Bowling Green State University
AKRON
Falcons Fly Past Zips, Swiger Records 1,000th Kill
October 05, 2007 | Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Falcons came out blazing the second game in a row this week defeating Akron in three (31-29, 30-17, 30-21) and extending their home match winning streak to seven. For the second night this week the Falcons had a compound attack at the net, tying their season high hitting a .349 for the match. The Falcons had all their offensive weapons ready to go with five hitters hitting .300 plus.
Tonight's match was great for BGSU but also momentous for one Falcon in particular as senior Stephanie Swiger recorded her 1,000th kill in game three. Swiger is only the 13th player in BGSU history to accomplish 1,000 career kills.
"I was happy that Swiger reached her goal tonight of 1000 kills," said BGSU head coach Denise Van De Walle. "It's a huge accomplishment, that's for sure. Not too many players reach this milestone. It was nice she got it here in front of her family and friends. I knew it meant a lot to her. She has worked really hard during her career and this was a night she'll remember for a long time."
The Falcons came out fired up scoring the first point of the match off a kill from Kendra Halm. Akron answered back and put together a five point run to take an early 6-2 lead. The Falcons didn't get flustered as they answered back with a six point run to take an 8-6 lead. Akron would eventually put together a six point to once again taking the lead 15-12. The battle continued back and forth the entire first game. With the score 27-26 in favor of Akron, Corey Domek put away a kill to side out leading to a three point Falcon run and game point, 29-27. Akron was able to side out and score another point to tie up the game, 29-29. The Falcons took the lead 30-29 off a kill from Halm. Sam Fish finished off game one for the Falcons with an ace on Akron's Brionna Patterson.
Game two was't as close as game one, especially after a seven point Falcon run giving BGSU a 7-2 lead. The Falcons put together another quick five point run extending their lead to nine, 15-6. Akron fought back but the Falcons continued to push ahead putting together a four point run started off a Meghan Mohr kill giving the Falcons one of their biggest leads of the night 13 points, 26-13. The Falcons got game point off of Stephanie Swiger's 999th kill but Akron was able to fight off two game points. The Falcons finished off game two, 30-17, hitting a .474 with 21 kills and only three errors.
Heading into the locker room after game two the Falcons only needed one more game to win the match and Swiger only needed one more kill to reach 1,000, something they would both accomplish in game three.
The Falcons jumped off to start game three taking the first point once again but after a kill from Akron's Jess Antosz Akron got the ball back. The Falcons sided out the ball right away from Swiger's 1,000th career kill and with a standing ovation the crowd cheered. Swiger is only the 13th player in BGSU history to record 1,000 kills. As the match continued Akron put together a four point run to take a 6-5 lead over the Falcons. The Falcons answered with back to back three point runs taking a 10-7 lead. With game three still within reach for Akron the Falcons strung together eight points with Maggie Karges back at the serving line that even an Akron timeout couldn't break, giving the Falcons a 24-13 lead. The Falcons continued to push through game three securing game point off of a Domek kill. Once again Akron didn't give up fighting off five Falcon game points. Finally off of a kill from Domek the Falcons won game three, 30-21.
The Falcons were using all of their weapons on the court with multiple players contributing on offense. Halm and Mohr led the way with 11 kills a piece, each with only one error. Halm hit a .588 beating her season high of .500 she reach last game against IPFW (Oct. 2). Mohr recorded her fifth double-double with 11 kills hitting a .476 and picking up 14 digs. Domek recorded nine kills followed by three Falcons with eight kills, Swiger, Fish, and Kaitlin Jackson. Fish had eight kills and no errors hitting a .533 and collected 37 assists distributing the ball on offense. Swiger finished her record breaking night with 8 kills now totaling 1,001 career kills.
"Kendra and Meghan were a big force at the net, both in double digit kills," said Van De Walle. "The only area that was a little below average was blocking. But our defense made up for that with 21 digs a game. Kaitlin looks better and better each time she takes the floor. Her hitting numbers reflect that.
On defense Chelsey Meek once again had a sound performance with 15 digs followed my Karges with 10 digs.
"Our passing was great tonight," said Van De Walle. "It allowed us a lot of options offensively. I thought Sam played well and spread the ball around. She made Akron pay attention to her the whole night by tipping so effectively. I thought she might get her first triple double tonight."
The Falcons will host MAC East division foe Buffalo tomorrow (Oct. 6) at 3:00 p.m. once again putting their undefeated home court record to the test. The Falcons are now 7-0 in Anderson Arena.
Other Notes:
The last meeting between Akron and BGSU (Oct. 21, 2006) was a record breaking match as well for the Falcons. It was the 17th match in Falcons winning streak last season, making it the longest winning streak in BGSU history.
