Broncos Down Billikens in 3-0 Sweep

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Western Michigan volleyball team got off to a hot start at the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Northwestern, as the Broncos won their opening round match against Saint Louis 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, 28-26) on Friday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 6-4 on the season; they will face Delaware later today.

The Broncos stifled the Billikens over the course of three sets, holding SLU to a .083 hitting percentage and out-digging them 63-53. Two Broncos recorded more than 15 digs in the match, with junior libero Lena Oliver notching a match-high 17 digs and sophomore Kaycee Acree recording 16. Sophomore setter Terin Norris notched her sixth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 13 digs, and senior Jessica Brown had a match-high 11 kills.

The Broncos set the tone early with a dominating first set victory, recording a blistering .478 hitting percentage and jumping on the Billikens early. The Broncos opened the set on a 7-2 run, capping the run with a service ace from Ali Gossen. The Billikens would pull to within four points, but the Broncos would build the lead back up when Gossen and Stephenee Yancy combined on a block to make it 11-5; Norris would notch a service ace on the next point and the lead would balloon to seven points.

WMU would enjoy its largest lead of the set when Caroline Rose recorded a service ace to give the Broncos a 21-10 edge, and the Billikens would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way. Gossen wrapped the set with a side-out kill, going off the block of Lauren Baumet for the 25-15 win.

The Broncos would need to dig deep to win the next two sets, however. WMU trailed the Billikens for the first half of the first set, but were able to tie the score at 14-14 on a bad set by SLU. The Billikens would hold the lead until Carlee Berland tied the score at 22 with a kill, and Norris would knot it up at 23 with a kill of her own. The Broncos would finally break through and take the lead at 25-24 on an SLU attack error, and Gossen would seal the win with a kill.

WMU would complete a similar comeback in the third to seal the win. The Broncos trailed 19-14 in the third set before making a charge at the Billikens, getting back on track when Berland and Richelle Ranney combined for a block. Ranney would record a kill to make it 20-16 a few points later, and the Broncos forced a Billiken timeout when Brown and Gossen recorded a block to cut the lead to 21-18. Gillian Asque would pull the Broncos to within two points with a kill, and Brown would slash the lead to one point with a kill to make it 21-20.

The Broncos would tie the score at 23-23 on a kill from Brown, and the senior would tie it up again two points later with another kill. After Gossen tied the set at 26 with a kill, the Billikens committed attack errors on consecutive points to give the Broncos the win.