MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Western Michigan volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit on the road to stun Central Michigan, as the Broncos defeated the Chippewas 3-2 (8-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-16, 15-7) at McGuirk Arena on Saturday. The win is the third in a row for the Broncos and sixth win in their last eight matches, improving their record to 16-11, 9-5 in the Mid-American Conference.
Alysia Baznik recorded her team-best 11th double-double of the season, posting a season-high 18 kills to go with 12 digs while hitting .289 (18-7-38). Lena Oliver lead the way with a team-best 18 digs, joined in double figures by Baznik and Kaycee Acree, who had 12 digs. Gillian Asque added nine kills, Claire Gerwig added eight, and Rachel Sheffer notched seven. Lexie Pawlik added 43 assists to the effort.
The first two sets saw the Broncos struggle to keep up with the Chippewas, who beat WMU 25-8 and 25-19 to take a 2-0 edge in the match. The comeback began in the third set, when the Broncos bounced back from an early 3-0 deficit with a 6-0 run to take the lead, capping the rally on a kill from Baznik and forcing a CMU attack error. The Broncos increased their lead to five points when Pawlik notched a service ace, and WMU was the first to 20 points in the set when Baznik pounded another kill. Central Michigan tied the set at 22 on an ace from Haley Barker, though, and the teams were knotted up at 23 until Sheffer blasted a kill to force set point. Baznik gave the Broncos a 25-23 set win on the next point, recording a solo block against Hallie Enderle to end the threat.
The Broncos cruised through the fourth set, holding the Chips to a low hitting percentage and never letting them even tie the score en route to a 25-16 win. A 5-1 run to start the set put CMU back on its heels, with Sheffer and Ave Stout each contributing kills to build the lead. The closest the Chippewas got came early in the set, when an attack error from Asque pulled CMU to within 9-8, but the Broncos scored the next four points to re-take the edge, culminating in a block from Stout and Pawlik to make it 13-8. Back-to-back attack errors from the Chippewas gave the Broncos their largest lead of the set at 21-13, and Stout made it set point with a kill to make it 24-15. Stout was the one to finish the set as well, launching one more kill to take the 25-16 lead.
Now in the fifth set, the Broncos overcame an early back and forth with the Chippewas, breaking a 4-4 tie on a kill from Baznik. Sheffer stretched the lead to 7-4 with a kill, and Baznik made it a five-point advantage with a kill to make it 10-5. The Broncos scored five of the last seven points of the set, with Baznik delivering the final kill to take the 15-7 set.
