BOX SCORE
DeKALB, Ill. -- Behind a career-high 62 assists from junior setter Jillian Mitchell and career-high contributions from reserves Courtney Seiler and Ashley Turnage, the Western Michigan volleyball team escaped with a 25-16, 23-25, 26-28, 25-23, 15-13 win over Northern Illinois at Victor E. Court.
Coming out of the locker room for set three, head coach Colleen Munson decided to change things up by inserting her two bench players into the lineup. Seiler, a sophomore defensive specialist from Canton, Mich., was inserted in the back row and posted a career-high 10 digs. Turnage, a freshman middle blocker from Schoolcraft, Mich., came on in the front row and finished with a career-high six kills, hit .500 and chipped in one solo block to keep the Broncos (19-3, 10-1 MAC) in first place in the Mid-American Conference and extend their winning streak to seven.
"Those two players came off the bench and gave us a spark," Munson said. "This just shows how it will take every player on this roster for us to win matches on any given night."
Junior libero Caitlin Strimel tied her season high with a match-high 29 digs and moved into eight in MAC history with 1,817 career digs. Junior Michelle Moore was the attacking force with 23 kills, hitting .280, and eight digs.
The Broncos other two outside hitters each contributed with double-doubles as sophomore Allyson Doyle had a season-high 18 kills and 13 digs, while junior Katie Eberling had 13 kills, 10 digs and three blocks to move her school record to 39 career double-doubles.
Sophomore middle blocker Kate Corbett tied her career high with 11 kills, hitting .280, and a match-high six blocks.
The Broncos fell behind, 2-1, after losing tight affairs in sets two and three, but came back to win a tight set four to force the fifth set.
Unlike their previous three five-set victories, the Broncos didn't jump out to a fast start against the Huskies (14-11, 6-5 MAC). Northern Illinois built a 7-1 lead before back-to-back kills from Moore and Turnage ended the run. NIU kept control and still maintained a six-point edge, 10-4, that forced the Broncos to use their second and final timeout.
That seemed to be the spark WMU needed. Turnage had a kill out of the timeout that started an 8-1 run that cut the deficit to a single-point, 12-11. Doyle, Corbett and Eberling all had kills and Mitchell contributed her first solo block of the season. NIU ended the run with a point off a blocking error, 13-11, but wouldn't score again.
Moore hammered home back-to-back kills and WMU's active ace leader, Strimel, served one up to set up match point, 14-13. NIU called timeout to set up a play, but their best player, Meagan Schoenrock, who had a match-high 29 kills, misfired to give the match to WMU.
"We didn't execute extremely well tonight, but we came out with and that is all that matters," Munson said. "I think the difference came down again to our composure, our poise and our determination not to lose."
The Broncos hit .389 in the final set with 10 kills, three errors and 18 attacks, while holding NIU to eight kills, four errors and 21 attacks (.190). Since losing their first five-setter of the season at Wake Forest, WMU has won four-straight against Delaware, Notre Dame, Ohio and Northern Illinois.
The match started strong for WMU with Moore, Doyle and Moore again registering kills as part of a 4-0 run. Doyle came to the service line a few points later and tied her career high with two aces during an 8-1 run that built a 10-point lead, 16-6. NIU never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
WMU hit .351 with 17 kills and four errors, while NIU hit .176 with 11 kills and five errors. Moore got off to the fast start with seven first-set kills.
NIU took the early lead in set two by building a 14-9 advantage that forced WMU to call timeout. The Broncos fought back and evened the score, 17-17, after a block by Eberling and Corbett. Northern Illinois quickly answered with three straight kills before a service error ended the run. That proved to be just enough to hold off the Broncos, 25-23, who never could re-tie the set.
The Broncos hit .149 with 14 kills and seven errors, while NIU had 16 kills.
Back-to-back kills by Moore helped WMU go up 3-1 to take control in the early going of the pivotal third set. The Broncos continued to stretch the lead and eventually went up five, 16-11, after back-to-back kills from Eberling. The Broncos kept up the pressure and an attack error pushed them to 20 points first, 20-16, but NIU wouldn't go quietly. They scored the next four points, 20-20, to make it a five-point sprint to the finish.
The Broncos looked to get the better of it as another Eberling kill and Huskie error gave WMU set point, 24-22, but a block and kill evened the score. Another NIU error gave WMU another set point, but NIU fought it off. Moore followed with a kill to give WMU it's fourth set point. NIU responded again and closed the set with a clinching three-point run, 28-26, and their only lead of the set.
Northern Illinois finished with 22 kills in set three, while hitting .241. WMU hit .229 with 16 kills, five by Eberling.
The fourth set proved to be even tighter with 17 ties and five lead changes. WMU broke a nine-all tie with a 5-2 run that forced NIU to call a timeout that sparked a 3-0 run to tie the score. Doyle ended the run with a kill that put WMU on a 4-1 run to lead 18-15. Northern Illinois answered with three straight of its own to knot the score again, but they could never take the lead. The Huskies created the 17th and final tie at 23-all, before Doyle forced set five with back-to-back kills.
When they needed to execute, WMU delivered with 19 kills, three errors and 38 attempts for a .421 attack percentage. NIU hit .231 with 15 kills and six errors. Doyle had six kills and Moore five to lead WMU.
The final stats paralleled the closeness of the final score. The teams finished even in aces (3-3), blocks (9.0-9.0) and digs (83-83), while WMU held a slight edge in kills (76-72), assists (70-67) and points (88.0-84.0). The main difference was in attack percentage as WMU hit .289 to .221 for NIU.
The Huskies were led by Schoenrock's 29 kills and 21 from Allison McLaughlin. Maddie Hughes contributed 27 digs.
The Broncos are off until Saturday when they travel to Bowling Green, Ohio, to play Bowling Green (19-7, 8-3 MAC) at 7 p.m. in Anderson Arena.
