Garda Breaks BGSU Dig Record In Loss To Miami

Thursday, November 6

Oxford, Ohio

7 PM

Bowling Green State University

4-97-18; MAC

Miami

10-317-8; MAC

Bowling Green

Miami

November 06, 2014 | Volleyball

Box Score

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

Box score

Oxford, Ohio – In a match that featured 48 ties and 21 lead changes, the Miami volleyball team had just enough to beat Bowling Green in a pivotal Mid-American Conference contest 25-17, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20 Thursday night.

BGSU sophomore libero Madeline Garda set a school record with 34 digs in the contest, breaking her own career-best of 29 – a total she posted in the Falcons' last contest. That total is the most in the MAC this year and is four more than the previous school record for a four-set match of 30 set by Chrissy Gothke against Eastern Michigan on Oct. 24, 2003. The school record for a five-set match is 38 by Chelsey Meek, also against Eastern Michigan, on Oct. 13, 2007.

"Maddie was in the zone again tonight," BGSU Head Coach Danijela Tomic said. "After three sets, she had 28 digs and I knew she was going to break her personal best. She continues to set new standards on defense and serve receive for herself and our team. She is fearless on the court and that is what I love about her. I am very proud of her and happy that we have the best libero in the conference who is only a sophomore."

While Garda helped BGSU to a 74-72 edge in digs, Miami still found a way to run an efficient offense, hitting .323 for the match. The RedHawks had just 15 attack errors on 161 attempts and had five players post at least 10 kills. The balance, none of the five players had more than 13 kills, was difficult for Bowling Green's defense at the net to counter. In fact, Miami had a sixth player with eight kills.

The only set in which either team was able to take control was the first and it still took the RedHawks a good portion of that frame to pull away. Miami used a 4-1 run to build a 16-12 lead and the Falcons got no closer than three the rest of the way as the RedHawks scored four of the final five points for the lopsided 25-17 win.

Neither team led by more than three points throughout the entire second set and the score was tied at 16-16, 18-18, 19-19, 20-20, 21-21, and 22-22. At that point, Miami got back-to-back kills before a Paige O'Connor kill brought the Falcons within one. But the RedHawks were able to score the final point on a Jenny Ingle kill for the 25-23 win.

The third set continued to be nip-and-tuck throughout the early stages but BGSU scored four straight on two Jelena Sunjic kills and a block from Sunjic and Alyssa Maloney to go ahead 16-13. Bowling Green extended the lead to five at 20-15 but the RedHawks stormed back with a 6-1 run to tie it at 21-21. It was still tied at 22-22 when Nicole Slimko and Sunjic posted back-to-back kills for the 24-22 lead. After a Miami point got the RedHawks within one, Slimko slammed the door with a kill for the 25-23 win to keep the Falcons in the match.

The fourth set was much of the same with neither team leading by more than two points until the latter stages. Tied at 18-18, Miami closed with a 7-2 run, getting six kills and a block, to eke out the 25-20 win and the match.

"We lost to a very good Miami team that was just better than us tonight," Tomic said. "We did many things well offensively and defensively but they did it just a little bit better. We had three players with double-digit kills and they had five who didn't make many errors. We had two players with double-digit digs and they had three. I am proud of how we fought but unfortunately it wasn't enough."

Sunjic led Bowling Green with 19 kills, Slimko added 15 and Paige O'Connor had 10. Slimko had her fourth double-double of the season, recording 11 digs. Erica Fullenkamp directed an offense that hit .232 by dishing out 48 assists.

With the win, Miami improves to 17-8 overall and 10-3 in MAC play, remaining in contention for one of the top two spots in the conference and byes through the first two rounds of the MAC Tournament. With the loss, Bowling Green falls to 7-18 overall and 4-9 in MAC play. The Falcons entered the evening in a three-way tie for the eighth and final spot to the MAC Tournament and will likely need at least two wins in their final three contests to qualify for the season-ending event.