KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan women's volleyball team hit better than .330 as a team for the second straight match, and the Broncos capped a weekend sweep with a 3-1 (25-11, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19) win over Mid-American Conference foe Ball State. With the win, the Broncos improve to 10-6, 3-1 in the MAC.
The Broncos hit .336 as a unit against the Cardinals one night after combining for a .386 average against the Toledo Rockets on Friday, with three players reaching triple digits in kills. Jessica Brown and Richelle Ranney each tied the match-high with 13 kills, while Ali Gossen recorded 10 kills. Lena Oliver had a match-high 23 digs in the match, leading a Broncos' defense that out-blocked BSU 7.0 to 4.0 and out-dug them 54-43.
The Broncos started the match with an impressive offensive display in the first set, taking the 2-1 lead on a kill from Ranney and never looking back. The Broncos took a 7-2 lead when Brown and Terin Norris combined for a block, and Norris capped the 8-2 run with a kill that forced a Ball State timeout. The Broncos' lead reached double-digits when Carlee Berland notched a kill to make the score 20-10, and Berland would cap the set with a kill to make it 25-11.
The Broncos would get off to a similar lead in the second set, opening on an 11-5 run that was capped by a pair of service aces from Norris. The lead swelled to seven points when Caroline Rose recorded a service ace of her own to make it 15-8, and the Broncos were the first to reach 20 points in the set when Ranney notched a kill to take a 20-14 lead. Ball State pulled to within 24-21, but Stephenee Yancy ripped a kill to close the set at 25-21.
After dropping the third set to the Cardinals, the Broncos bounced back and closed out the home win with a strong offensive set. The teams traded points early on, but the Broncos sparked a 4-0 run when Yancy recorded a kill to make it 8-6. Gossen would go down line for a kill on the next point, Kaycee Acree would notch a back row kill to make it 11-7, and Oliver's service ace would force the Cardinals into calling a timeout.
Ball State would inch closer to the Broncos for the remainder of hte set, but Ranney and Yancy combined for a block to give WMU an 18-15 lead, and Ranney recorded another kill to take the 19-15 lead and force a second Cardinal timeout. Brown went off the block for the kill to make it 24-18, and ripped one through the block for match point two plays later.
