BOX SCORE
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Michelle Moore led all players with 14 kills as Western Michigan opened the 2008 volleyball season with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-22 victory over Pacific in the opening match of the Aquafina Invitational at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida.
The Broncos (1-0) dominated the Tigers (0-1) offensively 42-17 in kills and defensively, held Pacific to a -.022 attack percentage, while also notching 49 digs.
"This is a great win for our program to open the season and a testament to how much we've
grown over the spring and in Brazil," head coach Colleen Munson said. "It's a good start to play against
a quality opponent and see the areas we are strong in, in addition to
the things we need to improve upon as the season progresses."
Pacific opened the tournament with the first two points on a kill and service ace, but the Broncos quickly responded to even the match at three on a Moore kill. The early part of the set saw five ties and five lead changes, but WMU took control with an 8-1 run highlighted by back-to-back kills from both Vogl and Katie Eberling to build a 14-8 advantage.
The Tigers closed to within three, 16-13, but kills by Moore, Jaime Gotham and Allyson Doyle helped WMU during a 5-0 that pushed the lead to 21-13. The Tigers stopped the run on the next point, but WMU closed out the set with the final four points, capped off by a Gotham spike.
WMU hit .481 in set one with 14 kills and one error on 27 attempts, while Pacific hit -.074 with six kills and eight errors in 27 attempts.
Set two started tight with five ties in the opening moments, but WMU again found its footing first with a 6-0 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 12-8 lead. The run stretched to 9-2 before Pacific called a timeout trailing 15-10 after a solo block by Doyle. The timeout didn't help as Moore cracked a kill and Gotham and Doyle teamed up on a block to push the advantage to 17-10. Pacific never threatened again the the Broncos closed out set two with a Vogl kill and a combo block by Vogl and Jillian Mitchell.
The Broncos posted five blocks in set two, while also hammering home 13 kills and two service aces from Eberling. WMU also held Pacific to a .061 attack percentage on eight kills and six errors in 33 attempts.
Set three turned out to be the tightest of the match, despite the Broncos jumping out to its best start with a 3-0 lead. Pacific quickly evened the score, but WMU went back up three, 7-4, after a Moore kill, and 10-6 after a service error by the Tigers. Errors began to creep up on the Broncos and Pacific took advantage with a 10-3 run to force a WMU timeout trailing 16-13.
The timeout worked as WMU answered with a block by Gotham and Mitchell and Doyle kill to pull within one. The teams traded points until Gotham evened the score at 18 with an ace and WMU took the lead moments later after kills by Moore and Eberling, 20-19, forced a Pacific timeout.
Pacific scored out of the timeout, but WMU never relinquished the lead. Moore hit a kill, Caitlin Strimel dialed up an ace and Pacific commited an error to put WMU on the verge of victory, 24-21. Pacific stayed alive on the next point, but Mitchell and Gotham stuffed Pacific on the final point to give WMU the 3-0 victory.
WMU hit just .043 in set three with 15 kills and 13 errors in 47 attempts, but they held Pacific to a -.069 percentage with a meager three kills and five errors in 29 attempts.
Eberling ended the match leading all players with 15 digs, while Strimel chipped in 13. Gotham finished with seven kills, hitting .400, and three block assists, while Eberling added six kills and Doyle had four kills, four assists, seven digs, one solo block and one block assist. Mitchell directed the offense with 30 assists, four digs and a match-high four block assists.
Pacific was led by Mallori Gibson with eight kills and Dancyne Kama with 13 digs.
The Broncos wrap up play Saturday at 6 p.m. against UAB.
