In the world of volleyball, coaches are clawing for tall players, especially when it comes to setters who can also climb the net to block.

Western Michigan University junior setter Logan Case doesn't fit that mold.

To put it bluntly, she's short.

''I'm 5-feet, 7-inches in shoes,'' she says with a laugh.

That would be 5-feet, 7-inches of two-time Mid-American Conference Setter of the Year short. That would be MAC Freshman of the Year short. That would be American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Region Honorable Mention as a freshman and AVCA All-Region First Team as a sophomore short.

That sounds like a player who is 6-feet, 7-inches tall. Height, definitely, isn't everything. More important for a setter are quick feet, soft hands and the ability to read an opposing team's blockers so she can put the volleyball in the right place.

The Broncos (8-4 overall) will open MAC play this weekend at University Arena when they host Buffalo (8-4) on Friday at 6 pm and Saturday at 3 pm.

''I would have maybe liked to go to one of those Power 5 (bigger conference) schools, but as a person who never wants to come off the court, I couldn't run a 6-2 offense (where she would come out of the game when she rotated to the front row for another setter),'' Case says. ''I really want to try to be out there to help my team and it would have been hard to come off the court.

''Finding a place like Western Michigan who accepted me like I am, with the shortcomings, be it in blocking. But then on the other end, I'm better at defense because I'm shorter.

''There are ups and downs with it, but I like going up there and getting the occasional block and shocking the world.''

After rarely coming out of the 54 matches WMU has played in the past two seasons, and with her statistics and accolades, Case isn't shocking anyone with her ability. For example, last season, she won the MAC Setter of the Week award five times. She was second in the league and fourth nationally with 1,317 total assists. In the almost unbelievable part, she had more than 60 assists in three matches and more than 50 assists 10 times.

WMU volleyball head coach Colleen Munson puts it very simply.

''Logan is special,'' Munson says.

Her route to Western Michigan started when Munson and her staff were recruiting current Bronco senior outside hitter Maggie King, who is one year older than Case. However, with Case's setting ability, she always played up one level, and with King on her Cincinnati-area club team, Elevation.

The club is owned by Case's parents, J.P and Jeni Case. It was her mom who introduced Logan to volleyball and who was her high school coach when Ursuline Academy won two Ohio state championships.
''A former Bronco athlete, Tim Balice, was her club coach and we talked to Tim about Maggie,'' Munson says. ''We asked him, 'Why is your team winning so much?'

''The more we watched, it was Logan, she was the glue who held them together. She was the leader.''

King committed to Western Michigan, and Case was looking at MAC schools, but the only camp she went to was at Ball State. Then she found WMU.

''I really liked the coaches and the atmosphere, so after that I really didn't do much more searching,'' she says. ''I committed after my second visit.''

Her freshman season was upended right from the start. When COVID hit hard in the fall of 2020, the NCAA moved women's volleyball from the fall to the spring of 2021. Case earned the starting role right off the bat, and with the schedule being restricted to league matches only, her first collegiate match was against MAC foe Toledo.

"After the first game, it clicked and this is how it's going to be and I needed to get the first-game jitters out of the way,'' she says. ''My teammates helped me out and pushed me.

''We had a great senior class which helped me, believed in me and made me feel comfortable on the court.  It was kind of weird at Toledo, playing in a big arena, even though with COVID, there weren't many people there.''

Western Michigan won that match, 3-2, and went on to post an 18-5 record. It made the MAC Championship game, losing in four sets to Bowling Green. Last season, the Broncos were 19-12 and qualified for the league postseason tournament again. WMU beat Toledo, 3-0, in the quarterfinals before being ousted by No. 1 seed Ball State in four games in the semifinals.

''In her first season, we had five seniors on the team and she led them in the way she knows how,'' Munson says. ''The seniors trusted her through the fall training and into the season in the winter. She knew how to isolate her hitters and how to run our system.''

With the nature of the setting position, Case is the leader on the court because she is calling the plays and getting people in the right positions.

''I'm just a loud person and I like to be talking,'' she says. ''I like to share what I know and be loud…and if no one else does it, I'll do it.

''That's also my downfall at times in that I have to calm down a little it. We have so many leaders on the team who lead by the way they play the game.''

''I'm an only child, so I got to talk a lot,'' she adds.

Again, her size doesn't work against her.

''She is beyond her size from the intangible standpoint,'' Munson says. ''She's had to do things uniquely because of her height.

''Logan literally is ready to play and work every day. She's smart on and off the court and has incredible volleyball sense.''

Case has a 4.0 grade point average, majoring in French, wanting to eventually teach the language. The big language she speaks now is volleyball, as shown by her accolades.

''I would trade all those accolades for a MAC championship and that's the track we're on,'' she says.