Falcons Open Season With Sweep Of Loyola

Friday, August 28

Moon Township, Penn.

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Loyola University Maryland

August 28, 2009 | Volleyball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Boxscore

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Bowling Green volleyball team hit .321 and rolled to a three-set sweep over Loyola (Mary.) in the Falcons' season opener Friday afternoon 25-14, 25-18, 29-27. Bowling Green is competing in the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational.

BGSU set the tone early by hitting .500 in the opening set to cruise to the win. Seniors Kaitlin Jackson and Corey Domek combined for nine kills in the opening set and Domek had a perfect attack percentage in four swings. Bowling Green led 5-4 in the match's early moments before Emily Kauth had a kill and then served up nine consecutive points to put the opening set away.

In the second set, Bowling Green scored the first six points but Loyola cut the deficit to two after a Karlee Woodward kill that made it 11-9. The Falcons scored five of the next six points, four of those on kills from Jackson and senior Shari Luther, to pull away. Loyola was unable to get back into the set.

Bowling Green again jumped out to an early lead in the third set at 8-3 but Loyola chipped away at the lead. The Falcons led 23-20 before Loyola scored four consecutive points for an opportunity to win the set. An attack error by the Greyhounds squared the set back up but Loyola later took a 27-26 lead. Luther tied the set with a kill and Loyola followed with another attack error, giving Bowling Green a set point. Lauren Mizgalski closed out the match with a kill for the three-set sweep.

For the match, Bowling Green had 7.0 team blocks and held Loyola to a .170 attack percentage. The Falcons held a decisive 48-31 advantage in digs and finished with 53 kills, compared to just 29 for Loyola.

Jackson posted her first career double-double, finishing with 16 kills and 10 digs. Luther added 13 kills on a .565 swing percentage with five blocks and Mizgalski had 10 kills, hitting .562. Freshman Allison Kearney had 39 assists and eight digs. Freshman Cassie Berning added 10 digs.

With the victory, Bowling Green Head Coach Denise Van De Walle now has 488 career wins, leaving her 12 shy of .500. Loyola falls to 0-2 on the season and the Falcons will attempt to improve to 2-0 tonight when they play host Robert Morris at 7 p.m.