Final Match In Anderson Arena Goes Down As Hard-To-Swallow Defeat

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Sep 11

4 p.m. EST

Volleyball

vs Indiana

Sep 12

3 p.m. EST

Volleyball

vs Stephen F. Austin

Sep 13

3 p.m. EST

Volleyball

at Loyola Chicago

Sep 17

6 p.m.

Volleyball

vs Oakland

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The final volleyball match in Anderson Arena had all the intrigue one could hope for in closing down a building. Unfortunately, it was the home team that came up short as Bowling Green lost to Akron in five sets Saturday afternoon 29-27, 23-25, 25-18, 13-25, 15-6.

Akron hit .538 in the fifth set to spoil Bowling Green's storybook ending for The House That Roars. The Zips never trailed in the frame, scoring the first three points on a kill and a pair of blocks and building the lead to four points at 6-2. A Paige Penrod kill got the Falcons back within three at 9-6 but Akron scored the final six points and scored the final point in Anderson Arena on a Jackie Goleman service ace.

Freshman Danielle Tonyan led Bowling Green with 17 kills and Lindsey Butterfield added a career-high 13. Both Noelle Spitler and Penrod had 11 kills apiece. Ashley Dunn ended with a team-high 22 digs and Laura Avila had 45 assists. Spitler, Penrod, and Kari Galen had four blocks each.

The Falcons had a chance to set the tone in the opening set, leading for much of the stanza. Spitler had three consecutive kills followed by one from Penrod to put Bowling Green on top 19-14. The Orange and Brown still led 21-16 but Akron scored the next three points and eventually tied the score at 23-23 on an attack error. An Alex Cocklin kill gave the Zips a 24-23 lead but the Falcons tied it back up on a Spitler kill.

After a Tina Dimitrijevs kill gave Akron a 25-24 lead, Lauren Mizgalski scored on her only attack of the match to tie it up again. Bowling Green then had its only set point attempt of the frame after an attack error by Akron but the Zips battled back with two consecutive points to make it 27-26. After another Spitler kill tied the score, Akron got a kill and an ace to win the set.

Bowling Green came back with an equally impressive win in the second set, fighting back from a 23-19 deficit. An Akron attack error was followed by a Tonyan kill and a Zips ball handling error to make it 23-22. Tonyan tied it with another kill, forcing Akron to use a timeout. She continued her hot streak after the stoppage with another kill and Dunn closed it out with an ace to even the match.

The two teams split relatively easy victories in sets three and four before the drama of the fifth set.

With the win, Akron improves to 14-10 overall and 6-6 in MAC play. Bowling Green drops to 8-19 overall and 2-10 in conference action. The Falcons will finish the regular season with four straight road games beginning with a game at Miami (Ohio) Thursday at 7 pm.

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