BOX SCORE
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. -- Michelle Moore had 11 kills and a career-high 16 digs, but Western Michigan lost at Central Michigan 24-26, 21-25, 25-23, 16-25 in the rivalry match between the two teams.
The Broncos (12-3, 3-1 MAC) dropped their first Mid-American Conference match of the season, while the Chippewas (9-7, 3-1 MAC) moved into a first place tie with WMU in the MAC West with the victory.
Moore's 11 kills moved her into WMU's top 10 with 1,169 career kills. Jaime Gotham added 10 kills with a .321 attack percentage and match-high four blocks. Jillian Mitchell added 38 assists, 12 digs and seven kills with a career-high .600 attack percentage. Libero Caitlin Strimel notched 20 or more digs for the third-straight match with 22 against CMU.
The tone for the match was set in a tremendously tight first set that featured 21 ties and five lead changes before it was over. The only significant lead for either team came when the Broncos scored three straight points with kills from Moore and Gotham sandwiched around a bad set by the Chippewas to break a tie, 18-15. The Chippewas called timeout and WMU subsequently misfired on the serve. Gotham got the serve back for WMU on the next point, 19-16, but the Broncos missed another serve as Central Michigan scored three straight to even the score, 19-19.
Gotham had a kill on the next point, but then the Broncos misplayed an overpass by the Chippewas to even the score again before the Chippewas missed a serve to give the lead back to WMU, 21-20. Two straight points, including an ace, gave the lead back to CMU and forced WMU to use a timeout. The teams traded points as the Chippewas kept the advantage to earn set point, 24-23, but Mitchell and Gotham rejected CMU to even the score. The Broncos wouldn't score again as CMU picked up kills on each of the next two points to strike the first blow, 26-24.
Central Michigan had 16 kills and Western Michigan had 15 kills in the close set. The difference may have come at the service line where WMU had four errors and no aces and CMU had three errors and one ace.
The Chippewas carried momentum and forced WMU to use its timeouts early when CMU took an 8-3 lead and 15-8 lead. None of it seemed to work as the Chippewas eventually built a nine-point edge, 21-12. The Broncos started to climb back into the set with a couple of two-point runs. The Broncos finally made a big push at the end of the set with Moore at the service line. Back-to-back kills by Katie Eberling and Allyson Doyle made the score 24-21 and forced Central Michigan to call timeout. The Chippewas never got to run a play out of the timeout as Moore missed the serve to give Central Michigan the set, 25-21, and a 2-0 lead.
Each team had 14 kills, but the Broncos had two more attack errors (6-4) and three service errors to two for the Chippewas.
A kill by Eberling gave the Broncos a 7-3 lead in the third set, but a 4-0 run later in the set put the Chippewas on top, 13-12. The Broncos got the lead back, 19-18, on a Gotham kill, but CMU scored the next two points to force a Western Michigan timeout. Head coach Colleen Munson's tactics worked as the Broncos went on a 5-1 run to get to set point, 24-21. The Chippewas wouldn't go down and scored the next two points before Gotham ended the set, 25-23, to keep the Broncos hopes alive.
The Broncos hit .308 with 15 kills and three errors, while Central Michigan had 14 kills and four errors on its way to a .238 mark in the set.
Despite winning the third set, the Broncos came out flat in set four and quickly fell behind, 13-4, despite Munson using both timeouts. Kills by Moore and Kate Corbett were part of a 3-0 run that trimmed the deficit, 15-8, but Central Michigan never allowed the Broncos to get any closer and finished the upset in emphatic fashion, 25-16.
The Broncos had 10 kills and seven errors to hit .071 in the set, while the Chippewas used 14 kills and one block to finish off Western Michigan.
While it was close, Central Michigan led in all the key statistical categories with more kills (58-54), a better attack percentage (.252-.224), more blocks (5.0-4.0) and more digs (76-70). Neither team was strong with the serve, but Central Michigan did have the advantage with five aces and 10 errors to just two aces and 13 errors for the Brown & Gold.
The Broncos return to Kalamazoo for a four-match homestand starting next weekend against Toledo on Friday and Ball State on Saturday. First serve is 7 p.m. both nights.
