BOX SCORE
KENT, Ohio -- Junior Michelle Moore led all players with 17 kills and junior Caitlin Strimel added a match-high 28 digs to lead the Western Michigan volleyball team past Kent State 25-22, 25-12, 25-27, 25-17 on Friday night at the M.A.C. Center.
Sophomore Jaime Gotham added 14 kills and hit a match-high .545 for the Broncos (17-3, 8-1 MAC) against the Golden Flashes (13-9, 3-6 MAC), while junior Katie Eberling added to her school record with 11 kills and 16 digs for her 38th career double-double. Junior Jillian Mitchell added a match-high 47 assists and 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and 15th of her career.
"This was the best we've played in two weeks and coming on the road, that was especially good to see," head coach Colleen Munson said. "We let the third set get away from us a little bit, but I was very pleased to see how the team regrouped and was able to respond in set four."
With her 17 kills, Moore moved into ninth all-time at WMU with 1,234 career kills, and Eberling is on the verge of 1,000 with 998 after her performance this evening.
Kent State opened the match with the first two points, but WMU answered with a 7-2 run to build a three-point edge, 7-4. Kent quickly erased that, but then a 6-2 run by the Broncos built a four-point margin, 13-9, after a KSU attack error. The Golden Flashes came back with four-straight points to knot the score, but couldn't take the lead. They tied the score at 14 and 15 before taking a two-point lead, 19-17, after a 4-0 run. The Broncos scored the next two points on a service error and service ace by Moore, but Kent State held on and pushed its lead to two, 22-20.
The Broncos finally put the brakes on the Golden Flashes with an Allyson Doyle kill that started a 5-0 set-ending run. Eberling had a kill on the next point and then Kent State committed two straight errors, 24-22, and called timeout. The KSU play didn't work as it was stuffed by former club teammates Eberling and Kate Corbett to give WMU the opening set, 25-22.
The Broncos hit just .051 with 11 kills and nine errors, but they held Kent State to 10 kills and eight errors for a .047 attack percentage. The difference was two aces and no errors and two blocks, along with 22 digs, 11 by Strimel.
Western Michigan kept up the momentum with an 11-3 run to open the second set. Mitchell set the pace at the serving line to lead WMU on an 8-0 run during that stretch. Mitchell had an ace and set kills by Moore, Gotham and Doyle. That opening run was good enough for WMU to hold off the Golden Flashes the rest of the set. The Broncos ended the set with three-straight points on a kill by Doyle, Gotham ace and Corbett kill, 25-12.
The Broncos hit .364 with 16 kills, while Kent State was limited to seven kills and five errors for a .061 mark. Strimel added nine more digs and Gotham had five kills in eight attempts.
Kent State came out after the 10-minute break and scored five of the first six third set points. Kent State maintained control throughout, but WMU slowly climbed back into the set and took its first lead, 18-17, on an Eberling kill. That was part of a 9-4 run that had WMU on the verge of victory, 24-21, after a Kent service error. The Broncos misfired on the very next serve and Kent State took advantage with a 6-1 run to steal the third set, 27-25.
The Broncos hit .308 with 12 kills and no errors in set three, but Kent State had 19 kills and three service aces to stay in the match. Eberling had 11 digs of her own in the third set.
Back-to-back kills by Moore and a Strimel ace marked the beginning of set four for the Brown & Gold and Kent State never saw the lead. The Golden Flashes forced two ties, but WMU came out of the second one with a 12-5 run to go up 19-12. Moore had three kills during the run and Eberling added two as both players picked up their play in the late stages. The Golden Flashes cut its deficit to five, 21-16, but two more Moore kills were part of a 4-1 run to end the set, 25-17, and the match.
The Broncos hit over .300 again in the fourth set with 16 kills and four errors in 34 attempts for a .353 mark, while Kent State had just 10 kills. Moore had seven kills to finish with 11 of her 17 kills in the final two sets and Eberling added five kills.
Kent State had the second-best opponent attack percentage in the MAC coming in, but WMU hit .262 and lived up to their top spot in the MAC by holding KSU to .152. The Broncos also led in kills (55-46), assists (53-42) and digs (73-64).
The Golden Flashes were led by Michigan native Lauren Jones with 16 kills and 13 digs.
The Broncos are at five-time defending champion Ohio (14-6, 7-2 MAC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Bobcats defeated Northern Illinois, 3-0, on Friday.
