KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan volleyball head coach Colleen Munson earned her 300th victory as head coach of the Broncos on Thursday night in a four-set win (25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22) over in-state rival Central Michigan.

Munson with her 300th victory as Bronco head coach joins Rob Buck as the only coaches in program history to eclipse 300 wins. Munson's .609 winning percentage is the second highest in school history while her 153 conference wins is the most in program history.

In the four-set victory the Broncos had two players reach double digit kills in senior Rachel Bontrager and junior Meredith Phillips. Bontrager led the way with 22 kills, marking the second straight game Bontrager has recorded 20 or more kills. Bontrager nearly earned a triple-double with eight digs and a career-high seven blocks.

Behind Bontrager was Phillips with a season-high 14 kills. Phillips recorded a .364 attack percentage to go along with three digs and one block. Sophomore Maggie King earned nine kills with five digs and three blocks. Redshirt sophomore Sammi Labolle had her best game as a Bronco this season with seven kills, five digs and seven blocks.

The Broncos had two players with double digit digs led by senior Kaley Smith with 23. It's the sixth match this season Smith has recorded double-digit digs and is now just 76 digs away from becoming the 10th player in school history with 1,000 digs. Rounding out the double-digit digs duo was freshman Mairead Boyle with 12 digs, one shy of her career-high.

For the second time this season, freshman Logan Case eclipsed the 50-assist mark with 52 against Central Michigan. The freshman setter also had seven digs to go along with a .500 attack percentage. The 52 assists were seven shy of her career-high.

As a team the Broncos hit .268 to CMU's .187 and posted a staggering 12 blocks to CMU's nine.

Western Michigan has now won three straight matches and has an overall and MAC record of 5-2. It will be a quick turnaround for the Broncos who square off with CMU once again on Friday, Feb. 12 at 2:00 p.m.

KENT, Ohio – Five players posted double-digit kills as the Kent State volleyball team beat rival Akron, 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-16), in the first ever match inside of the Basketball and Volleyball Development Center on Thursday night.

The Golden Flashes (5-0) earned one half-point in the Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel Challenge standings with the victory.
Redshirt junior Alex Haffner finished with 52 assists and setup her teammates to hit at a .258 clip as a team. Sophomore Taylor Heberle led way with 14 kills. Classmates Savannah Matthews and Morgan Copley added 13 kills and 10 kills, respectively.

Junior middle blockers Lana Strejcek and Danie Tyson were sensational, combining to hit .558 with 25 kills and 6.5 blocks. Strejcek had 13 kills and no errors on 23 swings for a career-best .565 hitting percentage and five total blocks (2 solo, 3 assists). Tyson hit .550 with 12 kills and one error on 20 attempts and also had five blocks (1 solo, 4 assists).

In addition to a season-high 11 blocks, the Flashes registered 73 digs to hold the Zips to a .185 hitting percentage. Junior Erin Gardner had a team-high 19 digs. Haffner added 13 digs for her second double-double of the season, and freshman Bryn Roberts finished with a career-high 11 digs.

Kent State will attempt to complete the two-match series sweep of Akron on Friday when the rivals take the court for a rematch at 5 p.m.

Muncie, Ind. - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program picked up their fifth sweep of the season with a 3-0 victory over Ball State on Thursday night (Feb. 11). The win moves the Falcons to 7-0 on the season and keeps them atop the MAC standings while Ball State falls to 5-2.
 
For the Orange and Brown, three different players logged double-digit kills in the contest with Jacqueline Askin pacing the team with 12. The win keeps the Falcons on pace with the 2012 MAC start at 8-0 as well as the 2011 season start at 11-0.
With the win, the Falcons advanced to 7-0 to start the season, marking the best start to a season for any BG team since the 2018-19 swimming and diving program started 7-0 as well. Over the last 10 seasons, only the 2014-15 swim and dive team (8-0) and the 2011 volleyball team (12-0) have started a season with a better record. 

In terms of MAC play, the 7-0 start is the best since the 2019 women's soccer team began 7-0 in conference play. Over the last 10 seasons, just the 2018 women's soccer team (8-0), the 2012 volleyball team (8-0) and the 2011-12 women's basketball team (10-0) have better conference starts. 

The five sweeps in the first seven matches is the most to begin a season for the Falcons since the 2006 campaign. 
Seeing her first collegiate action along with her first start, Madelyn Luebcke landed three kills and tallied a team-high six block assists in the contest. She also added a block solo and a dig to complete her stat line. 

The Falcons had three different players reach double-digits for kills on the night. Jacqueline Askin led the way with a season-high 12 with Katelyn Meyer and Petra Indrova each landing 11. 

