark in the MAC

By Mark Rudi
Western Herald

(Robert Youngs / Western Herald) Sophomore middle blockerJaime Gotham won the Mid-American Conference Volleyball Player of the Week on Sept. 22 following her performance at the Golden Dome Invitational.

Sophomore Jaime Gotham has emerged as one of the premier middle blockers in the Mid-American Conference this season.

After the loss of senior Ashley Vogl for the season after sustaining a right knee injury against Illinois State University Sept. 6, Gotham has taken the top middle blocker spot.

“She (Vogl) was our number one middle blocker and she was really huge on (defense),” Gotham said. “I felt like I had to step up a little bit in that spot.”

Gotham has stepped up big, recording 50 blocks so far this season. Currently, she is averaging 1.04 per set, which leads the team and is second in the MAC. Gotham was also named MAC West Volleyball Player of the Week Sept. 22 for her performance at the Golden Dome Invitational at the University of Notre Dame. Gotham was also named Most Valuable Player at the tournament after recording 32 kills, 13 blocks and a .375 attack percentage in the tournament.

“It’s a huge honor,” Gotham said. “Especially being a sophomore and only in my second season in the MAC.”
Gotham also has recorded 117 kills this season, averaging 2.44 per set. She has also added 12 service aces, which ranks second on the team, and has a .303 attack percentage.

“She takes her game to whole another level,” coach Colleen Munson said about Gotham after the team’s 3-2 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 21. “She’s opening up things in the middle and has opened her confidence up.”

But Gotham doesn’t view herself as the focal point of the team.

“I don’t feel like I’m go-to,” Gotham said. “My teammates are getting the ball up for me.”

Gotham tied her career-high with nine blocks in the Broncos’ 3-0 win over Northern Illinois University Friday. Ironically, the other time she recorded nine blocks was also against NIU on Oct. 25, 2007.

Gotham has also come through with big kills or big blocks at key times this season. She was a big part of the Bronco’s victory against the Irish. She recorded 12 kills and six blocks on her way to winning MVP and helping lead the Broncos comeback from a 2-0 deficit to win the match. Gotham also ended a comeback attempt by East Carolina University on Sept. 13 with a key kill on set point to give the Broncos a 25-23 set win in match that WMU won, 3-0.

She has gone into double digits in kills three times this season. Her season-high is 12, which she did twice, against Notre Dame and Illinois State. Gotham also recorded 11 kills in the Broncos’ 3-0 win over Western Carolina University on Sept. 6. Her career-high for kills in a game is 16, which she did against the University of Toledo on Nov. 9, 2007.

Gotham also recorded her career-high in attack percentage against the Rockets in 2007 with .696. Her highest this season is a .611 attack percentage against WCU, and she also recorded a .524 attack percentage in WMU’s 3-1 win over Liberty University on Sept. 20.

Gotham came to WMU in 2006 and was redshirted for her first season. However, she stepped up big in 2007 as a redshirt freshman, leading the team and finishing second in the MAC with 1.15 blocks per game. Her 112 total blocks ranked fifth in the MAC. Gotham also tied a school record with eight block assists in a three-game match against Central Michigan University on Sept. 29, 2007, and set a new career high for service aces in a game with four against Western Carolina. Her previous was three, which she did three times in 2007, including in her WMU debut against Chicago State University.

She also received the WMU Coaches’ Award in 2007.

Gotham and the Broncos will look to build on their conference success this weekend with two matches. They play Eastern Michigan University on Friday, followed by Central Michigan on Saturday.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Sep 30 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

Cody Kimball
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