Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
CLEVELAND STATE
Balanced Attack Leads Falcons To First Win
September 08, 2004 | Volleyball
Sept. 8, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Following a game one loss, the Bowling Green State University volleyball team rallied to win the next three games, defeating Cleveland State (25-30, 30-25, 32-30, 30-26) Wednesday night in Anderson Arena. The Falcons have now won five straight home openers, dating back to the 2000 season.
"I feel great," said head coach Denise Van De Walle. "We beat a very good team tonight."
Five Falcons totaled at least six kills, with the senior duo of Taylor Twite (20) and Melissa Mohr (15) combining for 35 kills. Both were season-highs. Twite also added two digs and two blocks, while Mohr chipped in with nine digs, two solo blocks and five block-assists.
Amber Mareski, Emily Manser and Stephanie Swiger also joined the kill parade. Mareski totaled six kills, but also had a season-high 51 assists and 12 digs, while Manser had eight kills to go along with 11 digs and Swiger had 12 kills with a .375 hitting percentage.
BGSU dropped game one, mostly due to a CSU .483 hitting percentage, allowing the Vikings to race out to a 15-9 lead. The Brown & Orange got as close as 18-15, but were unable to chip any further into the CSU lead, dropping game one 30-25.
Cleveland State once again raced out to an early lead in game two, but following back-to-back kills by Emily Manser and Twite, the Falcons took their first lead of the match, and ran away with game two, 30-25, with the help of a 6-3 and 5-0 run.
Much like the first two games, the Vikings came out hot. With an early 9-4 deficit, the Falcons were in need of some offense. Kills by Stephanie Swiger, Mohr and Twite, followed by several CSU errors, allowed BGSU to get back into the match, gaining the lead at 12-11, and looked to have control of the game at 26-23, before the Vikings knotted the score at 30-30. A kill by Twite, followed by an attack error for CSU allowed the Falcons to squeak out a game three win, 32-30
The Falcons once again dug themselves a gigantic hole, falling behind 7-0 and then 13-7 to begin game four. With a 9-2 run, aided by four Twite kills in that span gave BGSU their first lead at 16-15. The Falcons never looked back. They won game four 30-26, and earned their first win the 2004 season.
"On offense I thought Taylor [Twite], Mel [Mohr] and Stephanie [Swiger] were outstanding tonight," said Van De Walle. "I also want to complement Elizabeth Simon. I have been very hard on her being the libero, but she really got us going in game three."
"I also want to thank the fans for coming out," said Van De Walle. They were loud and fun all night"
Van De Walle now heads to Greece for the next three weeks, coaching the National Sitting Team in the Paralympic Games.
"This win meant a lot, said the coach. "I really wanted to celebrate with the team before I left."
Looks like coach Van De Walle got just that.
