KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Western Michigan volleyball team battled a tough Tennessee team to open the 2017 season, but fell short 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 13-25, 20-25) to the DISH Tennessee Classic hosts on Friday evening.
Sophomore Quianna Ware led the way for WMU with 14 kills on the night and also contributed with a career-high 14 digs for her first career double-double. Ware was also tied with Olivia Kofie for the team-lead in blocks with five. Sophomore Kathleen Reilly had a team-high 17 digs on the night, while Mary Murphy had 35 sets and nearly a double-double with eight digs.
"This was a really good match for us against a very physical team," said head coach Colleen Munson. "We competed and battled but we just played in waves and we need to control that. Tennessee did a good job of stifling our middles and we fought to the very last set but unfortunately it didn't go our way."
Western Michigan took and early 1-0 lead after winning the first set 25-20. The Broncos went down 5-1 early but slowly chipped away at UT's lead, cutting it to 7-6 after a kill by Lemay. The Volunteers went on a small run and pushed the lead to five at 14-9 but a kill by Rachel Bontrager provided a park for WMU, setting the team on an 8-1 run to take 16-15 lead. WMU steadily increased its lead and an attack error on Tennessee's Stephanie Buss gave the Broncos the set.
WMU doubled up on the Volunteers in the second set, jumping out to a 14-7 lead. The Broncos were unable to hold them off as they chipped away at the lead and eventually took a 18-17 advantage on a Western Michigan attack error. UT pushed the lead to 20-17 and maintained the gap to the end, taking the set 25-22.
Tennessee jumped on WMU early in the third set with a 12-2 run to start. The Broncos didn't recover and the Volunteers won the set 25-13.
The two teams went back and forth to open the fourth set but Tennessee gained some distance with two two-point runs, taking a 10-7 lead. The Broncos kept close for the entire set but were unable to break through, falling 25-20.
Western Michigan is back at it with a busy Saturday. WMU takes on George Washington at 10 a.m. and then Wofford College later on at 4:30 p.m.
