Falcons Halt Losing Streak With Sweep Of Cleveland State

Tuesday, October 19

Cleveland, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Cleveland State

October 19, 2010 | Volleyball

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

Boxscore

Cleveland, Ohio - For a team struggling to find a formula to win, stepping out of conference can sometimes be a breath of fresh air. For the Bowling Green volleyball team Tuesday night, that was exactly the case. Despite facing a team that entered the match with a 16-2 record in Cleveland State, the Falcons rolled to a three-set sweep of the Vikings 26-24, 25-19, 25-22.

A talented but extremely youthful Bowling Green volleyball team had shown potential throughout the last few weeks but entered Tuesday night's contest on a six-match losing streak. But the Falcons outpowered Cleveland State and became the first team this year to hand the Viking a three-set sweep.

Bowling Green outhit Cleveland State with a .196 attack percentage, compared to .128 for the Vikings, and outblocked the host school 10.0-3.0. Freshmen Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan led the offensive power surge with 15 and 11 kills respectively, while Emily Kauth, Noelle Spitler and Laura Avila paced the team at the net defensively with five blocks each.

The Falcons set the tempo with a come-from-behind victory in the opening set, battling back from a 22-19 deficit. An Avila kill, followed by two Cleveland State attack errors tied the score at 22-22. The Vikings had a set point opportunity with a 24-23 lead but Spitler came up with a solo block to tie the score again. Cleveland State followed with a pair of attack errors and the Falcons won the opening stanza.

Cleveland State came out firing on all cylinders in the third set, building leads of 3-0 and 9-3. But BGSU went on a 7-1 run behind three Penrod kills to tie the score. Still tied at 15-15, Tonyan posted a kill and the Vikings had a ball handling error. The set would never be tied again as the Falcons built a lead as large as four points and won on a Tonyan kill.

Ashley Dunn finished with a team-high 13 digs and Penrod added 12 for a double-double to go with her 11 kills. Avila handed out 27 assists with her five blocks.

Cleveland State falls to 16-3 with the loss and Bowling Green improves to 7-16. The Falcons will host Toledo Friday night for its annual Pink Out event at 7 p.m.