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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
9-10 (5-2MAC)
Eastern Michigan
12-10 (2-5MAC)
Falcons Fall In Rare Five-Set Loss To Eastern Michigan
October 18, 2013 | Volleyball
BGSU's nine-match winning streak in MAC five-setters comes to an end
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—The Bowling Green State University volleyball team had won nine straight five-set matches in Mid-American Conference play coming into Friday night's match against Eastern Michigan. But, the Eagles would pull out a 15-12 win in the fifth set, ending that streak and giving the Falcons their first loss in the last four matches. With the loss Bowling Green drops to 9-10 overall and 5-2 in the MAC.
The Orange and Brown had won eight consecutive sets dating back to a week ago against Buffalo, but EMU quickly ended that streak, as they dropped the Falcons 25-9 in the first set. Bowling Green was dominated in all facets of the first set in the match, as Eastern Michigan outhit them .395 to -.028.
The set was tied at four points early on, but an 8-0 run for Eastern Michigan allowed them to pull away for the victory.
The second set would be the Falcons' best of the night offensively, as they hit .261 in a 25-23 win. The Orange and Brown led 24-18 late in the set, but the Eagles would make it interesting, scoring three straight to force the Falcons to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, EMU would score two more to get within 24-23, once again causing the Falcons to take a timeout. Out of the Falcons's second timeout, freshman Jelena Sunjic would put away a feed from junior setter Erica Fullenkamp, evening up the match at one set apiece.
Bowling Green would drop the third set 25-21 before coming back to win the fourth set 25-19 to send the match into a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, the Falcons would jump out to a 3-2 lead, but EMU would respond with four straight as head coach Danijela Tomic took a timeout to slow down the run. Bowling Green would score the next two, but the Eagles would stave off the run by responding with two straight of their own. The Falcons would once again close to within one point, but would take their second timeout trailing 11-8 late in the fifth.
As was the theme the whole fifth set, the Falcons would score two straight out of the timeout to force EMU into a timeout. Bowling Green trailed 11-10 at the time of the EMU timeout. With the Falcons serving, the two teams would trade service errors, eventually resulting in a 13-11 EMU lead. Sunjic would find the floor for a kill to make it 13-12, but the Eagles would score the last two points of the night to claim the win.
A few Falcons turned in notable performances in the five-set match, as senior libero Ashley Dunn set a season-high with 26 digs. Senior middle Kaitlyn Skinner set a season-high and tied her career-high with nine kills in the match. Freshman Alyssa Maloney shattered her previous career-high of four kills by turning in a 10-kill performance on Friday.
The Falcons will return to the court on Saturday (Oct. 19) as they host Central Michigan at 5:00 p.m. That match will be the annual Dig Pink match, where fans are encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness for breast cancer. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free pink rally towel courtesy of Kroger.
Postgame Interviews
