Biography
2024: All-MAC Second Team … MAC Championship All-Tournament Team … Academic All-MAC … Played in 29 matches, starting 19, and appeared in 89 sets for the Broncos … Named to the Erie Insurance All-Tournament Team … Totaled 220 kills and was fourth on the team with 2.47 kills/set … Tallied double-digit kills 11 times, including a career-high 19 at James Madison … Posted a .361 hitting percentage, the fourth-highest in the MAC and 57th-best mark in NCAA Division I … It was also the ninth-best single-season mark in program history … Recorded a .387 hitting percentage in conference play, the second-best mark in the league … Paced Western Michigan in total blocks (68), block assists (64) and blocks/set (0.76) … Averaged 1.04 blocks/set in MAC play, which ranked eighth in the league … Tied career high with eight blocks in a five-set win at Akron … Collected seven block assists in a sweep of NIU, one shy of the program record for a three-set match … Served up 13 aces, including a career-high tying four in a five-set win at Ball State … Chipped in 68 digs and seven assists.
2023: Academic All-MAC … Played in 22 matches, starting four, and appeared in 49 sets for the Broncos … Totaled 33 blocks (0.67/set), and tied for fourth on the team with 31 block assists … Notched a career-high eight blocks and added a season-high five digs in an early-season win over MVC champion Northern Iowa … Contributed 69 kills (1.41/set) on a .288 hitting percentage … Put down a season-high eight kills in the victory over Ball State which secured the outright regular season title for WMU … Also tallied eight kills in the regular season finale at NIU which clinched Western Michigan’s perfect 18-0 conference record … Chipped in 29 digs, six service aces and three assists.
2022: Academic All-MAC … Played in 28 matches, starting 16, and appeared in 95 sets for the Broncos … Ranked second on the team with 26 service aces … Served up multiple aces eight times, including a season-high three on three occasions … Tied for second on WMU in solo blocks (6), and finished third in both block assists (32) and total blocks (38) … Totaled 114 kills (1.20/set), including a season-high 12 on a .429 hitting percentage in the season-opening win over Denver … Pitched in 45 digs, picking up a season-best four three times.
2021: Was one of two Broncos to appear in all 31 matches and all 116 sets ... Selected to the Discover Kalamazoo Classic and Sycamore Invitational All-Tournament teams ... Paced Western Michigan in service aces (33), which was good for sixth in the MAC, and aces/set (0.28), which was seventh-best in the league ... Served up a career-high four aces in a match twice ... Ranked second on the Broncos in kills (252) and hitting percentage (.289) ... Tallied double-digit kills nine times, including a season-best 15 on a .556 hitting percentage in a four-set win at Buffalo ... Notched a team-best 48 total blocks and 36 block assists for the season, and had 12 solo blocks, second-most on the team ... Racked up a season-best four blocks against SEMO ... Pitched in 94 digs, including a career-best seven in a sweep of Kent State.
High School: Was a four-year varsity player at Mercy McAuley High School under head coach Denise Harvey ... As a senior, was selected GGCL Second Team All-Conference and Second Team All-District, after having been named GGCL Second Team All-Conference and Third Team All-District the year prior ... As a freshman, earned GGCL Honorable Mention and was a part of the District 16 All-Star team ... Finished her prep career as the school's career leader in kills (761), kills/set (2.4), total blocks (146), solo blocks (31) and service aces (67).
Personal: Daughter of Conni and Pete Merz ... Has a sister, Emily, and a brother, Garrett ... Was originally committed to Texas Tech before joining the Broncos ... Majoring in Exercise Science.
