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Bowling Green State University
BALL STATE
Cardinals Sweep Falcons On Van De Walle's Return
October 02, 2004 | Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2004
MUNCIE, Indiana - The return of 22 years of head coaching experience was not enough to aid the Bowling Green State University volleyball team past the Cardinals of Ball State, Saturday night in John E. Worthen Arena. Even with the return of Denise Van De Walle, the Falcons fell in three games 30-27, 30-24 and 30-20.
"I thought we played a good match tonight, just not good enough," said head coach Denise Van De Walle. "We played aggressively but had a few lapses defensively that allowed Ball State strings of points. It was high level volleyball on both sides of the net. Unfortunately Ball State had a better night attacking the ball than we did."
The two teams exchanged the opening 16 points for an eight-all tie before BSU went on a 4-0 spurt to take a 12-8 advantage. The Cardinals expanded the lead to 17-11 to force the first Brown and Orange timeout. Ball State continued to pour it on, stretching the lead to 11 at 26-15, before the Falcons went on a 6-0 spurt with the help of back-to-back kills by Emily Manser to get within five at 26-21. The Bowling Green comeback closed to with in two at 28-26 forcing BSU to use their final timeout, but two kills by the Cardinals closed the books on game one, 30-27.
Ball State started game two out with a flurry of kills and an early 11-3 run. BGSU closed to within one, 17-16, following several kills by freshman Maggie Karges and senior Melissa Mohr. The Cardinal offense proved to be too much though, as BSU lengthened their advantage to 25-19 behind a .432 hitting percentage and strolled home with a 30-24 game two victory.
Much like game one, the two teams felt each other out to begin game three matching each other for the first 20 points, knotting the score at 10 apiece. Following a 4-0 run by the Falcons to once again knot the score, this time 14-14, the Cardinals put game three out of reach with an 11-3 scurry. BSU captured the final game 30-20.
"Beating them would have been a nice homecoming," said Van De Walle. "However, I'll be just as happy to get it the next time we play them."
Despite only three games, four Falcons recorded double figure kills. Taylor Twite registered 14 kills for tops on the team, while Karges, Mohr and Manse each chipped in with 11.
Much like the previous night in Oxford, several Falcons impressed defensively. Karges led the team with 18 digs, followed by Manser (14), Mareski (13), Elizabeth Simon (9), Mohr (7) and Chrissy Gothke (7).
The loss for the Falcons was the 24th straight at the hands of Ball State. The last time BGSU downed the Cardinals was back on October 3, 1992.
Up next for the Falcons is a Wednesday (Oct. 6) night trip to IPFW before traveling to Toledo (Oct. 8) and Northern Illinois (Oct. 9) on Friday and Saturday. All three matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
Milestones recorded over the weekend:
Melissa Mohr recorded both her 400th career kill and 300th career dig.
Emily Manser was just the opposite, registering her 300th kills and 400th dig.
Sophomore Chrrisy Gothke posted her 600th career dig.
And Amber Mareski past the 2,600 assist mark.
