There is a unique situation for Western Michigan University's volleyball team as it enters the 2023 season hosting the Western Michigan Tournament Friday through Sunday.

It may be unique…but it's a good unique. The Broncos return virtually every player from last season's team and there are no freshmen on the squad.

Head coach Colleen Munson, WMU's winningest coach in program history (349 wins), starts her 19th season this weekend.

One of the nation's top setters, senior Logan Case, returns. She was fourth in the NCAA in assists per set (11.66) and was ninth nationally in total assists (1,341). Case had an amazing 11 matches where she had 60 or more assists. She was named a First Team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators.

Graduate student outside hitter Maggie King is also back after earning MAC West Offensive Player of the Week six times last season. She led the MAC in total kills with 458 and was second in the MAC in kills per set (3.98). She also became the 24th member of the WMU 1,000-kill club.

Senior libero Andelyn Simkins is back to dig up pretty much anything hit in the gym. She was fifth in the MAC and 45th nationally with an average of 5.08 digs per set. She is the 12th player in WMU history to make the 1,000-dig club.

And all this for a 5-foot, 10-inch player who started out her Bronco career as an outside hitter, but injuries forced a position switch.

"Jumping probably wasn't the best option for me physically because I kept getting hurt and it hurt my team," Simkins said. "Passing has come naturally to me my whole life, so building off that has bettered the team and our system.

"Besides, diving after a ball is so much fun. The fact that diving is my job and I get to do it all the time is awesome."

The seven seniors had a different start to their Western Michigan careers, having begun during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Because of COVID, the only people we could hang out with were our teammates," Simkins said.

With all the experience back, both Munson and Simkins believe the Broncos are far ahead of where they were at this time last season. A trip to Europe in May helped to put them ahead of the game, too.

"We used the foundation we built in spring practice and Europe to hit the ground running in the fall," Munson said. "We told the players they are totally different people, totally different players."
The team atmosphere was especially shown on the European trip where they didn't lose a match and walked a whole bunch of miles each day sightseeing or shopping before playing a match at night.

"They were one big group of people, not players going off with their roommates or anything like that," Munson said. "Everyone was hanging out with everyone and that is the sign of a team. They respect the uniqueness of each other and appreciate it and celebrate it."

Added Simkins about the trip: "We were able to start this fall where we ended after Europe. When we got back to practice in the fall, we knew what to expect from each other and we've been able to keep that same tempo, same passes, same shots and I think that's what's going to work for us this season."

It's a group which wants to win the Mid-American Conference tournament championship after missing the tournament last year by one place for pretty much one reason…those darned five-set matches.

The Broncos were 17-13 overall and 9-9 in the MAC. They were 1-5 in MAC five-set matches, including a loss to tournament champion Bowling Green and two losses to tournament semifinalist Central Michigan at the end of the regular season. Turn that around to a 5-1 record and WMU would easily have made the MAC Tournament.

"I think our opponents picked up our tendencies in the fourth and fifth sets and we didn't switch things up," Simkins said. "If we had done that sooner, we might have won the match a lot sooner.

"There is so much that you put into the season and I think at the very end, especially against Central Michigan, when you put heart into something with all that hard work, you just feel disappointed. We know it really stunk not making the MAC Tournament and we don't want to feel like that again, so we will do whatever it takes to win the championship this year."

Munson has seen the improvement made during the spring practices and the trip to Europe carry over to this fall.

"We're in a good place and you can see where a certain play which wouldn't have been successful last year will work this year," she said. "We're not overthinking our mistakes or overthinking anything we do.

"The strength of this team is that it's resilient. There is a very strong culture and it's something we noticed in Europe."

Click on a player's name below to find out more about the Broncos.
 
Roster
Seniors/Graduate students – Logan Case, setter; Maggie King, outside hitter; Mairead Boyle, defensive specialist/libero; Andelyn Simkins, defensive specialist/libero; Keona Salesman, outside hitter; Abi Wilcoxson, outside hitter; Anna Calcagno, outside hitter.
Juniors – Madison Merz, middle blocker; Julia Marr, outside hitter.
Sophomores – Reeghan Boyer, defensive specialist/libero; Maddie Kmetz, setter; Mary Clare Brusek, middle blocker; Amanda Glanton, middle blocker.
Freshmen – none.
Coaching staff – Colleen Munson, head coach; Ryan Manning, senior associate head coach; Justin Martin, associate head coach/recruiting coordinator.