Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons Fly Past Golden Flashes, 3-2
October 04, 2008 | Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - After a hard fought match and win last night (Oct. 3) against Ohio, Head Coach Denise Van De Walle and the Falcons came back to knock of the other leader in the Mid-American Conference East division, Kent State. The Falcons defeated Kent State, 3-2 (25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 15-5) extending their winning streak against the Golden Flashes in Anderson Arena to five matches.
The Falcons got started off early once again as they put together an early three-point run to tie the set up 3-3. The Golden Flashes put together their own three-point run to take a two point lead over the Falcons, 7-5. A kill from Sam Fish stopped Kent State and led to three straight points for BG giving the Falcons a one point lead, 8-7. The Falcons began to pull away as they scored five unanswered points sparked by a kill from Kendra Halm. BG maintained their but Kent State began to fight back stringing together three points and cutting the Falcons' lead to three, 19-16. The set continued to go back and forth with the Falcons maintaining their lead but a Kent State service error gave the Falcons the first set, 25-22.
The Golden Flashes jumped out to an early lead in the second set, 5-2 over the Falcons. Kent State maintained their lead and extended it to five over the Falcons, 10-5, but the Orange and Brown never gave up slowing chipping away at the Golden Flashes' lead. A kill from Domek started a four-point run to tie the set up 12-12. The Falcons then scored five unanswered points to capture the lead, 19-14. The Falcons scored the last four points of the set to defeat the Golden Flashes, 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead going into the locker room. The Falcons finished strong in the second set recording 11 of the last 15 points. BG dominated the net hitting a .312 compared to Kent State's .147.
Down 2-0 in the match the Golden Flashes came out fired up in the third set once again taking an early lead, 8-5 after five straight points. The Falcons kept the set close tying the score up 11-11, but the Golden Flashes were able to score points in a row late in the set. The Falcons ended up falling 18-25 in the third set.
The fourth set went back and forth until the Falcons put together a four-point run to take a 7-5 lead. The set remained close but a four-point run gave the Golden Flashes a 15-11 lead, which the Falcons would never be able to overcome. The set continued to go point for point with Kent State holding their lead over the Falcons. The Golden Flashes were able to secure set point, 20-24 but the Falcons never gave up fight off two set points. The Golden Flashes won the fourth set, 25-22 forcing a fifth and final set.
With the match tied up 2-2 and everything coming down to the fifth and final set the Falcons stepped up and dominated the court. Domek got the Falcons going with a kill to put BG on the scoreboard first. The Falcons took an early 3-0 lead over Kent State. The set went back and forth but another kill from Domek allowed the Falcons to score two more straight points giving them a 6-2 lead. The Falcons only allowed the Golden Flashes three more points the entire set, and scored seven straight points to win the set 15-5. The Falcons owned the net with a perfect offensive performance terminating nine kills and no errors in 14 attempts compared to the Golden Flashes four kills and zero hitting percentage in the fifth set.
"The goal was to win in three but with the way Kent played after the intermission that didn't happen," said Van De Walle. "Again we played a little too relaxed and they played hard. They changed setters and went with Lauren Simon. She changed the way they played and sped up their offense. But it was all BG in the fifth set when we beat them 15-5. We had error free hitting with 9 kills on 15 swings. Those are great numbers."
The Falcon offense was on fire with three players posting double-digits. The Orange and Brown attack was led by Domek with a team and match high 19 kills in 33 attempts with only three errors hitting a .485. Mohr was right behind Domek with 18 kills posting a .314. Halm also posted double-digits for BG with 10 kills. The Falcon defense was relentless as well with four players in double-digits. Chelsey Meek led the way with 14 digs, while Mohr, Fish and Susie Isphording all picked up 10. Mohr recorded her fifth double-double of the season, while Fish recorded her second straight double-double and third of the season dishing out 51 assists to go with her 10 digs.
"Tonight was another huge win for us," said Van De Walle. "Beating a very good Kent State team and making it a sweep of the east is exactly what we needed. Domek and Meghan really carried a big load offensively this evening. They both had nearly 20 kills each and hit high efficiency. I thought Sam was exceptionally good tonight. She set well and played very good defense. Her passion to win was very evident. She was going to do whatever she could to get us the win."
After a successful weekend in Anderson Arena against MAC East rivals the Falcons will pack their bags and start a five match road stint. BG is set to match-up against Akron (Oct. 10) at 7:00 p.m. and Buffalo (Oct. 11) at 7:00 p.m.
