KALAMAZOO --Behind a career-high 11 kills from freshman outside hitter Ali Gossen and career-high 18 digs from freshman outside hitter Gillian Asque, the Western Michigan volleyball team won its Mid-American Conference opener, 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-18), in front of 1,246 at University Arena on Friday night.
The crowd was the largest to see a volleyball match at University Arena since 1,300 packed the stands on Sept. 6, 2004 against No. 2 Nebraska. This match was the first Friday Family Night of the season where general admission tickets are $1 and fans can purchase $1 hot dogs and popcorn at the concession stands.
"The crowd created an incredible environment for our team and on behalf of Western Michigan Volleyball, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out tonight and cheering us on," head coach Colleen Munson said. "It was great to be back at home and greeted by such enthusiasm and we hope to see everybody back out here for the rest of our matches."
Sophomore middle blocker Jessica Brown led the Broncos (10-4, 1-0 MAC) with 13 kills and hit .478, while junior middle blocker Ashley Turnage hit .476 with 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks against the Rockets (5-7, 0-1 MAC) as WMU improved to 5-1 in conference openers under Munson. Asque hit .300 and added nine kills for WMU.
Junior setter Sam Viox passed out 45 assists with three digs, two blocks and one ace as WMU hit .328 as a team, while holding the Rockets to .165 hitting. Freshman libero Lena Oliver had 14 digs and senior outside hitter Allyson Doyle added six kills, eight digs, two assists and one block. Doyle moved into 17th in Western Michigan history in career kills with 1,018, passing Kathryn Babcock (2003-06).
"Sam really established the middles early in the match and that opened up one-on-one opportunities for our outside hitters," Munson said. "Defensively, I thought we played well and set ourselves up to to execute offensively."
Toledo was led by Lauren Rafdal with 14 kills, hitting .200, and libero Amber DeWeerdt tied Asque for match-high honors with 18 digs.
The Rockets started the match with the first three points and continued to hold the lead, 11-8, through the early parts of the opening set. Back-to-back kills by Doyle started a 6-2 run to put the Broncos in the lead, 14-13, after a block by Brown and Viox. After a timeout, Toledo tied the score, but kills by Asque, Brown and Turnage put WMU on top for good, 18-15. Toledo didn't let Western Michigan get too far away and came back within one, 21-20, but Brown rattled off three consecutive kills to stop the Rockets and WMU took the set on an attack error, 25-20, by UT.
WMU hit .385 with 18 kills in the opening set, led by Brown with seven kills and .700 attacking. The Rockets were limited to .182 attacking and 13 kills.
The Rockets held a slim lead, 4-3, before WMU rattled off five points in a row to go in front, 8-4, and force Toledo to call timeout. The Rockets came back to regain the lead, 11-10, after a kill by Rafdal. The Rockets hung onto the lead and kept it at two, 18-16, before WMU rallied with a 4-0 run on a kill by Turnage, block by Gossen and Turnage, Gossen kill and Viox ace to take the lead, 20-18. Toledo stayed close and saved one set point to close within one, 24-23, before Asque hammered a kill to take the set, 25-23.
There were 10 ties and four lead changes in the set as WMU hit .250 with 17 kills and Toledo hit .167 with 12 kills. Turnage led the Broncos with five kills, while Brown and Gossen each added four.
The third set stayed close with six ties before WMU broke it open with an 8-1 run to take a 16-10 lead. Turnage, Asque and Gossen all registered kills in the run and Doyle teamed with Turnage on a block. The Rockets cut their deficit to three points three times, but three straight kills by Asque opened the margin back to seven, 24-17, and Turnage ended the match with a swing in the middle, 25-18.
Asque hit .750 with six kills in the set as the Broncos hit .351 with 15 kills and held Toledo to 13 kills and .146 attacking.
The Broncos return to University Arena on Saturday night against Ball State (11-2, 1-0 MAC) at 7 p.m. The Cardinals won at Northern Illinois, 3-2, on Friday night.
