KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team claimed their third straight victory and their first at home since Oct. 10 with a 3-2 (27-25, 25-18, 17-25, 21-25, 15-9) nail-biter over the Ball State Cardinals on Friday. The Broncos improve to 13-15 overall on the season and 9-4 in Mid-American Conference play with the victory.
The Broncos quickly took the first two sets but had to hold off a furious charge from Ball State, who won the third and fourth sets to force a decisive fifth. WMU jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the fifth set and held off another Cardinal rally, clinging to the 15-9 decision in the fifth.
Freshman Bailey Schnell recorded the first double-double of her career with 14 kills and 16 digs, making her one of four different Broncos to crack double-digits in kills. Middle blocker Sydney LeMay recorded 13 kills and a match-high eight blocks, outside hitter Mikaela Ryshytylo had 12 kills, eight digs and five blocks, and Nicole Kinser contributed 10 kills including the match-winner. Hailey Knecht recorded a team-high 27 digs that was just one shy of the match-high on the evening.
Alysia Baznik had another solid night setting for the Broncos, filling the stat sheet with 53 assists, eight digs, six blocks and two kills. She set the Broncos to a .200 attack percentage while helping to hold the Cardinals to a .150 mark on the match.
The high point of the match for the Broncos was the fifth set as WMU came out firing and built a 7-1 lead. LeMay and Baznik energized the bench with a block of Mackenzie Kitchel to make it 3-1 and a kill by Ryshytylo that made it 7-1 fired them up even further. The Cardinals pulled to within 7-5 on four straight points but LeMay stopped the bleeding with a kill, and Schnell made it 10-5 when she found a crease for a kill. Schnell added another at 13-9 to halt another Ball State rally and Ryshytylo bounced one to make it 14-9. The Broncos thought they had the match won when the duo of Kinser and Ryshytylo covered a ball on the left side but the Cardinals recovered to keep it alive; Kinser finished the match the next time the ball came over the net, though, tipping one for the kill at 15-9.
The first set was back-and-forth early on before the Broncos pulled away late. Ryshytylo and Kofie blocked Kitchel to make the score 22-17 and force the Cardinals into their second timeout of the set but Ball State went on a 7-1 run to take the lead. Kofie notched the first equalizer on the next point and Schnell added another two points later to make it 25-25. LeMay ripped a kill off the back-left to make it 26-25 and combined with Ryshytylo on the next point to block Kitchel and take the first set 27-25.
The Broncos dominated the net in the second set, blocking the Cardinals a total of five times and holding them to a -.028 attack percentage in the stanza. That said it remained close throughout as Amanda Raker tied it at 18-18 after a Cardinal timeout. LeMay broke the tie with a kill on the next point and it was off to the races as WMU rattled off seven straight points for the win. Ryshytylo aced Alex Fuelling to make it 21-18 and the duo of LeMay and Baznik blocked Brooklyn Goodsel to close out the set 25-18.
Ball State took fairly impressive decisions in the third and fourth sets, including a .385 hitting percentage in the fourth set alone, but were unable to carry the momentum into the fifth for the win.