Askin and Indrova each had four block assists as well, setting new season-highs and tying career-highs for both of them. Askin also had a season-high five digs. 

Nikolija Katanic logged a season-high eight kills on the night, matching her career-high, while needing just 10 attempts to do so for an .800 hitting percentage. Katanic also had a career-high three digs on the night. 

For the third time this season, and the second consecutive match, Julia Walz tallied over 20 digs, accumulating a team-high 21 over the three sets. 

As for assists, Hanna Laube registered 42 over the course of the match, the second time this season she has surpassed the 40 mark in a three-set match.

The Falcons and Cardinals will return to the court tomorrow (Feb. 12) to conclude the series with the match set for a 5 p.m. start and will be streamed on ESPN+. 

ATHENS, OH – With a complete roster available to them for the first time this season, the University at Buffalo volleyball team responded with their best effort of the year, but ultimately UB fell on the road to Ohio, 3-0.

Starting for Buffalo tonight was senior middle blocker Lexi Nordmann who played for the first time since the opening weekend and freshman outside hitter Milla Malik, who made her UB debut after missing the first six matches of the year.

Ohio took the contest 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 as the Bobcats had to come back in both the second and the third sets as the Bulls held big leads in both.

Ohio led through out in the first set, but beginning in the second set, the Bulls looked like a different team. UB held a 15-12 lead midway through the second and following a pair of blocks from the Bulls and kills from Courtney Okwara and Malik, the Bobcats called timeout trailing, 20-18.  However, out of the timeout, Ohio ended the set on a 7-1 run to take the set, 25-21.

Buffalo opened the third set on an 8-1 run, including kills from four different players. A kill by Nordmann sent the Bulls into the media timeout in the third set with a 15-10 lead. A kill by freshman Emma Gielas and an ace from Abby Leigh gave the Bulls a 17-11 lead and UB continued to hold a big advantage, but the host Bobcats fought back.

Ohio would eventually tie the third set up at 20-20 and the Bobcats went ahead 24-21 as UB fought off a pair of match points on kills from Malik and Monika Simkova, but Ohio took the set 25-23 and the match, 3-0.

Final individual stats will be available on Friday morning.

The Bulls and Bobcats conclude their two-match series tomorrow at 2pm.  The match will air on ESPN+.

DEKALB, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team notched its first victory of the 2020-21 spring season, as the Eagles downed Northern Illinois University in four sets, 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21, tonight, Feb. 11, inside NIU's Convocation Center.
 
EMU (1-2, 1-2 MAC) posted a .271 attack percentage (67-21-170) and dominated on defense with 80 digs, compared to NIU's (1-6, 1-6 MAC) .230 clip (58-20-165) and 68 digs.
 
Four Eagles recorded double-digit kill performances with senior Franki Strefling (Niles, Mich.-Buchanan) pacing the Green and White with a career-high 23 kills and a .400 hitting percentage (23-3-50). The outside hitter's 23 kills ties for fourth in program history for four sets in the modern statistical era (2008-present). Supporting Strefling offensively was sophomore Samantha Basham (Granville, Ohio-Newark Catholic) and junior Abbey Kearney (Las Vega, Nev.-Palisades Charter) who each added 12 kills, while sophomore Alayna Jansky (Mukwonago, Wis.-Mukwonago) tallied 11, respectively.
 
Running the offense was sophomore setter Jayden Otto (Crystal Lake, Ill.-Prairie Ridge), who collected a career-high 54 assists to go along with eight digs and three kills. Her 54 dimes ranks fourth in program history for four sets in the modern statistical era.
 
Defensively, Eastern was paced by Strefling with 26 digs. Her 23-kill and 26-dig performance is her second double-double of the season and the 37th of her career. Additionally, the Niles, Mich. native surpassed 1,000 career digs and became the 17th EMU volleyball player to accomplish this feat.
 
 Three other Eagles posted double-digit digs as Janksy added 17, while freshman Bella Hommes (Grand Rapids, Mich.-Forest Hills Northern) and junior Mackenzie Garis (Crystal Lake, Ill.-Prairie Ridge) tallied 16 and 12, respectively. Redshirt sophomore Raeven Chase (Toronto, Ont.-Michael Power St. Joseph Catholic) also notched a team-high three blocks (1-4).
 
Eastern held the advantage in points (78-71), kills (67-58), assists (63-53), and digs (83-68). However, Northern Illinois won the block battle (10-9) and posted three service aces.
 
Eastern will continue the two-match series at Northern Illinois Friday, Feb. 12. The match is slated for 5 p.m. ET and will be aired on NIU All-Access.