TOLEDO, Ohio – After dropping the first set, the Western Michigan volleyball team came storming back to beat the Toledo Rockets, 3-1 (25-27, 25-17, 25-20, 25-21), on the road at Savage Arena on Saturday evening.
Bailey Schnell and Sydney LeMay both led the Broncos (11-18, 6-10 MAC) with 15 kills, while freshman Quiana Ware recorded a new career-high with 13. Mary Murphy recorded a double-double for the second straight match after leading the way with 52 assists to go with her 12 digs. Kathleen Reilly led the way with 22 digs, while Sydney Cheatham had a season-high 19.
The Broncos jumped out to a 7-2 lead to open the first set, but the Rockets responded with a 9-3 run to take an 11-10 lead. The team's traded points and leads until the Broncos had a 15-14 gap on a kill by Ware. Toledo responded with a 5-1 run to take a 19-16 lead, but that was matched by an 8-2 run to give WMU set point. UT rattled off three points to tie it up at 24-24 but a kill by LeMay once again put the set in Western Michigan's hands. A kill by Saige Thomas tied it back up at 25-25 and then back-to-back kills by Rachel Vidourek gave the set to Toledo.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair with the teams trading leads until an attack error on Toledo tied up the set at 8-8. WMU used that error to spark a 6-2 run to take a 13-10 lead. From there, the Broncos never trailed and after the Rockets cut the lead to 16-15, used a 9-2 run to claim the set.
After the break WMU jumped out to a 5-2 lead to start the third set. Toledo tied it up at 5-5, but the Broncos scored the next six points to build an 11-5 advantage. Western Michigan matched every small run by Toledo to maintain the lead and a kill by Schnell finished off the set at 25-20.
The Broncos built an early 7-1 lead to start the fourth set. The Rockets made a run to cut the lead 10-9 after a 5-0 stretch of their own. WMU matched that a with a 5-1 run to push the lead to 15-10. From there, Western Michigan kept Toledo at arms-length, never leading by less than three until Ware finished off the set and the match with her 13th kill.
Western Michigan earned the eighth seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament and will play either Ball State or Bowling Green on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Northern Illinois. Both BGSU and BSU play later Saturday evening.
