YPSILANTI, Mich. – For the second straight night the Western Michigan volleyball team came back from an early deficit to claim a conference win as the Broncos defeated Eastern Michigan 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19) on Saturday. The win improves the Broncos' overall record to 12-15, their Mid-American Conference record to 8-4, and stands as the sixth straight road win for WMU.
Hailey Knecht had another stellar night in the back row, recording 26 digs as the Broncos held the Eagles to a .107 hitting percentage on the evening. Combined with the previous night's performance against Central Michigan, Knecht has averaged 7.11 digs per set in the last nine sets she's played. Bailey Schnell had the match-high with 11 kills while Olivia Kofie added 10, and Alysia Baznik recorded a double-double of 37 assists and 18 digs. The Broncos recorded 12.0 team blocks against the Eagles.
WMU dropped the first set in quick fashion but responded with a tight second set victory, starting with a 6-2 run to open the set. Kofie and Baznik blocked Stacey Perinar to make it 5-2 and Schnell tacked on a kill on the next point to close the opening salvo. Katie Krasowski cut WMU's lead to 8-7 with a kill but Nicole Kinser added one on the next point to keep the pressure on. Sydney LeMay bounced a kill to win the race to 15 and Schnell closed out the Broncos' 7-2 run with a kill to make it 21-13. The Eagles pulled as close as two points on an error by Baznik, but EMU committed an attack error on the next point to give WMU the set win.
The third set was also a tight one as the Eagles didn't allow the Broncos to pull away at any point. Kelsey Jones cut WMU's lead to 19-17 with a kill but Kinser and Kofie were there to block Cassie Haut on the next point to win the race to 20. EMU again inched closer, making it 22-21 on an error by LeMay, but Schnell and Mikaela Ryshytylo recorded kills on back-to-back points to force set point and the Broncos won the game on an error by Krasowski.
EMU was out of sync in the fourth set as the Broncos pulled away early on, taking a 15-10 lead on a Haut error. Ryshytylo made it 20-17 on a kill and Haut committed another error to put the Broncos at 24-19. Schnell completed the match win with a solo block of Jones on match point.
