KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Madison Merz tallied 10 kills without making an error and posted a season-high seven blocks to help lead the Western Michigan volleyball team to a straight-set victory (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) over Northern Illinois on Tuesday evening.
 
FINAL SCORE: Western Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 0
LOCATION: University Arena (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
RECORDS: Western Michigan (9-11, 5-4 MAC) | NIU (3-16, 1-8)
 
Merz notched 10 kills on 14 swings for a blistering .714 hitting percentage, while Julia Marr also contributed 10 kills and hit .391 for the evening. Logan Case posted 30 assists and 10 digs to collect her team-leading ninth double-double of the season and help the Broncos hit .299 for the night.
 
Carley Piercefield also notched 10 digs for the night, her fourth straight match in double-figures. Reeghan Boyer was right behind with nine digs. Western Michigan enjoyed a 9-3 advantage in total blocks, led by Merz's season-high seven. The Brown and Gold also got a season-high tying five rejections from Anna Calcagno.
 
Western Michigan was hot right out of the gates and roared out to a 7-1 start in the opening frame. A three-point burst then helped the Broncos extend the margin to nine, 13-4. Northern Illinois answered with three in a row of its own to get it back to a 13-7 spread. At 15-9, WMU used a 5-1 stretch put the first set beyond reach.
 
The Broncos continued to roll in the second as they grabbed 10 of the first 12 points in the middle stanza. NIU came back with four of the next five to close the gap to five, 11-6, which was as close as the visitors got for the rest of the frame. With the margin at 19-13, Western Michigan ended the set with a 6-2 run to take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
 
In the third, an early 2-0 Northern Illinois edge was wiped out by a 9-1 WMU surge which put the hosts on top, 9-3. With the margin at 12-6, the Huskies rattled off four in a row to get back to within two, 12-10. At 18-16, an Annalise Patchett kill and Merz service ace boosted the Western Michigan lead back to four, 20-16. The visitors closed the gap to three a few times, including at 22-19, but kills by Marr and Merz, followed by an NIU error, completed the sweep for the Brown and Gold.
 
Western Michigan begins the second half of conference play on Thursday and Friday as it heads to Akron for a two-match series. The opener against the Zips is set for Thursday at 6 pm on ESPN+.