Saturday, November 7
Bowling Green, Ohio
3:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
3
vs
2
Northern Illinois
Falcons Cap Improbable Rally By Beating Northern Illinois
November 07, 2009 | Volleyball
Boxscore (,pdf)
Bowling Green, Ohio – Bowling Green volleyball coach Denise Van De Walle couldn't recall any of her previous 497 career wins going quite like this.
The Falcons squandered away a 21-19 lead in the opening set of their Mid-American Conference match with Northern Illinois, and then the wheels came off completely. Bowling Green looked disoriented and lost as the Huskies hit .545 and dominated the second set for an unbelievable 25-5 win. Even more unbelievably, the Falcons dominated the final three sets to pick up an improbable 22-25, 5-25, 25-21, 25-13, 15-7 victory.
Since the NCAA adopted 25-point sets prior to the 2008 season, Bowling Green had never won a match in which it lost a set worse than 25-13. In fact, the Falcons had never even played in a set as lopsided as the 25-5 second. The NCAA adopted rally scoring for the 2001 season and played 30-point sets until 2007 and Bowling Green played in just two sets in which one team failed to reach double-figure scoring during that stretch. The winner of those sets won the match both times.
That second set was a House of Horrors for the Falcons after dropping six of the final seven points in the first set to fall behind in the match. Bowling Green had just four kills and hit -.107 while Northern Illinois had 12 kills without an attack error. But when the two teams went to the locker room following that frame, the script flipped.
Northern Illinois had just two attack errors over the course of the first two sets but had four in the third and 13 in the fourth. Bowling Green, on the other hand, had nine team blocks in the final two set after posting none in the first two and only one in the third.
The Falcons steadied the ship with a hard-fought 25-21 victory in the third. BG jumped out to an early 6-3 lead and the set was never tied after that. Northern Illinois cut the deficit to two points on a handful of occasions but Noelle Spitler and Corey Domek closed out the set with kills.
That win got things rolling for Bowling Green as the Falcons dominated the fourth set. Northern Illinois hit -.061 as the Orange and Brown turned in seven team blocks in the stanza. Kaitlin Jackson and Emily Kauth had four each and Allison Kearney added three to knot the match up.
As the fifth set opened, Kauth and Domek took over. Kauth had kills on each of Bowling Green's first three points and Domek served up two aces and added two kills and three digs. Northern Illinois never had a lead in the deciding set.
Kauth and Domek ended the match with 14 kills each and Shari Luther added 12. Alex Zlabis had a match-high 24 digs and Kearney added 16 for a double-double to go with her 46 assists. Jackson added 15 digs and six blocks.
Northern Illinois falls to 13-14 overall and 7-7 in MAC play with the loss. Bowling Green, after dropping its first six conference contests, is now 11-18 overall and 4-10 in MAC play. The win is Van De Walle's 498th of her career and she will go for 500 in the final weekend of the regular season. Bowling Green will host Kent State Thursday at 7 p.m. and MAC leader Ohio Saturday at 6 p.m.
Bowling Green, Ohio – Bowling Green volleyball coach Denise Van De Walle couldn't recall any of her previous 497 career wins going quite like this.
The Falcons squandered away a 21-19 lead in the opening set of their Mid-American Conference match with Northern Illinois, and then the wheels came off completely. Bowling Green looked disoriented and lost as the Huskies hit .545 and dominated the second set for an unbelievable 25-5 win. Even more unbelievably, the Falcons dominated the final three sets to pick up an improbable 22-25, 5-25, 25-21, 25-13, 15-7 victory.
Since the NCAA adopted 25-point sets prior to the 2008 season, Bowling Green had never won a match in which it lost a set worse than 25-13. In fact, the Falcons had never even played in a set as lopsided as the 25-5 second. The NCAA adopted rally scoring for the 2001 season and played 30-point sets until 2007 and Bowling Green played in just two sets in which one team failed to reach double-figure scoring during that stretch. The winner of those sets won the match both times.
That second set was a House of Horrors for the Falcons after dropping six of the final seven points in the first set to fall behind in the match. Bowling Green had just four kills and hit -.107 while Northern Illinois had 12 kills without an attack error. But when the two teams went to the locker room following that frame, the script flipped.
Northern Illinois had just two attack errors over the course of the first two sets but had four in the third and 13 in the fourth. Bowling Green, on the other hand, had nine team blocks in the final two set after posting none in the first two and only one in the third.
The Falcons steadied the ship with a hard-fought 25-21 victory in the third. BG jumped out to an early 6-3 lead and the set was never tied after that. Northern Illinois cut the deficit to two points on a handful of occasions but Noelle Spitler and Corey Domek closed out the set with kills.
That win got things rolling for Bowling Green as the Falcons dominated the fourth set. Northern Illinois hit -.061 as the Orange and Brown turned in seven team blocks in the stanza. Kaitlin Jackson and Emily Kauth had four each and Allison Kearney added three to knot the match up.
As the fifth set opened, Kauth and Domek took over. Kauth had kills on each of Bowling Green's first three points and Domek served up two aces and added two kills and three digs. Northern Illinois never had a lead in the deciding set.
Kauth and Domek ended the match with 14 kills each and Shari Luther added 12. Alex Zlabis had a match-high 24 digs and Kearney added 16 for a double-double to go with her 46 assists. Jackson added 15 digs and six blocks.
Northern Illinois falls to 13-14 overall and 7-7 in MAC play with the loss. Bowling Green, after dropping its first six conference contests, is now 11-18 overall and 4-10 in MAC play. The win is Van De Walle's 498th of her career and she will go for 500 in the final weekend of the regular season. Bowling Green will host Kent State Thursday at 7 p.m. and MAC leader Ohio Saturday at 6 p.m.
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