KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team downed Oakland 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17) in its regular season home opener and the first match of the Holiday Inn Invitational at University Arena on Thursday Night.
The Broncos turned in a dominant offense performance, finishing with a season-high .324 hitting percentage led by Quina Ware's 14 kills on the night. Senior middle blocker
Olivia Kofie had 12 kills and a season-high .500 hitting percentage. Freshman
Rachel Bontrager and senior
Sydney LeMay each had eight kills.
Mary Murphy had an efficient night helping the Bronco attack with 38 assists. Sophomore libero
Kathleen Reilly had a game-high 22 digs.
Ware had five of her kills in the first set. WMU (4-3) built an early lead but saw it disappear after an error on the Broncos made it 9-9. There were three ties in the first set but beyond the opening point, Western Michigan never trailed. A serve error gave WMU a 10-9 lead and the team kept the Golden Grizzlies at bay for the rest of the set, never trailing again until a kill by Bontrager finished off the set, 25-21.
Once again the Broncos jumped on Oakland in the second set. After dropping the opening point and battling to a 3-3 tie WMU went a small run to push the lead to 7-6. Murphy then served for six-straight points to open the set up. Bontrager kill doubled up OU, 14-7, and WMU was able to keep some distance for the rest of the set. Oakland went on a small run towards the end, cutting the lead from 22-15 to 23-18 but a kill by
Cassandra Smigiel finished off the Golden Grizzlies 25-22.
The Broncos opened up an 8-2 lead in the third set. Oakland cut the lead to 8-7 but never got any closer. The teams traded points, with Western Michigan going on small runs to increase the lead. The set and the match ended with three-straight points by WMU on kills by Ware, Bontrager and Kofie.
Oakland takes on Southern Illinois on Friday at 5 p.m., while WMU is back in action against the Salukis on Saturday at 7 p.m. The game can be seen live on ESPN3.com.
