CHICAGO – Western Michigan graduate student outside hitter Maggie King recorded the 1500th kill of her career, and the Broncos stayed undefeated with a 3-1 win (27-25, 14-25, 25-15, 25-15) over UIC to win the UIC Invitational on Saturday. The win improves the Broncos to 7-0 on the season, which is the program's best start since beginning the 2019 campaign at 8-0.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 3, UIC 1
LOCATION: Credit Union 1 Arena (Chicago, Ill.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (7-0) | UIC (5-1)
 
King's 1500th career kill came at a key time late in the first set, which WMU eked out, 27-25. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native is the fourth player in Western Michigan program history to reach the 1500-kill mark.
 
Following the match, WMU's Logan Case was named to the All-Tournament Team, after averaging 11.18 assists and 2.18 digs per set while helping the Broncos hit .278 for the weekend.
 
Behind Case's 47 assists, Western Michigan hit .308 for the afternoon and had four players record nine more or kills. Keona Salesman tallied a match-high 16 kills on a .441 hitting percentage, while King registered 14 kills, Mary Clare Brusek added 10 and Amanda Glanton had nine on an .818 hitting percentage.
 
Andelyn Simkins posted a team-high 17 digs for the contest, with Case (9 digs) and King (8) each coming close to their second double-double of the campaign.
 
The Broncos also served up a season-high nine aces, led by Brusek's career-high three.
 
With the first set even at 7-7, WMU used a 6-2 run to open up a 13-9 edge. The Flames worked their way back into it, and eventually overtook the Broncos at 18-17. The two teams proceeded to trade the lead back and forth, with WMU having a set point at 24-23 and UIC having a set point at 25-24. Down 25-24, the Broncos got a kill from King to tie it at 25-25, then got a King service ace and a Brusek solo block to take the first frame, 27-25.
 
UIC tallied the first six points to seize control early in the second set. The Flames never looked back after grabbing the early advantage, and took the second frame to even the match at one set apiece.
 
In the third, the Broncos notched six consecutive points to move ahead, 12-8. At 13-11, Western Michigan used a 10-2 surge to stretch the margin to 23-13, and rolled from there to a 2-1 match advantage.
 
A 9-0 run helped Western Michigan get out to an 11-4 start in the fourth set. Leading 15-10, the Broncos used a 5-1 run to boost their advantage to 20-11. UIC closed the gap to 21-15, but the Brown & Gold answered with the final four points of the afternoon to improve to 7-0.
 
Western Michigan is on the road once again next weekend, as it travels down to Kennesaw, Ga., for the Kennesaw State Invitational. The Broncos start tournament play on Friday afternoon as they take on Mississippi State at 4 pm.