KALAMAZOO -- The Western Michigan volleyball team used a balanced, efficient offensive effort to defeat Buffalo, 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-16), in 67 minutes in front of 1,501 at University Arena on Friday night.
The Broncos (14-6, 5-2 MAC) were led by freshman outside hitter Taylor Richard with nine kills on a career-high .381 attack percentage, career-high four aces and five digs. Freshman outside hitter Ali Gossen added seven kills on a career-high .500 attack percentage with three digs and three blocks, while senior outside hitter Allyson Doyle hit .389 with seven kills, 10 digs, three assists and three blocks. Doyle moved into a tie for ninth all-time at WMU with 321 total blocks.
The middle blocker combination of sophomore Jessica Brown and junior Ashley Turnage had four blocks and three blocks, while freshman libero Lena Oliver led all players with 20 digs to hold the Bulls (14-9, 2-5 MAC) to a .103 attack percentage.
Junior setter Sam Viox dished 28 assists with seven digs and two kills as the Broncos hit .292 with a team and finished with 38 kills.
Buffalo was led by middle blocker Kayla Govier with eight kills and hit .389, while libero Heather Pyle contributed 16 digs. Freshman setter Dani Reinert came off the bench with 19 assists in the final two sets. Middle blocker Abby Niekamp ranked third in the MAC with a .346 attack percentage entering the match, but was held to .188 attacking against WMU. Buffalo's other top-10 attacker, Kristen Bignell, was held to .087 attacking.
"Overall, our team played very well against an athletic Buffalo team," head coach Colleen Munson said. "The respect that our middles have developed in our system helped our outsides gain one-on-one situations and they took advantage. Defensively, we lined up well with their attackers and either blocked or touched a lot of balls and what we didn't touch we were able to pick up in the back row."
An ace by Richard put gave the Broncos their largest lead, 12-9, at the beginning of the first set. The Bulls stayed within two, 16-14, when the Broncos scored four in a row on a kill by Richard, Gossen kill, Richard ace and Buffalo ball-handling error to increase the lead, 20-14. Buffalo scored the next point, but then WMU ended the set with five in a row, including Turnage's kill on set point, 25-15.
WMU hit .367 with 14 kills, led by Richard and Gossen with four each, while limiting Buffalo to .150 attacking with 12 kills. Viox accounted for assists on 13 of WMU's kills in the set.
WMU used a 4-1 run to increase a one-point lead to three, 9-6, after consecutive blocks by Gossen/Turnage and Turnage/Doyle. Buffalo called time and responded to take the lead, 13-12, after an error by WMU. Buffalo missed on the next point to tie the score and then Richard had an ace and kill to put WMU back in front, 15-13. The Bulls closed within one, 16-15, but WMU pushed the lead to four, 20-16, with back-to-back Doyle terminations. The Bulls didn't have another run and Richard's kill ended the set, 25-18.
WMU added 13 more kills in the second set with a .281 attack percentage, while Buffalo hit .147 with 12 kills. Doyle had five kills in the set and hit .556.
Western Michigan didn't let up after the 10-minute intermission by scoring the first five points of the set and leading 8-1 before Buffalo called timeout. The Bulls couldn't mount a rally in the set and WMU put the match away with Brown's kill on the right side, 25-16.
The Broncos limited Buffalo to .023 attacking in the set with 10 kills and nine errors. Offensively, WMU hit .235 with 11 kills, led by Turnage with four kills.
The Broncos host former Western Michigan assistant coach Ron Arenz and MAC East leader Akron (13-6, 5-2 MAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
