KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team heads west this week for its first road trip of the season at the Omaha Tournament.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Match One: Thursday, Sept. 3 | 7:30 pm | WMU at Omaha |
LIVE VIDEO |
LIVE STATS
Match Two: Friday, Sept. 4 | 3 pm | WMU vs. Chicago State |
LIVE STATS
Match Three: Saturday, Sept. 5 | 12 pm | WMU vs. Louisiana Tech |
LIVE STATS
FOLLOW ALONG: @WMUVolleyball
HEADING WEST
Western Michigan hits the road for the first time in 2026 this week as it heads west for a tournament in Omaha, Neb. The Broncos are slated to battle tournament host Omaha, Chicago State and Louisiana Tech over the three-day event.
THE OPPONENTS
WMU opens up the tournament on Thursday against hosts Omaha. The Mavericks split their Opening Weekend matches, including a sweep of Central Michigan. Thursday will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Broncos take on Chicago State on Friday, which went 0-3 during Opening Weekend. The Brown and Gold have taken all six prior meetings against the Cougars, with the most recent coming back in 2018. Western Michigan rounds out the weekend with 2-1 Louisiana Tech. The two programs last met in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014, with WMU winning both contests.
LAST TIME OUT
Western Michigan opened the 2026 season by going 3-0 in its home tournament, taking down Green Bay in four sets and then sweeping both Navy and Indiana State.
Leah Richmond was named Tournament MVP, while
Annalise Patchett and
Carley Piercefield also earned All-Tournament honors for the Brown and Gold.
DIGGING IN DEFENSIVELY
After leading the nation in total digs and ranking fourth nationally in digs per set last year, the WMU defense picked up right where it left off last weekend. The Broncos averaged 17.00 digs per set during Opening Weekend, the second-best mark in the MAC and 12th-best in NCAA Division I. Leading the back row for the Brown and Gold was junior libero
Carley Piercefield, who had the first two 20-dig performances of her collegiate career and averaged 4.90 per set, good for second-best in the league and 27th in the nation.
BRONCO BLOCK PARTY
Western Michigan's front line was strong as well, posting the second-best blocks per set mark (3.10) in the conference and 21st in Division I. Senior
Gabby Weihe collected a career-high tying eight blocks in Sunday's sweep of Indiana State and averaged 1.50 per set for the weekend. WMU's prowess both digging and blocking has it ranked second in the conference and 16th nationally with an .098 opposing hitting percentage.
SETTING THE TABLE
Leah Richmond totaled 101 assists (10.10/set), the second-best mark in the MAC, on the way to being named Tournament MVP last weekend. The redshirt sophomore's distribution helped WMU hit .269 as a team for the tournament.
