BOX SCORE
KALAMAZOO -- Junior Michelle Moore picked up a career-high 20 digs, while also hitting .382 on her way to a match-high 15 kills to lead Western Michigan past Eastern Michigan 28-26, 27-25, 25-20 at University Arena on Saturday night.
Junior Katie Eberling added 12 kills and 10 digs for the Broncos (21-4, 12-2 MAC), while junior setter Jillian Mitchell picked up a double-double with 48 assists and 11 digs. Mitchell moved into ninth all-time in career assists with 1,719.
Sophomore Allyson Doyle added 13 kills, seven digs and five blocks, while Caitlin Strimel notched 19 digs for the Brown & Gold in the the victory that kept them in first place in the Mid-American Conference and clinched an undefeated home record (8-0) in conference play.
"Overall, this was a great weekend for us," head coach Colleen Munson said. "Playing close sets and matches is a compliment to our program because everyone raises their game to play us. I was impressed by the confidence and poise of our team to win sets where the margin for error was so slim. I think that comes from being such a good team. We aren't one-dimensional. We don't have one superstar player. We have an entire team and it takes everyone to be successful and that's what happened this weekend."
The opening set played out much like the final set of Friday's match against Central Michigan unfolded. The two teams were tied 25 times and neither team ever had more than a one-point lead. An attack error by the Eagles (9-20, 3-11 MAC) gave WMU its first set point, 24-23, but EMU fought it off. Kills by Doyle and Jaime Gotham gave WMU two more set points, but they couldn't convert. Finally, Eberling hit her seventh and eighth kills of the set to finish off EMU, 28-26.
The Broncos hit .400 with 20 kills and two errors in 45 attempts, while Eastern Michigan finished with 21 kills and six errors in 52 attempts to hit .288.
Eastern Michigan came out determined to split the first two sets by building an 11-5 lead. The Broncos, however, have been behind before and are no strangers to comebacks. A block by Kate Corbett and Mitchell evened the set, 17-17, but EMU briefly regained the lead on the next point. A service error, followed by a Moore kill gave the Broncos their first lead, 18-17. EMU tied the score, but WMU appeared to be in control, 22-20, after one kill by Doyle and another, 23-21. Just like in set one, EMU wouldn't go away. The Eagles fought off one set point and then earned one of their own, 25-24, but Mitchell had a kill off a dig from Moore and Corbett hammered home an attack from the middle to give WMU set point, 26-25, and the Broncos converted on a miss by EMU.
WMU hit .255 with 20 kills and six errors in 55 attempts, while EMU hit .218 with six errors and 18 kills. Doyle had seven kills and Moore had six kills and nine digs in the set.
The third set also started off tight as there were 11 ties and five lead changes. EMU held the lead, 14-13, when WMU took the lead for good behind back-to-back attack errors by the Eagles and a Moore kill, 16-14. Another kill by Moore forced EMU to burn a timeout trailing by three, 18-15. That sparked the Eagles and they came back to tie the score at 19.
The Broncos, however, wouldn't have a replay of sets one and two. A kill by Doyle, ace by Mitchell and block from Doyle and Ashley Turnage resulted in three quick points as WMU closed the set on a 6-1 run, capped by an Eberling kill.
WMU hit only .146 in set three with 13 kills and seven errors, but picked up its defense and held EMU to nine kills and seven errors for a .046 attack percentage.
The Broncos finished with five more kills (53-48) and four less errors (19-15), while also hitting .270 to just .190 for EMU. The Broncos also picked up 10 more digs (75-65) and rejected three more attacks (8.0-5.0)
The Eagles were led by Hayvolla Leite with 13 kills and Victoria Randolph with 11 kills and 16 digs. Kim Jarzynka led all players with 22 digs.
The Broncos finish conference play on the road with matches at Ball State and Toledo on Friday and Saturday.
