Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Golden Flashes Defeat Falcons in MAC Quarterfinals
November 17, 2007 | Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2007
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Falcons' hopes of returning to the MAC Championship again this season were ended as they dropped three games (25-30, 26-30, 22-30) to Kent State in the MAC quarterfinals. The Falcons finished the 2007 season 21-10, which marked their second straight season of 20 plus wins and fourth consecutive winning season.
The Falcons weren't quite the Orange and Brown we have seen all season but none the less never gave up and fought the whole match. In game one the Falcons were plagued by errors with Kent State taking a 7-2 lead until Meghan Mohr came up with a big kill ending the Golden Flashes five point run. The Falcons battled back to come within three 5-8 but the Golden Flashes fired right back scoring another four points in a row to extend their lead to seven, 12-5 over the Falcons. The Falcons once again cut the Golden Flashes lead, 16-13 as they put together a three point run off of back-to-back kills from Mohr and Kendra Halm. The Falcons fought hard to keep game one close but a five point run by the Golden Flashes gave Kent a six point lead, 25-19. The Falcons rallied back scoring four points in a row, which was started by a huge kill from Mohr followed a double block from Stephanie Swiger and Madeline Means and a kill from Swiger, but once again the Golden Flashes answered back with a three point run to give them game point, 29-24. A Mohr kill ended the Golden Flashes run and gave the Falcons one last chance in game one. The Golden Flashes finished off game one, 30-25. The Falcons out hit and out dug the Golden Flashes recording 19 kills and 23 digs compared to the Kent State's 15 kills and 17 digs. Although, the Falcons record more kills and digs in game one their hitting errors hurt them as the only hit a .140 in game one.
 Senior Madeline Means  |
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The Golden Flashes took an early 8-4 lead in game two after back-to-back three point runs, which were ended by a Swiger kill. The Golden Flashes then strung together six points extending their lead to eight, 15-7. The Falcons found their grove as they put together their biggest run of the night with seven straight points that two Kent State timeouts couldn't stop. The Falcon run was started by a kill from Corrie Mills, who was key in the run as she recorded two kills, an assist and a block, also apart of the Falcon run were Corey Domek with a kill and Swiger with two blocks. The Falcon run brought Orange and Brown within one of Kent State 21-20. The Golden Flashes came back with four straight points to take a 27-23. The Falcons fought off two Kent State game points but fell 26-30 in game two.
In game three the Falcons jumped out right away scoring the first point off of a kill from Mills. The Golden Flashes came right back to score four points in a row until Mills stopped them terminating the ball for a kill and bringing the Falcons within one, 5-4. Game three remained close with no more than two points separating the two teams until the Golden Flashes strung together five points taking a 17-11 lead. The Falcons fought hard and cut the lead to five, 20-15, but once again the Golden Flashes recorded points in a row to extend their lead to nine 24-15. The end of game three was the Corrie/Corey show as Mills and Domek recorded the last three kills for the Falcons but didn't have enough to over come the Golden Flashes and the Falcons were defeated 30-22.
The Falcons' offensive strike was lead by Domek with 15 kills followed by Swiger with nine kills and Mohr with eight kills. Mills had one of her best matches of the season coming off the bench and recording six kills with only one error in 11 attempts, the most efficient hitter for the Falcons with a .455 hitting percentage.
The Falcons defense out dug the Golden Flashes 62 digs to 51 digs. The Falcons defense was led by Chelsey Meek with 17 digs followed by Means with 16 digs and Elizabeth Simon with 13 digs.
Despite a tough loss the Falcons had a tremendously successful season finishing with 20 plus wins, one of the five teams in the MAC to record 20 plus wins this season. The Falcons also had their best season in Anderson Arena since 1991 finishing 12-1 at home, which included winning the Best Western Invitational title. The Falcons received 17 individual honors, eight all-tournament awards (one MVP), five all-MAC honors, and four Player of the Week honors. The Falcons as a team set two new BGSU records and had players set two match records, three season records, and a career record. The Falcons also set numerous milestones and season and career highs. In BGSU volleyball head coach Denise Van De Walle's 25th season she recorded her 450th victory and became the winningest coach in BGSU history with 462 wins.
