There was disappointment. There were tears. There were more than a few questions.
How did we get here? How did we let this happen?
That’s how the 2022 season ended for Western Michigan. A program accustomed to a certain amount of success under coach Colleen Munson — nine 20-win seasons and four NCAA Tournaments — was on the outside looking in at the Mid-American Conference tournament.
The 9-9 finish in the MAC Western Division was tough enough to swallow, but it was even more difficult for the Broncos knowing they dropped five five-set conference matches. The last two were the deal-breakers: Back-to-back 3-2 losses to Central Michigan in mid-November.
“We found different ways to lose,” said Munson, now in her 19th season at WMU.
So how could they make 2023 different?
One of the first questions Munson got from her players was: Who is coming in for next season? The coach’s answer probably was jarring: no one.
“We have everything it takes right here,” Munson told her players. “We have it, and we have to develop it, and that’s on me. Everyone wants, in this day and age, who’s in the transfer portal? Who can come from X, Y, Z school? Can we get an international recruit? No. We have it in-house.”
Nearly a year later, the Broncos look nothing like the team that limped down the stretch last fall. They are 12-2, which includes a sweep of Michigan and a four-set win over Wake Forest — and opened last weekend with back-to-back victories at Miami, Ohio.
A bigger challenge awaits when MAC power Bowling Green visits Kalamazoo on Thursday and Friday nights.
“No one gives you confidence,” Munson said. “They step on the court, and that’s their choice … They made a choice and a decision to not go back to where they were a year ago.”
To rediscover their game, the Broncos had to go halfway around the world.
During the offseason, Western Michigan was due for its overseas trip the NCAA allows every five years. The Broncos went to Venice and Milan in Italy and Istanbul in Türkiye to face various clubs and national teams.
The competition a college team faces, Munson explained, is arranged based on their RPI from the previous season. So with the Broncos finishing out of their conference tournament, they were given “easier” competition to start.
But after they tied their first opponent — Munson said the other team didn’t want to play a fifth set — Tim Kelly, a former UCLA player who…
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