KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team opens up the 2023 NCAA Volleyball Championship on Thursday afternoon as it takes on No. 7 seed Auburn at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. 

WMU (30-2, 18-0 MAC) vs. No. 7 Auburn (20-9, 10-8 SEC)
Thursday, Nov. 30 | 4 pm | TICKETS | WATCH LIVE | LIVE STATS

FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUVolleyball

LUCKY NUMBER 13
After clinching the Mid-American Conference's automatic bid, the Western Michigan Broncos are making their first NCAA Tournament since 2014 and the fourth under head coach Colleen Munson.  This marks 13 all-time appearances for Western Michigan in the NCAA Tournament, which is more than any other MAC program. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos punched their ticket to the Big Dance with a five-set win over No. 6 seed Bowling Green in the MAC Volleyball Championship back on Nov. 20 at University Arena. Western Michigan took a 2-0 lead in the contest, but the Falcons grabbed the next two frames to send the match into a decisive fifth set. In the final frame, WMU's crowd of more than 2,000 came to life, and helped lift the home team to its first MAC Tournament title since 2014. Logan Case handed out 44 assists and earned Tournament MVP honors. Keona Salesman paced the Brown and Gold with 18 kills and Andelyn Simkins led the defensive effort with 20 digs as the duo joined Case on the All-Tournament Team. 

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1983
WMU enters the NCAA Tournament riding a 20-match winning streak, the longest run for the Broncos since they started the 1983 campaign 32-0. The 2023 season also marks the first time Western Michigan has reached the 30-win mark since 1983. The Broncos join Dayton (31) as the only two NCAA Division I programs to enter the NCAA Tournament with 30 or more wins this year.  

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Western Michigan is making its MAC-record 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2014. In 19 total tournament matches, the Broncos are 7-12, and have made a league-record five appearances in the regional semifinals. WMU's most recent wins in the NCAA Tournament came in 2008, when it upset Dayton on its home court and then beat Tulane to advance to the regional semifinals where to it fell to No. 1 seed Penn State. 

TRACKING THE TIGERS
Auburn earned an at-large bid as one of eight SEC teams to make the field, the most of any conference. The Tigers are in the tournament for the second straight year and third time in program history. AU leads the all-time series 2-1, with the most recent meeting in 2019 in Kalamazoo.

WMU VS THE SEC
Auburn is the second SEC foe for Western Michigan in 2023, with the Broncos having lost to Mississippi State on Sept. 8 in Kennesaw, Ga. WMU's last win over an SEC team was in 2015 against South Carolina at the Michigan Challenge in Ann Arbor.

MAKING HER CASE
The MAC Player and Setter of the Year, senior Logan Case is making a strong statement as to why she belongs in the discussion among the top setters in the country. She enters the tournament as the NCAA Division I leader in total assists (1,341) and is second in the nation in assists/set (11.87). Through Case's setting prowess, the WMU attack ranks fourth nationally in assists/set (13.44), seventh in kills/set (14.30) and 27th in hitting percentage (.271). In last week's MAC Championship match, she became the first Bronco to eclipse 5,000 career assists and also surpassed 1,000 career digs.

TRIPLE TROUBLE
WMU's offense has featured a dynamic trio on the outside this season in graduate student Maggie King and seniors Anna Calcagno and Keona Salesman, who are all inside the MAC's top-12 in kills/set. King, who is less than 100 kills away from becoming the all-time leader in program history, ranks sixth in the league and 77th nationally at 3.69 kills/set this season. Salesman (3.45) and Calcagno (3.00), rank 10th and 12th, respectively.

DIGGING IN DEFENSIVELY
Western Michigan boasts a strong defense as well, anchored by MAC Defensive Player of the Year Andelyn Simkins. Individually, the senior libero ranks second in the conference in both total digs (553) and digs/set (4.89). Nationally, those numbers rank 25th and 29th, respectively. Simkins' work defensively helped the Broncos lead the MAC in digs/set (16.04, 44th nationally) and opposing hitting percentage (.187). The Schoolcraft, Mich., native has also been exceptional on serve receive, having made just 20 errors on 493 attempts for a .959 reception percentage. 

PERFECTION ACHIEVED
WMU achieved a perfect 18-0 record in MAC play on the way to its 10th regular season conference title, making the Broncos the first team since Ohio in 2006 to go unbeaten in league play and the first since Ball State in 1993 to go 18-0. It is the seventh time in program history Western Michigan has gone undefeated in conference matches, as it went unbeaten for six straight years in league contests from 1983-88. The 1983, 1984 and 1985 seasons all saw the Broncos go 18-0 in the conference. 

BRONCOS DOMINATE MAC AWARDS
Western Michigan dominated the MAC's specialty awards, led by Logan Case becoming just the second player in league history to win both the Player and Setter of the Year awards in the same season. She is also the first three-time Setter of the Year winner. Colleen Munson was named the Coach of the Year for the second time at the helm of the Broncos (2014) and Andelyn Simkins earned the Defensive Player of the Year.  WMU also had a league-high six All-MAC honorees, with Case, Simkins and Maggie King earning spots on the First Team and Mary Clare Brusek, Anna Calcagno and Keona Salesman landing on the Second Team. 

MUNSON REACHES NEW HEIGHTS
This season's 30 wins were a new high-water mark for WMU 19th year head coach Colleen Munson. This year was the 10th during Munson's tenure in which the Broncos have won at least 20 contests. The Nov. 4 win against Ball State, which clinched at least a share of the MAC Regular Season title for the Broncos, was also Munson's 200th conference win at the helm, making her just the fifth head coach in league history to achieve that milestone.
 
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
As the regular season champion and No. 1 seed, Western Michigan hosted the MAC Volleyball Championship for the first time since 2000. The Broncos have turned University Arena into a big home court advantage this season, having won all 14 of their home matches in 2023. Going back to last season, WMU has won 17 in a row at University Arena, its longest home winning streak since a 20-match run between the 2009-10 campaigns.

Pre-match Interview with head coach Colleen Munson: