Falcons Clipped by Eagles 3-2 in Tight Five Set Match

Saturday, October 17

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-16, 1-7MAC

Eastern Michigan (Camper Reunion Night)

12-9, 4-4MAC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Eastern Michigan	18	25	14	25	15	3
Bowling Green	25	18	25	22	8	2

Photo by: JD Pooley

October 17, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Stats: Box Score (PDF)
Stats: Box Score (HTML)
Video: Post Match Interview with Coach Tomic
Photos: Photo Gallery (JD Pooley)

Bowling Green, Ohio – BGSU outside hitters Jelena Sunjic and Nicole Slimko each recorded 16 kills apiece, while a trio of Falcons in Kallie Seimet, Madeline Garda and Sunjic all totaled double digit digs, yet the Eastern Michigan Eagles were able to clip the Falcons for a 3-2 win in a tight five set match in MAC play on Saturday night in the Falcons' annual "Dig Pink" match at the Stroh Center.

The Falcons were edged by the Eagles by scores of 18-25, 25-18, 14-25, 25-22 and 15-8 to drop BGSU to 5-16 overall and 1-7 in the MAC. EMU improved to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in the MAC with the win.

"I told the team that I'm really proud of them. This wasn't easy to come back after last night's loss where I felt that we didn't play as well as we could've and to come back and lose in this heartbreaker in the fifth set. I told the girls heads up that there is nothing to be ashamed of, we gave a great effort and I think we just ran out of gas," commented head coach Danijela Tomic. "I felt that we gave everything and Eastern Michigan just had a little bit more than we did in the fifth set."

Sunjic registered her fourth double-double of the season and pushed her match of consecutive contests with double digit kills to nine straight with 16 kills, 12 digs and two solo blocks. Slimko added 16 kills and four block assists, while the duo of Alyssa Maloney and Madeline Brandewie combined for 14 kills and nine block assists in the five set match. Seimet led the way with 22 kills, marking the ninth straight match the freshman libero has tallied double digit digs, while Garda finished with 15 digs and three service aces overall. Katie Scholten wrapped up the match with 44 assists and eight digs on the night.

The Eagles, who played 13 different players in the five set match, were led by Jordan Smith's double-double of 16 kills and 10 digs, while Katie Krasowski recorded 11 kills and three block assists. Setter Mallory Rajewski had a double-double of 33 assists and 12 digs, while libero Corynne Smith finished with 20 digs and six assists.

The BGSU defense kept the Falcons in the match, as the home team totaled 12.0 team blocks and 68 digs on the night.

The two teams opened the match up by trading points to start the first set until back-to-back kills from Sunjic and Brandewie gave the Falcons a two-point lead at 5-3.

The Orange and Brown stayed in front of the Eagles, pulling out by as much as four at 11-7 on a Slimko spike, before three straight Falcon errors allowed the Eagles to knot the set up at 11-11 and force BGSU to use a timeout.

The Tomic timeout proved to be huge, as BGSU came out of the huddle with a slam from Slimko, a spike from Sunjic, a solo block from Sunjic, an ace from Garda and a kill from Isabel Kovacic to fly out to a five-point lead at 16-11.

Out of an EMU timeout, BGSU continued its scoring run with a block from the combo of Kovacic and Maloney, followed by kills from Maloney and Sunjic to cap off an 8-0 surge for the Falcons and give the home team an eight-point lead at 19-11.

Eastern Michigan was able to cut the BGSU lead to six at 21-15 on a Falcon miscue, however, the home team refused to relinquish the lead and ended the frame with a 4-3 scoring edge to take the 25-18 first set win.

It was EMU who took an early lead to start the second set at 2-0 before the Falcons answered with another huge scoring run, this time a 7-0 spree, to take a 7-2 lead on another Garda service ace.

Trying to slow down the Falcons' momentum, Eastern Michigan came out of its timeout with two straight kills and trimmed the BGSU lead to three at 8-5, 10-7 and 13-10 to force the Orange and Brown to use its own timeout.

After the break, the Eagles scored three more points to tie the set up at 13-13, the first of four more ties in the set, as the two teams were deadlocked at 17-17 late in the game.

A kill from Krasowski kick started a 7-0 run for the Eagles, who pulled out in front by as much as seven at 24-17 en route to the 25-18 second set victory.

With the match tied up at 1-1, the Falcons erased an early 1-0 EMU lead to score six straight points and take a 6-1 advantage on a Maloney kill to open up the third set.

After two straight points by EMU put the visitors within three at 6-3, the Falcons would not let the Eagles any closer for the remainder of the frame, as BGSU soared out to a 15-6 lead on a Seimet service ace.

An Eagle attack error gave the Falcons a double digit lead at 16-6, as a kill from Slimko, a block from Maloney and Slimko, and an ace from Scholten gave the home team an 11-point lead at 19-8.

BGSU extended its lead to as much as 12 at 21-9 and proved to be too much in the third set for the Eagles in the 25-14 set win.

The fourth set proved to be a close affair from start to finish, as neither team led by more than four points in the entire game.

BGSU took a 2-0 lead to start the set, but saw the Eagles tie the frame up at 2-2 on a block from Smith.

The Orange and Brown pulled back on top and pulled out in front by four at 10-6 on a solo stuff at the net by Scholten and again at 11-7 on a Brandewie kill.

Refusing to go away, the Eagles closed the gap to one at 11-10, yet BGSU responded out of a timeout with three straight points to again take a four-point lead at 14-10.

The home team again held a four-point lead at 15-11 when EMU ran off four straight points to tie the set up at 15-15 on a Kelsey Jones kill.

The next 10 services would see three lead changes and four more ties as an EMU mistake tied the set up at 20-20.

Two straight points from Eastern Michigan, followed by two points from BGSU knotted the set up for a seventh time at 22-22, before the back-and-forth contest was closed out by three consecutive points from the Eagles who held on to defeat the Falcons 25-22 and tie the match up at two sets apiece.

In the fifth set, the Falcons tied the decisive set at 1-1 on a Slimko spike, yet saw six straight points from Eastern Michigan propel the visitors to a 7-1 lead on a Smith slam.

The young Falcons refused to quit and clawed their way back to within three at 7-4 and at 8-5 on two Sunjic kills, but couldn't slow down the EMU attack.

EMU tallied five kills to the Falcons' three and took advantage of two BGSU errors over the final 10 services to escape the Stroh Center with a 15-8 fifth set win and a 3-2 match triumph.

"A lot of positives you know from defense to our blocking, I mean we had 12 blocks, like I said we just ran a little bit out of gas at the end, but I'm really proud of the effort that our team showed here tonight," remarked Tomic.

The Falcons (5-16, 1-7 MAC) will return to action next weekend when BGSU will travel up I-75 to take on the Toledo Rockets on Friday night, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. at Savage Arena.

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