NCAA volleyball: WMU wins MAC; Omaha vs. KC for Summit title; OVC, MVC semis set
Logan Case leaps for joy as Western Michigan wins the MAC title/WMU photo
Western Michigan, which led the MAC from wire to wire, won the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament,
But it wasn’t easy.
The Broncos took the first two sets Monday night against Bowling Green in the conference tournament final, then got completely overpowered by the Falcons in the next two before bouncing back to win the fifth.
Conference tournament play continues Tuesday.
In The Summit League, Omaha faces Kansas City for the league’s NCAA bid, and the Ohio Valley Conference and Missouri Valley conference play semifinals.
There’s a key Pac-12 match when Oregon, the No. 6 team in the VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll, plays AVCA No. 24 USC.
And in a non-conference match, High Point, which won the Big South and its NCAA bid and is No. 50 in the NCAA RPI, plays at the Big 12’s TCU, No. 46 in the RPI and holding out hope for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. The Horned Frogs finish conference play Saturday against AVCA No 16 BYU.
There’s also been another NCAA Division I women’s volleyball coaching change.
For the complete schedule with viewing links to every match, go to the VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.
Western Michigan wins the 2023 MAC Championship
MAC: Top-seeded Western Michigan (30-2) not only won its 20th match in a row, the Broncos defeated sixth-seeded Bowling Green (19-13) in an up-and-down final 25-16, 25-21, 14-25, 15-25, 15-7.
Western Michigan, riding the program’s longest winning streak since 1983, has been to the NCAA Tournament 12 times, the last in 2014. Against Bowling Green, Keona Salesman led with 18 kills, hitting .300 after having three errors in 50 attacks. She had a solo block and a dig. Maggie King had 15 kills, two aces, five digs and four blocks. Logan Case had two kills in four errorless tries, 44 assists, an ace, a block and six digs. Andelyn Simkins had 20 digs, three assists and two aces.
Bowling Green’s Lauryn Hovey had 21 kills, two assists, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Mia Tyler added 17 kills, a block and five digs. Alex Laboy had 25 digs, five assists and an ace and Jaden Walz had four kills, 48 assists, two aces, four blocks and three digs.
Chuck Curti featured Western Michigan in September when the Broncos were 12-2 at the time:
After disappointing 2022, Western Michigan (12-2) rediscovered its mojo overseas
OVC: The Ohio Valley Conference semifinals pit top-seeded Eastern Illinois against No. 5 Southern Indiana and second-seeded Southeast Missouri vs. third-seeded Lindenwood.
EIU (26-4) hit .343 and swept Little Rock (11-19) as Giovana Larregui Lopez had 14 kills, two aces, a block and 10 digs, Natalie Mitchem had 13 kills, hitting .550, and Emily Wilcox had 110 kills, an ace and four blocks. Christina Martinez Mundo had 21 digs and six assists.
Southern Indiana (15-15) swept Morehead State (18-13) behind 15 kills, three blocks and three digs from Abby Bednar. Leah Anderson added 12 kills, three assists, a block and 14 digs.
Southeast Missouri (21-9) had to go five to get past Western Illinois (9-21) as Zoey Beasley had 22 kills, four blocks and two digs. Lucy Arndt had 17 kills, an assist, 12 digs and three blocks, one solo. Marisa Guisti had nine kills and eight blocks. Tara Beilsmith had 28 digs, three aces and eight assists, and setter Izzy Lukens had a kill, 56 assists, three aces, three blocks and 24 digs. WIU’s Keyana Cruse had 24 kills, two blocks and 19 digs.
Lindenwood (16-14) beat Tennessee Tech (13-17) in five as Addy McAleer had 15 kills, an ace, four blocks and six digs. Anna Kraemer had 14 kills, four blocks and three digs. Allie Otten had three kills, 47 assists, an ace, two blocks and 16 digs. Lexi Menne had four aces. Tennessee Tech’s Madolyn Isringhausen had 15 kills, 20 digs and three blocks, one solo, and McKenna Young had 28 digs and two assists.
SUMMIT: Omaha (14-13) is back in The Summit League final for the third year in a row plays Kansas City (22-7) and there’s every reason to think it should be quite a battle. Kansas City won their first regular-season match in five to open the Summit season on September 21 in Kansas City, and then Omaha won in four at home on November 2.
Omaha, which started the season 0-9 including being the team that got swept by Nebraska in the football-stadium match, beat Denver (14-12) 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-25, 16-14. Omaha fell behind 6-2 in the fifth but responded with a 5-0 run. Kali Jurgenmeister led the Mavericks with 15 kills, a block and a dig. Rachel Fairbanks had 12 kills, an assist, four aces, two blocks and 10 digs. McKenna Ruch, who had the match-winning kill, had 11 kills, hit .360, and had an assist, an ace and four blocks, one solo. Denver’s Cassie Davis had 25 kills, hit .357 and had an ace, six digs and five blocks, one solo.
North Dakota State’s Alexis Boling attacks against Kansas City’s Kimora Whetsone, left, and Kaia Dunford as Caroline Keithley looks on/Dave Eggen, Inertia
Kansas City beat North Dakota State (18-11) in four to advance to a title match for the first time since 1997. Odyssey Warren led with 16 kills and eight digs. Sila Ozyurek had 10 kills with one error in 15 swings and five blocks, and Carly Gillen had nine kills, hit .316 and had an assist, two digs and six blocks, one solo. Leah Green had 18 digs, two assists and an ace. NDSU’s Ali Hinze had 18 kills, two assists and 17 digs, and Alexis Boling and Ally Barth had 12 kills each.
Kelly Franklin of Southern Illinois hits against the Belmont block of Ally Peterson, left, and Kristen Clemons/Missouri Valley photo
VALLEY: The Missouri Valley Conference semifinals pit top-seeded Northern Iowa against fourth-seeded Southern Illinois and second-seeded Drake vs. No. 3 UIC.
While UN (24-6)I, which ran away with the regular-season title, and Drake (21-9) waited for their first matches, SIU (20-10) swept Belmont (14-20) and UIC did the same to Missouri State (16-16).
Nataly Garcia led the SIU Salukis with 12 kills, an assist, two aces, three blocks and seven digs. Kelly Franklin had nine kills, hit .368, and had four blocks. Belmont’s Brooke Gilleland had 12 kills.
UIC got 15 kills from Martina Delucchi, who had an assist, an ace, a block and 10 digs, and 11 kills from Becca Oldendorf. Oldendorf had one error in 17 attacks, an ace and two blocks, one solo.
SMU TOPS PEPPERDINE: SMU of the American Athletic Conference improved to 24-6 with its 14th win in a row, a sweep of visiting Pepperdine (19-8) of the West Coast Conference. SMU won the rare late-season non-conferece matchup among NCAA Tournament teams 25-21, 25-23, 25-16. Both teams won their respective conference’s regular-season titles and NCAA bids that came with them.
SMU’s Jamison Wheeler led with 14 kills, an ace, three blocks and nine digs. Naya Shime had 11 kills, an assist, an ace, a block and four digs. Alex Glover had three kills in six errorless attacks and seen blocks. Birdie Hendrickson had 10 kills for Pepperdine.
NEVADA COACH: Lee Nelson was let go after nine seasons. This year, the Wolf Pack finished 7-21, 3-15 in the Mountain West.
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