OXFORD, Ohio – The Westenr Michigan volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to force a fifth set, but the Broncos were unable to overcome the Miami RedHawks in falling 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 19-25, 27-25, 11-15) at Millett Hall on Saturday. The loss drops the Broncos to 14-17 overall and 10-6 in Mid-American Conference play.

The loss also set in stone the Broncos' fate as the fifth-seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament. They will open the proceedings against eighth-seeded Eastern Michigan on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m. The winner will face Miami on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Bailey Schnell and Sydney LeMay each finished with 14 kills on the evening while Olivia Kofie recorded 12 kills and four aces. Hailey Knecht had a match-high with 37 digs as the RedHawks hit just .163 in the match, while Caroline Rose added 23 digs of her own.

The Broncos claimed their first set of the evening when they came back from a four-point deficit to beat the RedHawks in the second. WMU trailed 15-11 but came rushing back thanks to a slew of Miami errors; Kofie put the Broncos ahead 18-17 with a kill and later teamed with Nicole Kinser to block Olivia Rusek and make it 19-18. Rusek tied it at 22 with a kill but LeMay bounced one on the next point to retake the advantage, and Schnell added another to force set point. LeMay landed one more kill to take the set at 25-23.

WMU trailed 2-1 after the RedHawks took the third set but again they rallied, staving off three match points to force a decisive fifth set. The Broncos trailed 24-21 but Kofie and Schnell launched kills on back-to-back points to cut the lead to one and force the RedHawkins into a timeout. Schnell tied it with a kill on the next point, and the pairing of Kinser and Kofie again blocked Rusek to win the set 27-25.

The Broncos opened the fifth set on a 6-3 run but the RedHawks took the lead thanks to a 6-1 run. LeMay cut it to 11-10 with a kill but Miami scored four of the final five points to take the set and the match.