KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The No. 4 seed Western Michigan volleyball team begins its run at the 2024 MAC Volleyball Championship on Friday afternoon with a quarterfinal match against No. 5 seed Buffalo in Bowling Green, Ohio.
No. 4 WMU (17-12, 13-5 MAC) vs. No. 5 Buffalo (16-15, 12-6)
Friday, Nov. 22 | 4 pm |
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TOURNAMENT TIME
No. 4 seed Western Michigan begins its run at the 2024 MAC Volleyball Championship on Friday afternoon as it takes on No. 5 seed Buffalo in the quarterfinals. The winner takes on top seed and regular season champion Bowling Green on Saturday in the tournament's semifinal round.
MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Broncos have enjoyed a lot of success at the MAC Championship, compiling a 42-28 all-time record and capturing seven tournament titles. WMU beat Toledo and Bowling Green to win last year's tournament in Kalamazoo.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos closed out the regular season by splitting a weekend series at Ball State. After BSU took Friday's match in straight sets, Western Michigan bounced back to win in five on Saturday. Saturday's victory was WMU's first over the Cardinals in Muncie since the 2015 campaign.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
For the second consecutive season, WMU's
Andelyn Simkins was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year. The fifth-year libero was second in the MAC in league play with 4.52 digs/set, and helped the Broncos post a league-leading 15.82 digs/set. Overall, Simkins is third in the conference and 41st in NCAA DI with 4.75 digs/set.
ALL-MAC PERFORMERS
In addition to winning her second straight MAC Defensive Player of the Year award,
Andelyn Simkins was also an All-MAC First Team selection for the second straight year. Joining Simkins on the first team was
Logan Case, who earned All-MAC First Team honors for the fifth consecutive season. Rounding out WMU's honorees was
Madison Merz, who was an All-MAC Second Team selection.
MAKING HER CASE
Logan Case enters the tournament second in MAC history for career assists, 127 away from tying the all-time mark of 6,408, set by Ball State's Emily Sallee from 1997-2000. Case is the NCAA's active leader in career assists and currently ranks second in NCAA Division I this season at 11.61 assists/set.
SERIES HISTORY
WMU is 29-6 all-time against Buffalo, with the two teams having split a pair of matches in Kalamazoo to begin league play back in late September. The Broncos are 3-0 against the Bulls in the MAC Tournament, with all three wins in straight sets. The two teams have not matched up in the MAC Tournament since the first round in 2014 in Athens.
