BOX SCORE
TOLEDO, Ohio -- On assistant coach Jason Reed's 27th birthday, the Western Michigan volleyball team presented him with a quarterfinal victory in the Mid-American Conference Tournament over 10-seed Buffalo, 3-0 (25-14, 25-24, 25-21), on Friday at the SeaGate Centre. The second-seeded Broncos (22-10) advance to the semifinals to play No. 3 Miami (17-12) at 7 p.m. tomorrow. No. 1 Ohio and No. 5 Central Michigan play in the first semifinal at 4:30 p.m.
Second Team All-MAC outside hitter Michelle Moore led the Broncos with 12 kills hitting .333 and 10 digs, while MAC Freshman of the Year Jessica Brown had 11 kills and three blocks. MAC Setter of the Year Jillian Mitchell hit .400 with five kills, 31 assists, 12 digs and three blocks, while First Team All-MAC outside hitter Allyson Doyle had 19 digs, season-high six blocks, five assists and seven kills.
Senior Caitlin Strimel led WMU with 21 digs to increase her career total to 2,514 and added two aces, while sophomore Ashley Turnage tied her career high with six block assists in her seven total blocks. Senior Katie Eberling added five kills and six digs for the Broncos, while sophomore Sam Viox had four digs against the Bulls (16-16) in their first appearance in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals.
The Broncos took advantage of Buffalo's early nerves by building a 5-0 lead with a kill by Doyle and Eberling and block by Brown and Mitchell. Buffalo came back to cut its deficit to three, 9-6, but Moore had a kill and ace and then Turnage had a block with Doyle and kill to put WMU up seven, 13-6. Western Michigan kept advancing the lead and put Buffalo away with a kill by Turnage off an overpass and a block by Turnage and Doyle on set point, 25-14.
WMU hit .243 with 12 kills in the set, while holding Buffalo to -.070 hitting with nine kills and 12 errors, including four stuffs by the Broncos.
The second set was tight early until a 10-1 run put the Broncos in command, 19-9. Brown had four kills in the rally, while Doyle had a kill, block and ace. WMU took the set with back-to-back kills by seniors Moore and Eberling, 25-14.
WMU hit .308 in the set with 18 kills, eight by Brown and five by Moore. The Bulls hit .086 with just 11 kills. Doyle and Strimel both had 10 digs in the second frame.
Buffalo started the third set on a 5-0 run before the Broncos rallied with a 16-4 run to take over, 16-9. Strimel led the way with a pair of aces, while Turnage had three blocks. Moore had three kills and Brown two to lead the offense. Buffalo was undeterred as they used a 7-1 run to pull within one, 18-17, after an ace and forced WMU to call timeout. Eberling responded with a big kill from the leftside and then an ace to put WMU back up three, 20-17.
Buffalo came back again and cut the lead to one, 21-20, but then misfired on the next point and WMU closed it out with a back row attack error on the Bulls, 25-21.
WMU had 13 kills in the set with four by Moore and Doyle, but hit only .162. Once again, the Broncos stymied Buffalo and held it to .075 hitting with 12 kills and nine errors. Turnage had a hand in five of WMU's six blocks in the set.
Overall, WMU hit .246 with 43 kills, 12 errors, 72 digs, 12 blocks and five aces, while Buffalo hit .035 with 32 kills, 27 errors, 62 digs, three blocks and one ace.
Dani Silvers led Buffalo with eight digs and Tori Beckman had a match-high 23 digs.
The Broncos and RedHawks will meet in the MAC Tournament for the first time since 2006 when WMU won, 3-1, in the quarterfinals. The RedHawks won the only meeting this season, 3-2, in Oxford, Ohio.
