KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team takes its season-high, six-match winning streak to DeKalb, Ill., on Tuesday night for its second meeting of the season against Northern Illinois.
WMU (13-11, 9-4 MAC) at NIU (3-20, 1-12)
Tuesday, Nov. 5 | 7 pm |
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HEADING DOWN THE STRETCH
Winners of a season-high six in a row, Western Michigan begins the final two weeks of the regular season with a trip to Northern Illinois on Tuesday.
LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos are coming off of a pair of straight-set wins over Toledo which extended their winning streak to six straight and pushed them ahead of the Rockets in the MAC standings. In Saturday's victory,
Logan Case had 33 assists and set up five teammates for at least five kills.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the third time this season,
Andelyn Simkins was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The fifth-year libero posted 7.17 digs/set in Western Michigan's weekend sweep of Toledo. For the season, Simkins is third in the conference and 30th in NCAA Division I with 4.82 digs/set. Her play has WMU's defense at the top of the league and 20th nationally with 16.96 digs/set.
MAKING HER CASE
Logan Case continues her pursuit of the conference's all-time record for career assists, and made another step towards history on Saturday as she moved into second all-time. The fifth-year setter is the NCAA's active leader in career assists with 6,077, and is currently second in NCAA Division I this season at 11.53 assists/set.
BALANCED BRONCOS
WMU has featured a balanced attack which has five players averaging between 2.25 and 3.22 kills/set. All five of these Broncos rank in the top-30 in the league in kills/set, with
Keona Salesman (7th, 3.22) and
Julia Marr (11th, 3.07) leading the charge. The most efficient hitter has been
Madison Merz, who owns a .373 mark in conference play.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Northern Illinois has continued to slump since its meeting with the Broncos two weeks ago and has now dropped eight straight. NIU libero Crew Hoffmeier is the league leader in total digs (428), and ranks second in the conference and 28th in NCAA Division I at 4.86 digs/set.
SERIES HISTORY
Western Michigan owns a 40-29 all-time record against Northern Illinois, including a sweep of the Huskies in Kalamazoo two weeks ago. WMU has won four straight in the series, and swept NIU in DeKalb in the regular season finale last year to complete its 18-0 run through MAC play.
