Falcons Sweep Canisius To Win Best Western Championship

Saturday, September 10

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Canisius

September 10, 2011 | Volleyball

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

Boxscore
Best Western Falcon Plaza Tournament Central

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyall team capped off a historic weekend by sweeping Canisius 25-9, 25-18, 25-22 Saturday evening to earn the championship of the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational. The Falcons went 3-0 during the weekend, running their overall record to 9-0, and christening the new Stroh Center with a title.

Sophomore Paige Penrod was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament after posting a team-high 54 kills on the weekend, hitting .345, and adding 26 digs. Emily Kauth hit .482 with 31 kills and 10 blocks on the weekend to be named to the all-tournament team, while Danielle Tonyan had 45 kills, nine blocks, and hit .337 to earn all-tournament honors.

Against Canisius, Bowling Green dominated early, hitting .696 in the first set and winning points on all 10 of the Golden Griffins' serve attempts in the stanza. From there, Canisius never truly threatened although the scores were closer in the final two sets.

Set two was tied at 15-15 until the Falcons closed with a 10-3 run on three Penrod kills. Bowling Green used an identical 10-3 run midway through the third to pull away.

The tournament championship was the third of the year for the Falcons. Penrod's tournament MVP marked the third different BGSU player to earn that award this year, alongside Tonyan and Kari Galen.

At 9-0, Bowling Green has already won more matches than it did a year ago when the team ended 8-24 overall. The Falcons last started this well in 1990 when that team opened the year 10-0. Bowling Green will compete in its final regular season tournament next weekend when the Falcons face Stony Brook, Coppin State, and Bucknell at the Bucknell Tournament.