Women's Volleyball | September 21, 2016

 

THIS WEEK
Western Michigan kicks off Mid-American Conference play with a trip to MAC West favorites Northern Illinois on Thursday night and hosts MAC East favorites Miami on Saturday at 2 p.m. Thursday's game against the Huskies at 8 p.m. can be seen live on ESPN3.com
 
LAST WEEK
WMU wrapped up its final week of non-conference action going 2-1. The Broncos started off the week with a 3-0 loss at Oakland and then headed to Terre Haute, Ind., for the weekend. Western Michigan had great success at Indiana State's tournament, bagging a pair of wins against Bradley and the host Sycamores.
 
Against Bradley freshman Kate Carey had a career-high 14 kills to lead the Broncos to a 3-1 win. WMU had to dig deep against ISU, rallying from two sets down to win 3-2. Junior middle blocker Sydney LeMay had a career-high 23 kills, including nine in the fifth and final set of the match.
 
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES // 8-4, 0-0 MAC
Northern Illinois is tied for the second-most wins in the MAC during non-conference play. The Huskies and Broncos have two common opponents from non-conference play in Bradley and Tennessee. Both WMU and NIU beat Bradley but the Huskies got the best of the Volunteers, 3-0, and WMU fell to UT at the Holiday Inn West Volleyball Invitational, 3-1.


NIU has been successful this season in large part to its defense, holding opponents to just a .187 hitting percentage. The Huskies also lead the MAC in blocks at 2.52 per set, led by Meg Wolowicz and her 1.05 per set. Four other players average at least 0.50 blocks per set on the team.
 
Northern Illinois has been hitting .231 and are led by Mary Grace Kelly. The senior outside hitter has averaged 3.10 kills per set to lead the team and is backed by Jenna Radke, who leads the MAC in hitting percentage at .407 and averages 2.55 kills per set.
 
Chandler Kinney has been the team's primary setter this season, racking up 624 total assists and 5.98 per set.  
 
SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS // 8-4, 0-0 MAC
Like Northern Illinois, Miami is tied for the second-most wins in the MAC during non-conference play, just two behind Bowling Green's 10. The RedHawks and the Broncos had one common opponent in Xavier, with both teams winning 3-1 over the Musketeers.
 
MU has been on a roll as of late and has not dropped a set since a 3-2 match win at Auburn on Sept. 9. Since then it has been 3-0, with sweeps over Memphis, Cincinnati and Furman.
 
Miami ranks in the top-half of the MAC in every team statistical category except service aces. On offense the RedHawks rank fourth in kills, averaging 12.80 per set. Individually they boast five attackers that average at least 2.0 kills per set, led by junior outside hitter Katie Tomasic at 2.60 with a hitting percentage of .305.
 
MU also has six players that average at least 2.0 digs per set, a category in which the team leads the MAC and is 16th in the nation. Junior libero Maeve McDonald ranks fourth in the MAC, 33rd in the nation and tops on the team with 5.0 digs per set. Freshman Lindsey Dauch has averaged 3.40 per set so far this season, while Marris Bellow averages 3.02.
 
Miami has used two primary setters so far this season. Redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Zielinski averages a team-best 5.51 assists per set, while Krista Brakauskas sits just behind her with 5.16.
 
RECOGNIZING GREATNESS
Western Michigan volleyball alum Zakiya Pope will be inducted into the Western Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday evening. Pope is the eighth Bronco to be elected into the Hall of Fame solely for volleyball and the 17th overall Hall of Famer that has played volleyball.
 
Pope donned the Brown & Gold from 1998-2001 and was a dominant force under former head coach Kathy George. She was named the MAC Player of the Year and MAC Tournament MVP after helping lead the Broncos win the MAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships in 2000. The East Lansing, Mich., native was a two-time All-MAC and Academic All-MAC selection in her time at WMU. Pope still ranks seventh all-time in program history in total blocks (352) and is tied for eighth in career blocks per set. She is also tied for fifth all-time in career attacking percentage (.326) and ninth all-time in attacking percentage in a season (.353).
 
DOUBLE, DOUBLE-DOUBLES
A huge part in WMU's success in the wins at the Indiana State tournament was senior outside hitter Mikaela Ryshytylo. Ryshytylo had back-to-back double-doubles in the wins over Bradley and ISU. Against the Braves she had a season-high 15 kills, along with 12 digs. Against the Sycamores she tallied 12 kills and nearly matched a season-high with 17 digs. Ryshytylo has three double-doubles on the season and is now tied with Alysia Baznik for the team lead.  

ON THE HORIZON
Next weekend the Broncos head out on the road at Eastern Michigan on Friday at 7 p.m. and at Central Michigan on Saturday for a 3 p.m. start. WMU is then home for two-straight weekends, hosting Toledo and Ball State on Oct. 7-8 and Akron and Buffalo on Oct. 14-15.