KALAMAZOO, Mich. – In the final match of the regular season the Western Michigan volleyball team defeated the Golden Flashes of Kent State in three sets (25-18, 25-22, 25-15) on Saturday afternoon inside University Arena to secure its third straight sweep.

Western Michigan has now won 11 of its last 12 matches including three straight 3-0 victories. WMU ends the season with an overall and MAC record of 17-4 and is the No.2 seed in the upcoming MAC tournament. WMU will square off with No.3 seed Ohio in the MAC Tournament Semifinals on Friday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.

It was once again a stellar offensive performance by the Broncos on Saturday, hitting .324 as a team with four players hitting over .300 and two player recording double-digit kills. WMU held Kent State to a .154 hitting percentage while the Golden Flashes had 19 attack errors and six service errors.

Leading the way for WMU was senior outside hitter Rachel Bontrager with 17 kills while registering a .500 hitting percentage. It's the 18^th straight match Bontrager has recorded double-digit kills. The Valparaiso, Ind., native also had seven digs to go along with two blocks. With 1,613 career kills, Bontrager is now just the second player in school history to reach 1,600 kills in a career.

For the 11th straight match sophomore Maggie King had double-digit kills with 12. King hit .333 and registered four blocks to go along with two digs. In the sweeps of Kent State this weekend King has 25 kills for the Brown & Gold, averaging 4.17 kills per set.

Third on the team in kills was Charley Andrew with seven to go along with a staggering .700 hitting percentage. Andrews was also dominant at the net posting a season-high five blocks. Behind Andrews was the trio of Meredith Phillips, Cassandra Smigiel and Abi Wilcoxson with three kills along with Logan Case with one.

Case paced the Broncos with 39 assists along with four digs and one service ace. Case recorded 74 assists in two matches against Kent State, averaging a stellar 12.3 per set. Defensively WMU had two players with double-digit digs led by senior Kaley Smith with 15. Smith has now recorded double-digit digs in five straight matches. Freshman Andelyn Simkins earned 12 digs against the Golden Flashes, two shy of her career-high.

Western Michigan ends the regular season with an overall and MAC record of 17-4. The Broncos' 17 MAC wins is tied for the second most in a single-season in school history and the most since having 17 back in 2000.

The Broncos head to the MAC Tournament hosted by Bowling Green as the No.2 seed and will square off with No.3 seed Ohio on Friday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m. The MAC Championship Match is scheduled for Saturday, April 3 at 5:00 p.m. All games of the MAC Tournament will be streamed on ESPN Plus.

Set One (WMU – 25, Kent State – 18)
Western Michigan never trailed in the first set and was firing on all cylinders to start gaining an 8-1 lead. The Broncos extended their lead later in the first thanks to a 4-0 run with two kills from Bontrager along with a kill from Andrews and King. Kent State made a 3-0 run of its own later on to cut the Bronco lead down to 18-12.

Down the stretch of the first set Kent State rallied with four straight points to trim the WMU lead down to four. However, back-to-back kills from Abi Wilcoxson ended the set and gave WMU a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set Two (WMU – 25, Kent State – 22)
In the second set the Broncos and Golden Flashes were deadlocked early before a 13-1 run midway through the set gave WMU a 17-7 advantage. During the run the Broncos were guided by two kills from Bontrager and King along with two blocks.

Kent State rallied back late in the set and cut the WMU lead down to 24-22 thanks in large part to a 5-0 run. Out of a timeout WMU, King delivered the final kill to give the Broncos the set two victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set Three (WMU – 25, Kent State – 15)
It was all Western Michigan in the third set as the Broncos hit .321 en route to the 25-15 set victory. It was a back and forth affair between WMU and Kent State early on as the set was knotted at 13 after a Bontrager kill. The Bontrager kill sparked an 8-0 run for WMU to propel the Brown & Gold to a 21-14 advantage.

Ultimately, Western Michigan ended the set on an 11-1 run to earn its 10^th sweep of the season and eighth straight home victory.