Falcons Stun MAC Favorite Ohio In Three-Set Sweep

Friday, September 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Ohio (Alumni Night)

September 21, 2012 | Volleyball

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

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Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team sent an early message to the rest of the Mid-American Conference as the Falcons swept MAC East Division preseason favorite Ohio 25-23, 25-15, 25-20 Friday night in front of 878 fans at the Stroh Center.

Not only did BGSU win the match, but the Falcons did so by dismantling an Ohio team that has won six of the last nine MAC regular season championships, seven of the last nine MAC Tournament titles, and had won 17 of the past 18 meetings in the series between the two programs.

Bowling Green dominated almost every statistical category, posting 51 kills to just 29 for the Bobcats. No Ohio player had more than eight kills, while BGSU had three players with at least nine. The Falcons also hit a season-high .291, improving to 5-0 this year when attacking at a clip of .237 or better. Bowling Green had six aces, triple Ohio's total of two, and outdug the Bobcats 55-44. In fact, Ohio entered the match as one of the top blocking teams in the country but finished with just one more than BGSU.

The critical juncture of the match came late in the first set. Ohio led throughout most of the first frame and clung to a 21-19 lead late. But an Ohio service error opened the door and Ashley Dunn followed with an ace to tie the score. Lindsey Butterfield followed with a kill to give the Falcons their first lead since early in the set.

Ohio used a timeout and quickly tied the score at 22-22 with a kill, but Danielle Tonyan and Butterfield followed with kills to give the Falcons a 24-22 lead. Ohio answered back on a Kelly Lamberti spike but BGSU closed out the frame on Leah Shaw's kill for the 25-23 win.

From there, it was all Bowling Green. The Falcons hit .324 in the second set and used an 11-1 run midway through the frame to roll to the 25-15 victory. BGSU hit even better in the third, using a .351 attack rate to take over late. Leading 21-20, the Falcons got two kills from Tonyan sandwiched around a Butterfield kill. Bowling Green closed out the match as Tonyan and Shaw combined on a block for the win.

After starting slowly, Paige Penrod dominated over the final two sets of the match. She finished with a match-high 14 kills after posting just three and five attack errors in the first set. Penrod added 13 digs for her sixth double-double of the year.

Butterfield finished with 10 kills and hit .450 for the match, while Tonyan had nine kills and Shaw had eight. Laura Avila handed out 37 assists and added 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the year. Ashley Dunn finished with 12 digs and Tonyan had a team-high four blocks.

Ohio falls to 5-8 on the season and 0-1 in MAC play. Bowling Green improves to 5-7 on the year and 1-0 in league action, the first time the team has started MAC play with a win since 2007. The Falcons will host Kent State Saturday at 7 p.m. looking to move to 2-0 in the MAC. The Golden Flashes are 4-9 overall and 1-0 in MAC play after beating Miami in five sets Friday night.