Bowling Green State University
CLEVELAND STATE
Falcons Sink the Vikings' Ship, 3-2
October 21, 2008 | Volleyball
Oct. 21, 2008
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Head Coach Denise Van De Walle and the Bowling Green State University volleyball team sunk the Cleveland State Vikings' ship tonight (Oct. 21) with a 3-2 (25-16, 19-25, 16-25, 25-18, 15-8) victory as BG wrapped up their five-match road trip and non-conference schedule. The Falcon netters are now 16-7 overall and 5-3 in Mid-American Conference play, including a 7-1 record in five set matches this season.
The Falcons came out strong in the first set taking the first point of the match off of a kill from Corey Domek. The Falcons captured an early 3-0 lead over the Vikings. The Vikings came right back with a three-point run to tie the set up 6-6, but a kill from Meghan Mohr stopped the Vikings and got the Falcons going on their own three-point run to take a three point lead. BG extended their lead to six, 13-7 after scoring four straight points. The Vikings fought back eventually with a four-point run to cut the Falcons lead to three, 15-12. The Falcons finished up the set strong posting back-to-back three-point runs and scoring eight of the last 10 points. A kill from Domek gave the Falcons the first set, 25-16. The Falcons dominated the net in the first set recording 14 kills, posting a .344 hitting percentage compared to the Vikings mere .053 hitting percentage. Domek led the Falcon attack in the first set terminating six kills with only one error in eight attempts good for an impressive .625 hitting percentage.
The Falcons once again grabbed the lead right away in the second set, 4-1, but the Vikings struck right back as they strung together six points to take a 7-4 lead over the Falcons. The Falcons continued to fight as they put together a four-point run that was started by a kill from Halm to regain the lead, 12-11. Once again the Viking answered back with points in a row to take a 14-12 lead. BG continued to fight but a late three-point run by the Vikings gave Cleveland State a four point lead, 21-17. The Falcons fell, 25-19 in the second set.
The third set started off back and forth with both teams scoring points in a row but the Falcons put together the first big run with four straight points sparked by a kill from Halm to take a 10-7. The Vikings once again fired right back with a three-point run to tie the set up 10-10. The Vikings continued to come on strong as they posted back-to-back six-point runs to take the biggest lead of the night, 23-14 over the Falcons. BG never gave up fighting off one set point but fell 25-16 to the Vikings in the third set.
Down 1-2 in the match the Falcons came out firing in the fourth set putting up a double-block from Halm and Mohr to take the first point of the set, which led to a 4-0 lead. The Vikings were able to come back and tie the set up 7-7 after a four-point run. The set continued to go back and forth with both teams scoring points in a row. With the set all tied up 18-18 another kill from Domek sparked eight straight unanswered points from the Falcons to win the fourth set, 25-18 forcing a fifth and final set. The Falcon eight-point run included two blocks from Shari Luther with a block assist from Mohr, two kills from Luther, a kill from Mohr, a kill from Domek and a service ace from Susie Isphording. The Falcons once again out hit the Vikings posting a .320 hitting percentage compared to the Vikings .069.
The fifth set was all Orange and Brown from the beginning as Halm and Kaitlin Jackson put up a block to take the first point. The Falcons would never give up their lead in the fifth set. The closest the Vikings would come to Falcons would be to tie the score up early in the set. With the score tied up 3-3 a kill from Jackson led to four-point Falcon run to give the Falcons a 9-4 lead. The Falcons continued to stay aggressive extending their lead as a kill from Sam Fish started a three-point run to give BG a 13-6 lead over Cleveland State. A kill from Luther secured match point for the Falcons, which was followed up by a kill from Mohr to give the Falcons a 15-8 win in the fifth set.
The Falcons got everyone involved on the offensive attack with three players in double-digits and two players just shy of 10 kills. Leading the way for the Orange and Brown was Domek with a team and match high 16 kills. The Falcon middles also posted double-digits with Halm terminating 13 kills and posting .385 hitting percentage, while Luther recorded 10 kills. Fish once again quarterbacked BG's offense compiling 48 assists. The Falcons recorded their best set of the match offensive in the fifth set recording 11 kills with a mere two errors in 24 attempts and a .375 hitting percentage compared the Vikings .045.
The Falcon defense was all over court as well with three players picking double-digit digs. Chelsey Meek led the way with 21 digs, recording her 80th consecutive match of 10-plus digs tying the all-time record in the nation. Isphording added 11 digs and Alex Zlabis added 10 digs to the defensive efforts. The Falcon defense at the net put up big numbers recording 12 blocks. Halm led the way with a team and match high seven blocks, Fish added five and Luther added four.
The Falcons will finally return home for a four-match home stand as they welcome Coach Van De Walle's alma mater, Ball State on Friday (Oct. 24) at 7:00 p.m. and arch-rival Toledo on Saturday (Oct. 25) at 3:00 p.m.
