INDIANAPOLIS – The Western Michigan volleyball team opened up its final weekend of non-conference play with a 3-2 setback (25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 12-15) to Milwaukee on Friday afternoon at the Bulldog Brawl in Indianapolis.
Four Broncos tallied double-digit kills, led by
Maggie King's 17.
Meredith Phillips and
Andelyn Simkins recorded 16 kills apiece, while
Madison Merz added 13. Western hit .290 as a team for the match, its second-highest mark of the season.
Logan Case handed out a match-high 60 assists, while
Mairead Boyle topped the Broncos in digs with 20.
Maddie Arundel posted 18 digs for the afternoon, a new career high.
Case chipped in 12 digs to collect her team-high fifth double-double of the campaign. Simkins added 13 digs of her own to notch her fourth double-double of the season. Simkins also served up a match-high four aces, tied for the most by a Bronco in a match this season.
Milwaukee got out of the gates quickly in the first set, opening up a 6-1 advantage. WMU answered with a pair of 4-0 runs to take its first lead, 10-9. The two teams went back-and-forth until a 6-0 run put the Broncos back on top, 21-16. The Panthers cut the margin to two, 24-22, but a
Kennedy Hogan kill put the first frame away for Western.
The Panthers opened up a 4-0 edge in the second set, but WMU responded with eight of the next 10 to go up 8-6, and eventually stretched out the advantage to 14-9. Milwaukee closed the gap to one on multiple occasions, including 18-17, but Western used a 4-1 spurt to up the margin back to 22-18, and held on from there to take a 2-0 lead into the break.
Western Michigan broke a 5-5 deadlock with a 4-1 run to go up 9-6 in the third set. With the Broncos leading 14-10, Milwaukee notched five of the next six to draw even, 15-15. WMU edged back in front 19-17, but following a timeout, the Panthers tallied five in a row on their way to an 8-2 set-closing run.
With the fourth set even at 5-5, Milwaukee rattled off four straight to go in front, 9-5. Trailing 13-10, Western put together a 5-1 stretch to briefly creep in front, 15-14, but the Panthers countered with five in a row to seize a 19-15 advantage. WMU battled back to within one on three separate occasions, but Milwaukee held on to send the contest into a fifth set.
The fifth frame was back-and-forth early, with the Broncos grabbing a slight 8-7 advantage. The Panthers then scored five of the next six points to take a 12-9 lead, and kept Western at bay from there to seal the five-set victory.
WMU is back in action on Saturday evening as it takes on the tournament hosts, Butler, at 6 pm.
