Falcons Roll Past Rival Rockets

Saturday, October 20

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Toledo

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

October 20, 2012 | Volleyball

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

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green volleyball team bounced back from its first conference loss of the season to defeat Toledo in front of 908 fans Saturday night 26-24, 20-25, 25-20, 25-10. After having their nine-match winning streak snapped Friday night, the Falcons remained in first place in the MAC with the victory.

Paige Penrod had 17 kills and Bowling Green hit at least .257 in each of the three sets it won. After having more attack errors than kills in the second set, the Falcons dominated over the final two frames and posted a .433 attack percentage in the final stanza. Danielle Tonyan and Lindsey Butterfield added 11 kills each in supporting roles. Leah Shaw finished with nine kills and just 16 swings, attacking at a .562 clip.

The Falcons edged out a victory in the first set as Toledo hung close and eventually struck with a 3-0 run to tie the score at 23-23 late. A Laura Avila kill was followed by a kill from Toledo's Jordan Kielty to tie the score, but Penrod had her fifth kill of the opening set to put Bowling Green up 25-24. Penrod and Kaitlyn Skinner then combined on a block to give the Falcons the first-set win.

Bowling Green his -.034 in the second set and had attack errors on the final four points of the frame as Toledo evened up the match, but the Falcons followed with a renewed effort.

In the third, Penrod had four early kills as BGSU jumped out to a 10-5 lead. Toledo did get back within two points at 18-16 but the Falcons scored seven of the final 11 points and closed out the set on a Shaw kill.

After the fourth set was tied 3-3, Bowling Green used runs of nine and six consecutive points to bury the Rockets for the 25-10 win.

Cassie Berning had three aces to lead a rejuvenated service game for the Falcons. The team had five aces for the first time in four matches and held Toledo to only three aces. Ashley Dunn had a match-high 19 digs as BGSU led 52-45 in that category. Bowling Green also had 11.0 blocks, six from Leah Shaw, compared to only 7.0 for Toledo.

With the loss, Toledo falls to 8-15 overall and 2-8 in MAC play. Bowling Green improves to 14-8 overall and 9-1 in conference, remaining tied with Ohio at the top of the league standings. The Falcons will hit the road this weekend for matches that could determine the MAC regular season title. BGSU will play at Kent State Friday night at 7 p.m. and will play Ohio Saturday at 7 p.m.