YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Freshman libero Lena Oliver tallied a career-high 41 digs, but Western Michigan volleyball fell at Eastern Michigan, 3-2 (16-25, 25-22, 21-25, 27-25, 23-21), on Friday night at the Convocation Center.
Oliver's 41 digs is a career high and the second-highest total in program history (Schea Fissel, 42, 10/1/04), while the Broncos (12-6, 3-2 MAC) totaled 128 digs as a team, the second-highest total in program history (146 vs. Purdue, 11/19/85).
Freshman outside hitter Taylor Richard set career highs with a team-high 18 kills and 21 digs, while sophomore middle blocker Jessica Brown added 16 kills, four digs and four blocks. Senior outside hitter Allyson Doyle notched her 39th career double-double with 12 kills, season-high 25 digs and five blocks.
Sophomore defensive specialist Elizabeth Sweeney added a career-high 17 digs. Junior setter Sam Viox had a season-high 57 assists and nine digs, while freshman middle blocker Emily Harris had career highs of seven blocks and seven digs, to go with nine kills.
The Eagles (17-5, 4-1 MAC) tallied 146 digs as a team, led by libero Haley Stein with 55 digs. Outside hitter Rachel Iaquaniello led all players with 33 kills and setter Ashley Mason finished with 68 assists, 20 digs and six kills.
The Eagles hit .136 with 77 kills and 41 errors, while the Broncos hit .157 with 65 kills and 25 errors. Each team had 11 total blocks and serving was nearly even with WMU totalling two aces and three errors and EMU had three aces and four errors.
"Eastern Michigan played very well, especially defensively, where it seemed like they dug every ball. That frustrated us and we started to make errors and that was the difference," head coach Colleen Munson said.
WMU had 10 attack errors combined in the first three sets and 15 errors in the last two sets, when Eastern Michigan fought back from its deficit, 2-1. Overall, the match had 48 ties and 19 lead changes.
Eastern Michigan led to start the final set and built its lead to three, 12-9, to force Western Michigan to call timeout. The Broncos answered the call with four points in a row to take its first lead, 13-12, of the set after kills by Taylor and Brown, a block by Brown and Viox and EMU error. The Eagles came back with two kills in a row to earn match point, 14-13, but a kill by Brown and block by Brown and freshman outside hitter Ali Gossen gave WMU match point, 15-14.
Eastern Michigan came back with two points of its own for another match point, 16-15, but a kill by Brown and EMU error put WMU in command again, 17-16. The Eagles saved that match point and another until earning another chance to end the match, 19-18, but they missed another attack. A kill by Doyle saved another match point, 20-20, and Taylor saved a fifth match point, 21-21, but it wasn't enough. Eastern Michigan earned a sixth match point on a WMU error and clinched the match with a kill, 23-21.
EMU hit .073 with 15 kills and 11 errors in the set, while the Broncos had eight kills and seven errors to hit .021. Iaquaniello had 11 kills and hit .429 for the Eagles, while Brown led Western Michigan with four kills.
The match started strongly for the Broncos with a 10-4 lead to open the match two Doyle kills, a Harris kill and block by Doyle and Harris. The Eagles came back within four, 14-10, but three consecutive kills by Brown put WMU comfortably back in front, 17-10. The Eagles couldn't rally and Brown put WMU in front, 25-16, with her fourth kill of the set.
The Broncos hit .318 with 17 kills to start the match, led by six kills from Doyle, while the Eagles hit .149 with 13 kills.
Kills by Brown and Richard, followed by a bad set from EMU, put the Broncos up five, 12-7, at the start of the second set. Eastern Michigan responded with an 8-1 run to turn the set around and take the lead, 15-13. The Broncos came back with the next three points to regain the lead, 16-15, on a kill by Harris. The Broncos still led by two, 20-18, after a Richard kill when Eastern Michigan scored four in a row to regain the lead, 22-20. Kills by Doyle and Richard tied the set, but EMU rattled off three more in a row to even the match, 25-22, after an ace on set point.
WMU had 15 kills and hit .169 in the second set, but EMU hit .231 with 17 kills. Brown and Richard each had four kills in the set and Oliver had 10 digs.
The Broncos scored the first three points of the third set on a trio of errors by EMU, capped by a block by Brown and Doyle. EMU came back to take its first lead, 11-10, and start a stretch of 21 points when neither team led by more than one. A kill by the Eagles accounted for the 13th tie, 21-21, of the set when WMU made its move. Richard and Brown accounted for kills to put WMU up two, 23-21, and force EMU to call timeout. Brown had another kill, 24-21, to push EMU into another timeout. The Eagles missed on set point, 25-21, to put WMU in control, 2-1.
WMU hit .317 with 15 kills in the frame, while EMU had 16 kills, but hit .173. Richard had seven kills and hit .538 in the set for WMU.
Western Michigan took another lead, 11-6, to start the fourth set that forced an early timeout by Eastern Michigan. The stoppage in play ignited a 6-1 rally for EMU to tie the score, 12-12. WMU came back with a 6-2 run, aided by two Richard kills and an ace, to go back up by four, 18-14. Eastern Michigan used its last timeout and went on an 8-2 run to take the lead, 22-20, and force Western Michigan to stop the action. A block by Harris and Viox and attack error by EMU tied the score, 22-22, but EMU scored the next two to earn set point, 24-22. An error by EMU and kill by Richard tied the score again, but EMU earned another set point, 25-24, that WMU saved on an EMU error. The Eagles answered with back-to-back kills to win the set, 27-25, and even the match, 2-2.
The Broncos head to Mt. Pleasant on Saturday to face preseason Mid-American Conference West favorite Central Michigan (7-10, 1-4 MAC) at 7 p.m. The Chippewas lost, 3-2, at home to Northern Illinois on Friday night.
