Falcons Hit Lights Out To Sweep Akron

Friday, September 30

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Akron

September 30, 2011 | Volleyball

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

Boxscore

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team's remarkable turnaround continued as the Falcons hit .355 and swept Akron 25-20, 30-28, 25-23 Friday night to improve to 15-1 on the year.

At 2-1 in conference play, Bowling Green equaled its league win total from a year ago when the Falcons limped to a 2-14 mark. The 15 overall wins are just one shy of doubling the team's eight wins from a year ago.

The Falcons hit above .350 for the sixth time this year, closing the match with a .462 third-set. Akron, on the other hand, stayed close throughout by hitting .337 and had opportunities to win both the second and third sets.

In fact, Akron kept the first set fairly close as it was tied at 18-18 before a Kari Galen kill put Bowling Green on top for good. The Falcons used a 7-2 run capped off by back-to-back service aces from Danielle Tonyan.

The second set featured 20 ties and nine lead changes and neither team led by more than two points until Bowling Green used a 4-0 run to take a 19-15 lead. But Akron answered with four straight to tie it back up. The set teetered until the Zips built a 28-27 lead. A service error tied it back up and a Paige Penrod kill gave the Falcons a 29-28 lead. Bowling Green ended a set with a service ace again as Lauren Mizgalski recorded her only one of the year to clinch the win.

The third set was again close for much of the early going but the Falcons used a Libby Dachenhaus ace sandwiched by kills from Emily Kauth and Mizgalski to build a 17-13 lead. Akron fought back to tie the score at 19-19 but Penrod had three kills in four points and Galen terminated another shot to force Akron to burn a timeout with a 23-20 lead. The Zips came out of the timeout and scored two in a row but Tonyan closed out the match with her team-high 15^th kill.

Along with Tonyan's 15 kills, Penrod ended with 14 and Kauth had nine with a .467 attack percentage. Galen added six kills and Mizgalski had five. Laura Avila finished with a double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs, while Ashley Dunn had a team-high 15 digs. Bowling Green held a 46-37 edge in digs, had one more block and nine more kills.

Akron falls to 3-13 on the year and 0-3 in MAC play. Bowling Green, at 15-1 and 2-1, will host Buffalo Saturday at 3 p.m. looking for its fourth straight win. The Falcons are also 4-0 in the Stroh Center during the first year of competition in the new arena.