Bowling Green State University
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WESTERN MICHIGAN
Broncos Tarnish Senior Night, BGSU Drops 3-1 Decision
November 04, 2006 | Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Falcon fans have become accustomed to Bowling Green hitting .260-plus as they did Saturday afternoon, but Western Michigan altered the usual outcome by defeating the Falcons in four games. Ashley Vogl blasted 22 kills with a .543 hitting pace, leading WMU to a .339 team hitting efficiency. It marks the highest any foe has hit against the Falcons this season.
Freshman Corey Domek belted 17 kills at a .324 pace in the losing effort. A trio of other Falcons also recorded double-digit kills in the contest.
Vogl began her dominance in the first game, compiling eight kills. Back-to-back kills by Junior Stephanie Swiger cut the Falcon deficit to just three points at 13-16. Unfortunately, game one was had by the Broncos after a service ace gave them point number 30.
The Falcon defense snapped back into high gear in game two, limiting the WMU offense to a .115 hitting efficiency. With Bowling Green leading "through the first half of the game, WMU stormed back to take a 25-22 advantage. Instead of licking their wounds and giving in for game two, the Brown and Orange swung a counterpunch of their own, clinching a 30-28 win with a monsterous block by Sophomore Kendra Halm and Junior Corrie Mills.
Game three was a near stalemate as neither team held a lead of three or more at any point after the 10-point mark. Three straight Bronco kills put the Falcons in a 26-28 hole late in the game. Points were then exchanged to create a 29-27 score. Senior Chrissy Gothke, in the final home match of her career, then set up a Domek-kill to skim the deficit to a lone point. WMU responded the very next point, however, and took a 30-28 victory.
Offensively, Bowling Green hit a match-high .333, but had no answer defensively for the Bronco offense which swung at a .524 pace in the match-clinching game four. Led by Michelle Moore's eight kills, Wester Michigan snatched a 30-23 decision to win the match.
Bowling Green drops to 23-4 overall and 12-2 in the MAC while the Broncos improve to 16-12 and 6-8 in conference play. Despite the loss, the Falcons have still clinched the three seed for the MAC tournament.
The Falcons wrap up the regular season next weekend, beginning with a Friday (Nov. 10) night match at Kent State, followed by a Saturday afternoon matchups at Ohio.
Quotes from Head Coach Denise Van De Walle
"Today was a very disappointing loss. I expected us to battle harder than we did. Our defense was no match for their offense. There were times when I thought Western was able to hit just about any shot they wanted out of the middle."
"I thought Western was great today. They played very fast and we didn't keep up. I thought they ran our game plan for them against us. The areas of our game that have carried us this season just didn't today. I know these things happen but I just didn't expect it with all we had riding on this match."
"We should have ended our last home match with a win. I wanted a festive time afterwards for Chrissy (Gothke) and her family for Senior Day. The loss put a damper on things. Now we have to get back on track with a consistent week of practice. Good teams bounce back and we will do that."
"Going in to today's match we knew we were at least the third seed in the MAC Tournament. Today didn't change that. It just made it harder to be number one."
"The biggest bright spot of the match was (Corey) Domek. She finally hit the ball again like she did at Northern Illinois. That was great."
