BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The No. 2 seeded Western Michigan volleyball team lost a heartbreaking four-set contest (22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 28-26) to No. 4 seed Toledo in Sunday evening's 2025 MAC Volleyball Championship Match. The loss ends WMU's season at 17-16, while Toledo punches its ticket to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
FINAL SCORE: Toledo 3, Western Michigan 1
LOCATION: Stroh Center (Bowling Green, Ohio)
RECORDS: No. 2 Western Michigan (17-16) | No. 4 Toledo (23-10)
Following the match, the MAC Championship All-Tournament Team was announced, with WMU's
Reeghan Boyer and
Leah Richmond earning selections.
The defense was strong on both sides, as each team eclipsed 100 digs in the contest. Boyer led Western Michigan with a career-high 29 digs in her final match for the Brown and Gold. Richmond added a career-best 24 digs, and the duo of
Maddie Kmetz and
Carley Piercefield pitched in 10 digs apiece. Up front, WMU got six blocks from
Amanda Glanton and a career-high tying five from
Mia Jurkovic.
Richmond handed out 42 assists to go with her 24 digs to collect her 26th double-double of the season, a new program record. The redshirt freshman set up
Mary Clare Brusek and
Annalise Patchett for a team-leading 15 kills apiece.
Western Michigan grabbed the early lead in the opening stanza, taking nine of the contest's first 12 points. With the margin at 10-7, the Broncos used a 6-1 run to stretch their advantage to 16-8. Trailing 23-14, Toledo charged hard, getting all the way to within 24-22, but the Brown and Gold held on take the frame, 25-22.
The Rockets kept their momentum going into the second, getting out to a 13-6 lead. Toledo eventually built its advantage to 18-9, and stayed comfortably ahead for the remainder of the frame to even the contest at one set apiece.
With Western Michigan holding an 11-9 edge in the third, UT went on a 5-1 run to move ahead, 14-12. The Rockets briefly built the margin to four, 18-14, but WMU came right back with four in a row to get back even, 18-18. The Rockets countered with the next four, which proved to be the difference in the third frame and put them ahead in the match, 2-1.
The Broncos started strong in the fourth, racing out to a 15-6 advantage. Toledo answered with separate four-point and five-point bursts to work its way back to within one, 17-16. At 22-20, the Rockets tallied four in a row to reach match point at 24-22. Western Michigan fought off a pair of match points to draw level at 24-24 and fended off another at 25-24 to keep the match going. WMU had a set point opportunity of its own at 26-25 to try and send the contest to a fifth frame, but UT tallied the final three points of the evening to capture the title.
