Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
VALPARAISO
Volleyball Downs Valpo In Five
September 17, 2003 | Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Despite a valiant comeback by Valparaiso University, the Bowling Green State University volleyball squad captured a five-set match over the Crusaders (30-23, 30-27, 21-30, 28-30, 15-12) Wednesday night at Anderson Arena. With the win the Falcons improve to 4-0 in matches that go the distance.
In game one the Falcons opened with a 5-1 run, which turned into a 10-3 lead, capped off by a Taylor Twite kill. The Crusaders got as close as 14-11 before junior Melissa Mohr slammed home a kill which was followed by a service ace by senior Sara Sikorski to put the lead at 16-11. BGSU captured game one 30-23.
Game two was a back-and-forth match, with neither team able to take a commanding lead. The Crusaders owned the largest lead at 20-23, only to allow the Falcons to finish game two with a 10-4 run, capturing the set 30-27.
The Crusaders won game three with superb defense, holding BGSU to a team hitting percentage of .077. In game three the Crusaders pulled ahead with an early 15-9 run, allowing the Falcons to get no closer then18-21, before finishing game three with a 9-3 run and a 30-21 game three win.
The Falcons came out determined in game four, scoring the opening four points of the set, before allowing Valpo to claim the lead at 18-19. Both teams exchanged several points to knot the score at 27-27, before the Crusaders went on a 3-1 run and a 30-28 victory in game four.
The decisive fifth set started out how the fourth set ended, with an early 5-1 run by Valpo. Following a timeout the Brown & Orange went on a 5-1 themselves knotting the score at 6-6 with kills by seniors Nadia Bedricky and Samantha Rennau. The BGSU seniors took control of the match from here on out. Susie Norris and Rennau scored four of the final five points of the match, with the finishing touches going to Rennau with a kill along the left side for the 15-12 game five win.
For the match Susie Norris finished with a double-double, 16 kills and 15 digs, as did Rennau with a team leading 19 kills and 14 digs.
Sikorski had her best match of the young season with 62 assists and eight kills along with a .429 hitting percentage.
Junior Melissa Mohr and freshman Chrissy Gothke had outstanding defensive efforts. Mohr had game leading eight total blocks (1-7) to go along with eight kills. Gothke continued to lead the Falcons in digs with 29 in the win over Valpo.
The Falcons improved to 8-3 on the season while with the loss Valpo drops to 10-3.
Up next for BGSU is a trip to Columbus, Ohio to face the Buckeyes on Saturday, September 20. The match is set to begin at 7:00 p.m.
