Griffin finished as the team leader with 14 kills. She hit a sterling .824 for the match with no attack errors. Metzler was right behind her with 12 kills and a .476 hitting percentage, while Hanks had 11 kills. Atteberry led the team with 50 assists, while Lisa Treadway had 13 digs.

Miami returns to action on Saturday when it hosts MAC West Division leading Western Michigan at 5 p.m.

Western Michigan 3, Northern Illinois 1
KALAMAZOO -- Behind freshman middle blocker Jessica Brown's career-high 20 kills and .395 attack percentage, the Western Michigan volleyball team won on Senior Night, 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20), against Northern Illinois at University Arena.

The 19th consecutive home win in conference play and ninth in a row this season at home for the Broncos (19-9, 11-2 MAC) clinched at least of share of the Mid-American Conference West Division title for the third season in a row. One more win by WMU or loss by Central Michigan ensures sole possession of the division crown. With the win over the Huskies (13-13, 7-6 MAC), the Broncos also assured themselves no worse than the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, Ohio, and a first round bye due to MAC tiebreaker procedures.

Senior Katie Eberling added 15 kills, hitting .282 and 12 digs for her 50th double-double, while senior Michell Moore had 10 kills, 12 digs and two blocks. Senior setter Jillian Mitchell finished with 44 assists, 10 digs and three kills, while senior libero Caitlin Strimel had 28 digs and two aces.

Junior Allyson Doyle chipped in with six kills, five blocks, 16 digs and two aces for the Brown & Gold, while sophomore Ashley Turnage added three blocks.

"Northern Illinois played a tremendous match and put us into a number of difficult situations," head coach Colleen Munson said.
"I'm proud of the fact that our team found the poise to fight back and find a way to win. That's the mark of an experienced and mature team. I feel that the experiences from this match will help us grow as the season continues."

Northern Illinois took control from the opening serve with a kill to start a 6-0 match-opening run after four WMU errors. Brown hit back-to-back kills and NIU missed on the next three points to force an NIU timeout. The Broncos continued to slowly catch up and pulled within one, 11-10, after a kill by Eberling off an overpass. NIU capitalized on an overpass on the next point to start a 5-0 run to take back control, 16-10. The Broncos didn't get closer than five points the rest of the set and NIU closed it out with a kill, 25-16.

NIU hit .371 with 16 kills and had 21 digs to help hold WMU to .125 hitting with 12 kills and seven errors.

Three kills by Brown and a block by Brown and Moore led WMU to a 6-1 run to start the second set. The Huskies regrouped and tied the set, 9-9, but WMU responded with a 5-1 run, 14-10, with kills from Doyle, Eberling and Brown and a block by Turnage and Doyle. NIU came back with four in a row to tie the set, 14-14, before Eberling had a kill to break the deadlock and NIU missed two shots in a row, 17-14.

The Huskies came back to cut the lead to three points three times, the final time at 20-19, but Doyle, Moore and Eberling hit three kills in a row to give WMU a cushion, 23-19, and Brown ended the set with a kill, 25-22.

WMU hit .180 with 14 kills and five errors, while NIU hit .184 with 15 kills and six errors. Brown had six kills in the set, while Strimel had 10 digs.

The Huskies scored the first four points of the third set before WMU tied the score at seven, but it couldn't take the lead. NIU kept the lead and pushed it to four, 16-12. The Broncos closed to within two, 18-16, after an Eberling kill and NIU error to force the Huskies to call a timeout. The Huskies responded and built a three-point lead, 20-17, and made WMU call timeout. Despite the timeout, NIU scored the first point to go up four, 21-17, but WMU scored five of the next six points to tie the set, 22-22, and cause a NIU timeout.

The Huskies regained the lead after the timeout, 23-22, but Eberling came back with back-to-back kills and Doyle ended the set with an ace, 25-23.

WMU hit .283 with 15 kills and two errors in the set, while NIU hit
.231 with 19 kills and seven errors. Eberling had five kills, while Moore and Brown hit four.

The Huskies took another big lead in the fourth set by building a six-point margin, 12-6, before WMU called timeout. The Broncos staged another comeback and closed within two, 16-14, after an ace by Strimel. NIU scored the next point, but WMU came back with kills by Moore and Doyle to close within one, 17-16, and took the lead with back-to-back blocks by Doyle and Turnage, 18-17.

NIU tied the score at 18 and 19, but a kill by Eberling and ball-handling error by NIU put WMU up two, 21-19. NIU scored its final point with a kill on the next point, before WMU closed the set with a Brown kill, Doyle ace, Eberling kill and NIU error on match point, 25-20.

WMU hit .238 with 15 kills and five errors in the final set, while NIU hit .182 with 14 kills and six errors. Brown and Eberling both had five kills in the final set.

Overall, WMU hit .208 with 56 kills, 19 errors, 82 digs, seven blocks and five aces. NIU hit .233 with 64 kills, 22 errors, 92 digs, six blocks and one ace. WMU had three service errors and NIU hit six.

The Huskies were led by Meagan Schoenrock with 20 kills, while Allison McGlaughlin had 17 kills and 20 digs. Maddie Hughes led all players with 29 digs and Kristin Hoffman had 52 assists, six kills and 15 digs.

The Broncos go back on the road on Saturday at 5 p.m. when they play MAC East second place Miami (15-10, 10-3 MAC) at Millett Hall.