ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team took the first set against a top opponent on the road, but the Broncos were unable to sustain the momentum in falling 3-1 (25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 18-25) at Oakland on Thursday. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 2-10 on the season.
Alysia Baznik notched her third double-double of the season, recording a team-high 13 kills and 11 digs against the Golden Grizzlies. Nicole Kinser finished the match with 12 kills and tied for the team-high with four blocks while sophomore Olivia Kofie added 11 kills and four blocks. Freshman libero Hailey Knecht had a match-high 18 digs, classmate Izabella Porada had 11 digs, and freshman setter Mary Murphy had 42 assists in the match.
The Broncos jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead in the first set against the Golden Grizzlies, with Baznik breaking an early tie with an ace and Kofie winning the race to five points with an ace of her own. An Oakland error gave the Broncos a 10-6 lead and Kofie extended the lead further with a kill to make it 13-10. WMU forced Oakland into their first timeout of the first set with an error at 18-14 and again at 20-14. Kinser ripped a kill to make it 21-15, and Baznik made it 22-16 with a kill of her own. Sydney LeMay forced set point with a kill at 24-19 and two points later Kinser wrapped the set with a kill.
Oakland led the second set from post-to-post and won 25-17 but the Broncos put up a major fight in set three, taking a small lead midway through and holding tight throughout. Kofie and Baznik blocked Sammy Condon to give WMU an 11-9 lead, and the duo of Kofie and Murhpy gave the Broncos an 18-17 lead with a block of Meliss Deatsch to force a Golden Grizzly timeout. The last Bronco lead of the set came at 23-22 when Bailey Schnell posted a kill, but Oakland scored two of the final three points of the set to win 25-23.
WMU took an early lead in the fourth set against Oakland, going up 7-5 on an error by the Golden Grizzlies. Condon pushed Oakland ahead on a kill and the Golden Grizzlies led the rest of the way, finishing off the set 25-18 on a kill by Breann Reveley.
