YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team rebounded from dropping a marathon first set to knock off Eastern Michigan 3-1 (30-32, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22) in the two teams' Mid-American Conference opener on Thursday evening.
 
Maggie King tallied a match-high 24 kills, one shy of her career high, on a .327 hitting percentage to lead the attack for Western Michigan (8-4, 1-0). Meredith Phillips and Andelyn Simkins chipped in 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Sammi LaBolle added eight kills and led WMU with three blocks.
 
Logan Case registered her third consecutive double-double, handing out a match-high 55 assists and collecting 12 digs. Mairead Boyle totaled a career-best 27 digs in the contest, and also led Western Michigan with a career-high tying four service aces.
 
The first set was back and forth the entire way, with neither team holding a lead of more than two throughout the frame, and the two teams being tied 25 times. The Broncos withstood four set point opportunities, but the Eagles (5-7, 0-1) eventually eked out the set, 32-30.
 
Western Michigan came out strong in the second set and raced out to a 7-1 advantage. With the Broncos ahead 17-11, Eastern put together a 5-0 run to cut the margin to one, 17-16. WMU responded with four of the next five, pushing the margin back out to 21-17. EMU got no closer than three for the remainder of the frame, as the Broncos evened the contest at one set apiece.
 
On top 13-11 in the third set, Western rattled off five straight to seize an 18-11 advantage. Eastern got the next two to draw within five, but the Broncos responded with a 4-1 spurt to go up 22-14. The Eagles tallied five in row to close the gap to three, 22-19, but WMU staved off the rally to take a 2-1 edge in the match.
 
Eastern Michigan got out to the early lead in the fourth frame, jumping on top 7-3. The Broncos answered, and drew back even at 10-10. Tied once again at 18-18, Western got a kill from King, followed by a block from the duo of LaBolle and Phillips to nudge back ahead, 20-18. The Eagles got back within one at 20-19 and again at 23-22, but an EMU error got the contest to match point, and Julia Marr hammered down the match-sealing kill for Western Michigan.
 
The Broncos and Eagles conclude their series on Friday afternoon with a 3 pm first serve at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+.