Buffalo Hands BGSU First MAC Defeat

Friday, September 26

Buffalo, N.Y.

7 PM

Bowling Green State University

3-10, 0-1MAC

Buffalo

11-4, 1-0MAC

Bowling Green

Buffalo

September 26, 2014 | Volleyball

Box Score

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

Boxscore

Buffalo, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team opened Mid-American Conference play Friday night at East Division rival Buffalo. The Bulls used late runs in each set to earn a 25-17, 25-21, 25-23 victory.

Buffalo posted 5-0 runs in each of the first two sets and a 6-0 spurt in the third to put away sets that were even up until that point. The final dagger came late in the third set after Bowling Green led much of the way and held a 20-17 advantage. The Bulls turned the three-point deficit into a three-point lead with a six-point run that clinched the victory.

The first sets followed a similar script with Buffalo jumping out to early leads before Bowling Green battled back. The Bulls used five-point swings in each of those two sets to turn the tide and build an insurmountable lead.

"We did not execute the game plan completely and were not able to close the third set after leading the whole way until 20 points," BGSU head coach Danijela Tomic said. "This is only the first match in the MAC and we have another chance to get better and win tomorrow. But in order to do that, our team needs to learn how to play with more urgency from the beginning of the match and we need to get contributions from all six players on the floor."

In the first set, Buffalo jumped ahead 9-3 but Paige O'Connor posted three kills and Katie Scholten had the first of her two aces on the night to help the Falcons to a 7-2 run. Bowling Green eventually tied the score at 12-12 and it remained even at 13-13 before the Bulls scored five consecutive points. BGSU was unable to get closer than four points the rest of the way and the Bulls won 25-17.

After quickly falling behind 8-4 in the second set, Bowling Green rallied behind three consecutive Nicole Slimko kills to tie the score at 9-9. The Falcons remained within one point at 16-15 but Buffalo scored five straight points, two off of blocks, to go ahead 21-15. BGSU did get as close as two points at 22-20 but the Bulls got a service error and an attack error from the Falcons to pick up the win in the set.

The third set, though, was a different story as BGSU took control early and led into the late stages. Kelsey Bates posted three blocks to set the tone as the Falcons went ahead 11-6. Bowling Green continued to stay in front of Buffalo and let 20-17 after a Bates kill. But the Bulls came up big down the stretch, scoring three points in a row to tie the score and force a BGSU timeout. Buffalo added three more points on the other side of the break to take a 23-20 lead. The Falcons got within one on a Slimko ace to make it 24-23, but the Bulls closed out the match on Tahleia Bishop's match-high 18^th kill.

Buffalo used an efficient offensive attack to earn the victory, hitting .242, which included .294 and .280 attack percentages in the first two sets. The Falcons hit just .148 but posted 6.0 team blocks, two more than Buffalo. BGSU also had three aces, the same as Buffalo, and had only one less dig than the Bulls with 34.

Individually, Slimko led the Falcons with 12 kills, seven of which came during the second set. Delaney Arkeilpane had a match-high 13 digs and Bates and Clara Martinez Rubio each posted three blocks. Martinez Rubio added four kills on just four swings in the contest.

Buffalo improves to 11-4 overall with the win and 1-0 in MAC play. Bowling Green falls to 3-10 and 0-1. The Falcons will be back in action Saturday at Akron looking to move to .500 in conference play. The Zips enter the contest with a record of 6-10 overall and 0-1 in MAC play after a four-set loss to Miami Friday night.