KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team continued its winning ways and extended its winning streak to four with a four-set victory (25-19, 25-19, 24-26, 25-18) over in-state rival Central Michigan on Friday afternoon.

Western Michigan had three players with double digit kills led by sophomore Maggie King with 17. King was followed by senior Rachel Bontrager with 16 and junior Meredith Phillips with 15. King's 17 kills were two shy of her career-high while also hitting .244 with two digs and five blocks.

Bontrager posted 16 kills, marking the fifth straight match the senior outside hitter has recorded double digit kills. Bontrager registered a .209 attack percentage and had one assist, one service ace, seven digs and three blocks.

Rounding out the double digit trio was Meredith Phillips with 15 kills and a team-high .387 attack percentage. Phillips also registered two digs with one block against Central Michigan. Western Michigan had a trio of players in Logan Case, Janell Williams and Charley Andrews with four kills followed by Sammi Labolle with one.

Freshman Logan Case registered 51 assists on Friday afternoon, marking the third straight match the freshman setter has had at least 50 assists. Case nearly earned a double-double with eight digs while also having four kills and one block.

Leading the way defensively was senior Kaley Smith with 27 digs. Smith also had two assists with one service ace. Behind Smith was freshman Andelyn Simkins with 10 digs to go along with a team-high two service aces.

As a team the Broncos hit .274 on Friday and held CMU to a .175 attack percentage. For the second straight match WMU had double digit blocks with 11 and had seven service aces to CMU's six.

Western Michigan has now won four straight matches and has an overall and Mid-American Conference record of 6-2. The 6-2 conference start for the Broncos is the best start since going 8-2 to begin MAC play during the 2017-18 campaign. WMU returns to the court next week for a pair of matches on the road at Miami, Feb. 18-19.

First Set (WMU – 25, CMU – 19)
Central Michigan quickly jumped out to a three-point lead thanks to an early 3-0 run before the Broncos rattled of seven of the next eight points to earn a 12-9 advantage.. The two teams traded points midway through the first set before CMU rallied with three straight to cut its deficit down to one.

However, that was the closest the Chippewas got in the first set as WMU ended the set on an 8-3 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Second Set (WMU – 25, CMU – 19)
It was same score and same result for the Broncos in the second set as the Broncos led wire-to-wire in the second set. The two teams went back and forth early on before Western Michigan embarked on an 8-1 run midway through the second to earn a 20-10 advantage.

CMU countered with a 5-0 run of its own late in the second before a Meredith Phillips kill followed by a CMU net violation propelled WMU to a 2-0 lead in the match.

Third Set (WMU – 24, CMU – 26)
The Broncos and Chippewas battled back and forth early in the third set as neither team led by more than two through the first 22 points of the match. Two blocks along with kills from Phillips and Janell Williams sparked a 4-0 run for WMU to give the Brown & Gold a 20-15 advantage. Central Michigan responded once again with a 5-1 run to trail by one late in the third.

The third set was tied at 24 after a kill from Maggie King prior to CMU's Savannah Thompson recording the kill to put the Chippewas up one. CMU won the third set's final point on a WMU attack error to trim WMU's lead in the match down to 2-1.

Fourth Set (WMU – 25, CMU – 18)
To wrap up the match the Broncos got off to a fast start, embarking on a 9-1 run to gain a 10-3 advantage over the Chippewas. CMU looked to claw its way back and trailed by just three midway through the fourth before a kill from Phillips extended WMU's lead back to 16-12.

Central Michigan cut the Bronco lead down to two at 20-18 before the Brown & Gold ended the set and match on a 5-0 run to earn its fourth straight victory. Back-to-back blocks from Charley Andrews and Rachel Bontrager highlighted the 5-0 run to end the match and sweep the Chippewas.