BOX SCORE
TOLEDO, Ohio -- The Western Michigan volleyball team defeated Toledo 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 25-17 on Saturday afternoon at St. Ursula Academy to finish the season 23-4 overall and 14-2 in the Mid-American Conference. The win wrapped up sole possession of the 2008 MAC Championship and the top seed at next weekend's MAC Tournament in Toledo.
The championship is the first for WMU since 2000 and the eighth in school history.
Michelle Moore led the way with 20 kills, 11 digs and three aces for the Broncos (23-4, 14-2 MAC) against Toledo (13-16, 5-11 MAC) and moved into fourth in career kills with 1,360. Junior Jillian Mitchell led all players with 50 assists, eight digs and four kills. She helped WMU hit .295 as a team, while the Rockets hit just .176, partly attributable to 28 digs from Caitlin Strimel and seven blocks from Kate Corbett.
Allyson Doyle added nine kills, 12 digs and four blocks and Katie Eberling chipped in seven kills and 12 digs. Jaime Gotham hit .467 with eight kills, five digs and three blocks.
Toledo jumped all over WMU with two aces in a match-opening 4-0 run, but WMU quickly regrouped and took its first lead, 11-10, on a kill from Mitchell. The Rockets tied it three more times, but never regained the lead. A kill by Gotham and ace from Moore put WMU up two, 15-13, and the Broncos were on their way, 25-20.
WMU hit .375 with 16 kills and one error, while holding the Rockets to .233 hitting with 14 kills and four errors.
Toledo broke an eight-all tie with an 8-3 run to go up five, 16-11, and force head coach Colleen Munson to call timeout. The Broncos started to come back, but the Rockets reached 20 first, 20-18. Back-to-back kills by Moore and an ace from Strimel gave the lead back to WMU, 21-20. The Rockets tied it three times, but a kill by Gotham and block from Doyle and Corbett ended the set, 25-23.
Moore had seven kills and hit .375 as WMU registered 16 kills and six errors to hit .238, while Toledo hit .244 with 14 kills and four errors.
The Rockets started fast for a third-consecutive set, 11-5, and eventually built an eight-point lead, 17-9. WMU wouldn't go away and used a late 5-0 run to pull within two, 21-19. Toledo scored the next two points, 23-19, but then WMU scored three-straight, 23-22, to force a Toledo timeout. The stoppage calmed the Rockets and they closed out the set, 25-22, to stay alive.
WMU hit .206 with 12 kills and five errors, while Toledo had 13 kills and seven errors to hit .136. The difference came at the service line as WMU had three errors and no aces, while Toledo had two aces and three errors.
The Broncos used an 8-2 run to turn a one-point edge into a seven-point lead, 19-12, after another ace from Moore and Toledo was done. WMU hit .364 with 12 kills and no errors in 33 attempts, while holding Toledo to .095 hitting with 12 kills and eight errors.
Toledo was led by Shannon Strachan with 18 kills and Lori Ruth with 18 digs.
The Broncos are back in action on Friday in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament against the winner of Tuesday's match between the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed.
