KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team, playing shorthanded against a difficult opponent, battled hard for four sets but were unable to top the Ohio Bobcats in falling 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) at University Arena on Friday. The Broncos fall to 10-14 overall on the season and 6-3 in Mid-American Conference action.
The Broncos pressed outside hitter Alysia Baznik into duty as setter and the junior proved herself up to the task, totaling 40 assists and 19 digs. Mikaela Ryshytylo led the team with 12 kills on the evening and also provided eight digs, while Olivia Kofie and Bailey Schnell recorded 10 kills apiece. Five Broncos broke double-digits in digs, led by Hailey Knecht's total of 20 digs; Baznik (19), Izabella Porada (14), Sydney Cheatham (13) and Caroline Rose (10) were the others to record 10 or more digs.
WMU rebounded from a tough first set to take a hard-fought second set from the Bobcats, rallying from deficits of 14-11 and 17-14 to steal the momentum of the match. LeMay bounced kills on back-to-back points to tie the score at 19-all after an inadvertent whistle broke up the Bobcats' flow. Ryshytylo offered the equalizer at 21-all with a kill and Olivia Kofie came off the right side with a blast to put the Broncos ahead 22-21 and force an Ohio timeout. Kofie pounded another one to make it 23-21 and Knecht kept the heat on the rattled Bobcats, acing Mallory Salis to force set point. Ohio committed an error two points later and the Broncos took the second set 25-22 to take the overall match.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair with WMU again coming back from a sizable deficit, erasing a 15-10 Ohio lead to put themselves back in the match. Nicole Kinser launched a kill off a back row attacker to tie things up at 15 and an error by the Bobcats' Jaime Kosiorek a few points later put the Broncos ahead 19-18. Ohio countered and re-took the lead at 23-22 and eventually took the third set 25-23 on a kill by Kosiorek.
The Broncos opened up a big lead in the fourth set, leading by as many as nine points midway through, but Ohio rallied back to tie the set at 22-all on a kill by Karin Bull. LeMay hit a high-hands shot to put the Broncos back ahead but the Bobcats carried the rest of the set, scoring three straight to win 25-23 and win the match.
