BOX SCORE
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Western Michigan volleyball team won the first two sets on Saturday, but Bowling Green stormed back to upset the Broncos (19-4, 10-2 MAC) 25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 19-25, 6-15 at Anderson Arena. The win snapped the Broncos' seven-match winning streak and knocked them out of sole possession of first place in the Mid-American Conference.
Junior Katie Eberling led Western Michigan with a season-high tying 16 kills and 12 digs for her 40th career double-double. She also moved into 15th in career kills with 1.035. Junior Michelle Moore added a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs, while sophomore Allyson Doyle had 12 kills, 13 digs and four blocks.
Sophomore middle blocker Jaime Gotham led all players with eight blocks, two solo, and contributed nine kills. Junior setter Jillian Mitchell passed our 47 assists with nine digs and junior Caitlin Strimel led the Broncos with 18 digs.
The Falcons (20-7, 9-3 MAC), similar to Northern Illinois on Thursday night, built a 5-1 lead in the fifth set against WMU. Unlike the Huskies they were able to hang on to the lead by limiting WMU to just six kills with three errors for a .115 attack percentage. The Falcons had 10 kills and no errors in 21 attacks to hit .476 to close out their comeback.
Bowling Green tied a season-high for a WMU opponent with a .303 attack percentage, while WMU hit just .199. The Falcons finished with five more kills (71-66) and seven less errors (28-21).
The night started off in the Brown & Gold's favor with an early 7-2 lead in the opening set behind a pair of block assists from Gotham and an ace from Mitchell. Bowling Green came back and cut the lead to one, 13-12, but Moore had a pair of kills to spearhead a 5-0 run that pushed the lead back to six, 18-12. The Broncos still led by six, 24-18, after an Eberling kill, but the Falcons fought off three set points before another Eberling kill ended it, 25-21.
Each team had 14 kills and four errors in 27 attempts to hit .370 in the opening set. WMU's three aces and three service errors by Bowling Green proved to be the difference.
With 16 ties and six lead changes, set two would prove to be the most back-and-forth of the match. Bowling Green used a 4-0 run to build the early advantage, 10-6, but a solo block by Gotham completed the Broncos' comeback to tie the score, 11-11, and WMU regained the lead, 15-14, after an error. Bowling Green wouldn't let WMU build more than a one-point edge until Gotham and Doyle combined on a block to make it 22-20. Another block by Gotham and Eberling made it 23-21 Broncos, but Bowling Green scored three-straight to reach set point, 24-23, and force WMU to call timeout.
The Broncos received back-to-back kills from sophomore Kate Corbett out of the timeout and Bowling Green missed on set point, 26-24, to put WMU in a commanding position going into the 10-minute break.
WMU had 19 kills, while hitting .222 and BGSU hit .227 with 16 kills. Four blocks in the set, all involving Gotham, helped WMU win the set.
Set three was another tight affair with 12 ties and two lead changes as WMU tried to finish the match and BGSU tried to stave off defeat.
A block by Doyle and Gotham established WMU as the early leader, 4-3. The Broncos built their lead to three on a few occassions, the final time at 12-9 after an error by the Falcons. They came back with a 4-0 run to take the lead for the first time since 3-2 at 13-12. Like the Falcons in set two, WMU continually tied the score, but could never regain the lead. A bad set by the Falcons tied the score for the final time, 19-19, and forced a BGSU timeout.
The Falcons came out of the stoppage inspired to close the set on a 6-2 run, 25-21, and keep the match alive.
The Broncos had 15 kills and five errors, while the Falcons had 18 kills and five errors.
Set four was all Bowling Green at the beginning with a 9-3 run to start things off. A kill by Gotham, block by Gotham and Doyle and Doyle kill brought WMU back to within a point, 13-12, and caused Bowling Green to call timeout. The Falcons scored on the next point, but WMU hung around and were still within a point, 19-18, after an error by BGSU. Yet again, Bowling Green was the stronger team down the stretch with a 6-1 run to force set five, 25-19.
Corey Domek led the Falcons with a match-high 25 kills and hit .380, while Kendra Halm hit .447 and added 20 kills. Chelsey Meek led all players with 28 digs.
The Broncos return to University Arena for their final two MAC home matches against their in-state rivals. First place in the MAC is on the line Friday when the Broncos host Central Michigan (16-8, 10-2 MAC) at 7 p.m. Western Michigan will welcome Eastern Michigan (9-18, 3-9 MAC) on Saturday at 7 p.m.
