WMU News

Broncos host Eastern Michigan in MAC volleyball quarterfinal Tuesday

Nov. 21, 1999

KALAMAZOO -- The WMU volleyball team (23-6, 15-3 MAC) finished the regular season with the second-best record in the Mid-American Conference and will host No. 7 seed Eastern Michigan (20-11) in a MAC Volleyball Tournament quarterfinal match Tuesday (Nov. 23) at University Arena.

Tuesday's contest begins at 6 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with men's basketball vs Loyola. General admission ticket prices for the doubleheader are $6 for adults and $4 for students.

In the only regular-season meeting of the two teams this year, WMU won, 3-1, at Eastern Michigan on Oct. 29.

In other MAC quarterfinal contests on Tuesday, No. 1 seeded Ball State (25-6) will host Marshall (15-14), the No. 8 seed at 7 p.m. Akron, the No. 3 seed, will host regional rival Kent (13-16) at 5 p.m. Fourth-seeded Bowling Green (20-11) plays host to No. 5 Miami (16-12) at 7 p.m.

The winner of the Ball State-Marshall match will face the winner of the Bowling Green-Miami contest on Friday (Nov. 26), while the winner of the Western Michigan-Eastern Michigan match plays the winner of the Akron-Kent match in the other semifinal contest. The two semifinal winners will meet in Saturday's (Nov. 27) championship match. The semifinals and finals will be played on the home court of the highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals. Times for the contests will be announced after the quarterfinals.

Both No. 1 seeded Ball State (16-2 MAC) and No. 2 seeded WMU (15-3 MAC) lost their final regular season contests. WMU lost 3-0 at Northern Illinois on Friday (Nov. 19), and Ball State dropped a 3-2 decision at Kent on Saturday. Ball State's only other conference loss of the year was in the season opener, 3-0, at Western Michigan. Between its season-opening and season-ending losses, Ball State had a run of 16 straight MAC victories. WMU opened the season with 13 consecutive conference wins.

Western Michigan's first-round tournament opponent, EMU, also lost its regular season finale (3-1) on Saturday, ironically to the same Northern Illinois team that defeated WMU the night before.

WMU's 23 overall victories represent the program's most wins since the 1987 squad won 28. The Broncos also recorded their most league wins (15) since 1986.

In the match at Northern Illinois, WMU seniors Traci Morin and Mandy Whitfield recorded 14 and 12 kills, respectively, to lead the Broncos. Morin hit .370 in the loss while Whitfield made a team-high 10 digs for her 16th double-double performance of the season. Junior Jen Nowak totaled 42 assists (14.0 apg) in directing the Bronco attack. Junior Alberta Griffin chipped in with seven kills.

Media contact: Geoff Brown; 616 387-4138; geoffrey.brown@wmich.edu


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