Falcons Fall in Five Sets in the Battle of I-75

Friday, October 23

Toledo, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

(5-17, 1-8MAC)

Toledo

(4-18, 1-8MAC)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Bowling Green	25	26	13	25	6	2
Toledo	27	24	25	14	15	3

Photo by: Larry Clapper

October 24, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Final Stats: Box Score (PDF)
Final Stats: Box Score (HTML)

Toledo, Ohio – The Battle of I-75 in volleyball proved to be a five set thriller as the two teams went back-and-forth in the first two sets, then each posted a double digit win over the third and fourth sets, before Toledo pull away in the fifth set to take the 3-2 win over the Falcons on Friday night in Savage Arena in front of 650 fans.

The Rockets edged the Falcons 27-25, 24-26, 25-13, 14-15 and 15-6 to take the conference win.

The loss drops BGSU to 5-17 overall and 1-8 in MAC play, while with the win the Rockets improved to 4-18 overall and 1-8 in league play.

"This is a tough loss to swallow because we had all the momentum going into the fifth set and we didn't capitalize on that. We knew that going into the deciding set, the team that made the least amount of errors would win. Unfortunately, we had our worst hitting percentage in that set and Toledo had their best, and we just could not overcome that when playing to only fifteen points," stated head coach Danijela Tomic. "We have to learn from this, put it behind us and bounce back quickly because we have an even harder test tomorrow against a very good Ball State team."

Junior Jelena Sunjic registered her fifth double-double of the season with a match-high 13 kills and a career-high 17 digs to give her 10 straight matches with double digit kills. Fellow junior Alyssa Maloney finished with eight kills and nine block assists on the night, while setter Katie Scholten posted eight kills, 37 assists and seven digs. Libero Kallie Seimet totaled 23 digs to give her 10 straight matches with double digit digs.

UT's Saige Thomas and Rachel Vidourek each posted a team-high 12 kills, while Mary O'Connor added 10 kills offensively for the Rockets in the win. Libero Maurissa Leonard led the way with 21 dis, while Carly Townsend recorded 17 digs, 41 assists and six block assists over the five set match.

BGSU posted a season-best 14.0 total team blocks at the net, yet made eight service errors and hit only .151 overall as a team for the match.

The first set proved to be close from start to finish, as UT took a 2-0 lead to start the set only to see BGSU fly back to take its first lead of the match at 7-6 on a Delaney Arkeilpane service ace.

After a Sunjic kill gave the Falcons an 8-6 lead, the Rockets flew back in front by five at 15-10 on a Thomas kill for their largest lead of the set.

The Falcons inched their way back into the set with kills from Slimko, Maloney and Sunjic, as well as errors from UT's Thomas, Townsend and O'Connor, to tie the set up at 20-20 on a kill from Slimko.
Slimko would post two more kills over the next two services to put the Falcons in front by two at 22-20.

BGSU could not close the set out, however, as the Rockets tied the frame up at 22-22, took a lead at 23-22, and then retied the match up at 24-24 after the Orange and Brown had set point at 24-23 on a block from Scholten and Maloney.

The two teams knotted the set up at 25-25 before back-to-back UT kills from Thomas propelled the home team to a 27-25 first set win over the Falcons.

The second set was much like the first, as UT took an early lead at 1-0, yet saw the Falcons tie the score up for the first of 12 times at 1-1 on a block from Slimko and Maloney.

The two teams then swapped points to put the score at 2-2 when a kill from Sunjic jump-started a 7-0 run by the Falcons who soared out to a 9-3 lead on a solo stuff at the net from Sunjic on a UT attack attempt.

The Rockets answered with a 9-1 scoring surge of their own to pull back in front by two at 12-10 on another Vidourek kill.

Six ties and one lead change later, the Falcons picked up a kill from Madeline Brandewie and saw a UT attack error put the visitors in orange in front by two at 22-20.

Despite the Rockets tying the set up at 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24, BGSU refused to give up the lead and used a block from Slimko and Maloney, followed by a kill from Sunjic give the Falcons the 26-24 second set victory and tie the match up at one set apiece.

After the Rockets led from start to finish in a 25-13 third set win, BGSU bounced back to dominate the fourth set on its way to a 25-14 win.

A Townsend kill and a BGSU attack error put UT on top early at 2-0, before a kill from Maloney and a block at the net from Isabel Kovacic and Maloney tied the frame up at 2-2.

Toledo pulled out to a 7-5 lead on a spike from O'Connor, which would be their last lead of the set, as the Falcons responded with a drop from Scholten and a block from the tandem of Maloney and Slimko to even the score up at 7-7 before another kill from Scholten pushed the Falcons in front at 8-7.

BGSU did not look back, as the Orange and Brown closed the set out with a 17-7 advantage, including pushing its lead to as high as 11 at 24-13 before ending the game with a block from Brandewie and Scholten to give the Falcons the 25-14 win.

The Falcons opened up the fifth set with a ball-handling error and a kill by Kovacic to put the score at 1-1, only to see UT retake the momentum of the match with a 6-1 spurt to take a 7-2 lead on a Annie Beasley service ace.

BGSU got to within three of the Rockets at 7-4 on a UT attack error, yet couldn't get any closer as the home team pulled away for the 15-6 decisive set win to give them the 3-2 MAC victory.

Bowling Green will remain on the road to take on Ball State tomorrow night, Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in Muncie, Ind.

###