KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team fought valiantly against another top contender in the Mid-American Conference but were unable to make it over the top as the Broncos fell 3-1 (19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 21-25) to the Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday. The Broncos fall to 10-15 on the season and 6-4 in MAC play with the loss.
Sydney LeMay was on fire in the middle, finishing with 21 kills on 37 attempts with just four errors for a .459 hitting percentage. Defensively she tied for the match-high with five total blocks. Hailey Knecht recorded a team-high 22 digs and was joined in double-digits by Sydney Cheatham's 15 digs. Alysia Baznik played her second match at the setter position and doled out 48 assists while also adding nine digs and five blocks. Olivia Kofie recorded 12 kills, four digs and two blocks.
Kent State controlled the early tempo of the match, winning the first two sets by identical 25-19 scores, but WMU rallied from an early deficit in the third set to cut into the Golden Flashes' lead. The advantage was taken when Caroline Rose ripped a back-row attack off a defender to put WMU ahead 9-8, and Baznik tipped over a kill a few points later to make it 12-10. Kofie won the race to 15 with a kill to make it 15-12 but the Golden Flashes tied it at 17 on a block by Bridget Wilhelm and Brittney Jakscht. The Broncos rattled off four straight points, starting with a kill by LeMay and including two straight aces by Mikaela Ryshytylo. Bailey Schnell wrapped the run with a kill, and Kofie claimed the 25-21 set win with a kill of her own to make it 2-1.
Things were close in the fourth set as the Broncos opened on a 5-1 run, capping it with a kill by Baznik. LeMay bashed kills on back-to-back points to make it 11-7 but the Golden Flashes scored six straight points to take a 13-11 lead. LeMay and Baznik eventually tied the set at 18 with a block of Kelsey Bittinger, and Rose offered a back row attack to make it 19-all a few points later. Kent State finished it off from there, though, scoring six of the final eight points to win 25-21.
