ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team faced a stiff test on the first day of the Michigan Challenge hosted by the University of Michigan, falling 3-0 (14-25, 17-25, 24-26) to the 24th-ranked Wolverines in the early match and 3-0 (21-25, 19-25, 20-25) to Pittsburgh in the nightcap. With the losses, the Broncos fall to 1-9 on the season.
Olivia Kofie and Sydney LeMay each contributed six kills against Michigan in the morning match, with Kofie hitting a team-best .286 among players with more than 10 attempts. Bailey Schnell had a strong showing, contributing five kills, eight digs, two blocks and an ace. Hailey Knecht led the Broncos with 13 digs, just two shy of the match-high set by Michigan's Carly Warner.
LeMay authored a good showing against the Panthers later in the evening, recording a team-best seven kills on 12 swings with just three errors for a .333 hitting percentage. Nicole Kinser was just behind her with six kills while also posting a team-best six blocks. Alysia Baznik added five kills and eight digs, and Knecht finished just one dig shy of the match-high with 16 in three sets.
The Broncos fell behind 2-0 early in the match against the Wolverines but wouldn't give up without a fight in the third set, jumping out to a number of leads but finding themselves just short of forcing a fourth. They opened the set on a 5-2 run that included a tiebreaking kill by Kinser and wrapped with a kill by Schnell. The lead jumped to 8-4 after Kofie and LeMay combined for a block of Kelly Murphy, and the Broncos won the race to 10 on a kill by Kofie. Their biggest lead of the set came a few points later, after Michigan's Caroline Knop committed an error to put WMU ahead 12-6. The Wolverines scored 10 of the next 12 points to go ahead 16-14 but the Broncos fired back with a 4-0 run of their own, taking the lead on a Mary Murphy ace and forcing a Michigan timeout at 18-16 after Kofie and LeMay blocked Carly Skjodt.
Michigan tied the set at 23-all with a kill by Katherine Mahlke and forced set point on the next play, but Kinser tied the set at 24 on a kill. The Wolverines countered, though, scoring two straight to take the set and the match.
WMU started out much more strongly against the Panthers, cutting what was once a 7-3 Pitt lead to 11-10 after Kinser pulled them within two points on a kill. The Panthers rallied and to re-take a five-point lead, but Baznik cut it to 16-13 with a kill and Kinser made it 17-15 with another blast. Schnell ripped a kill to cut Pitt's lead to 23-21, but the Panthers notched the final two points of the set to win 25-21.
The second set started out fairly back-and-forth, with WMU taking a 13-9 lead on an error by Maria Genitsaridi. Kinser kept the lead at four points with a kill at 15-11, but the Panthers went on a 7-1 run to take an 18-16 lead on an ace by Amanda Orchard. Kofie pulled the Broncos back to within one with a kill on the next point, but Pitt scored seven of the final eight points of the set to take the win.
WMU started the third set on a 6-4 run that was capped by a Kofie kill, but the Panthers rallied and tied things up at 10 on a block by Orchard and Stephanie Williams. Mikaela Ryshytylo tied it at 11-11 with a kill, but that would be the last time the teams were even in the set as Pittsburgh closed out the 25-20 set win.
