Sunjic & Scholten Register Double-Doubles in 3-1 Loss to the RedHawks

Thursday, November 12

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-21, 3-12MAC

Miami (Dollar Day) (Scout Night)

Miami

Bowling Green

Photo by: JD Pooley

Sunjic & Scholten Register Double-Doubles in 3-1 Loss to the RedHawks

November 12, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, BGSU Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

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

Bowling Green, Ohio – Bowling Green State University's Jelena Sunjic and Katie Scholten each registered their seventh double-double of the season on Thursday night, yet it wasn't enough as the Falcons fell at home to the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks in four sets 3-1 at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Miami defeated BGSU by the scores of 25-18, 19-25, 25-10 and 28-26 for the conference road win.

"This was definitely a much better match against Miami then the first time we played them. Offensively we were better. If you take out the third set, the third set just wasn't good, but the other three, especially the second set when we hit .400 and the fourth set .256, our offense was much better. We had three hitters in double digit kills, which wasn't the case the first time we played them," commented head coach Danijela Tomic. "The fourth set is just a heartbreaker. We had our chances and we just couldn't close that set to take it to the fifth set. I was hoping that we would do that."

Sunjic tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs, while Scholten picked up 37 set assists and 11 digs over the four set match. Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Slimko posted a match-high 15 kills and a team-best attack percentage of .314 on the night, while junior middle Alyssa Maloney added 13 kills, 3.0 blocks and two service aces in the loss. Libero Kallie Seimet led the defensive backline with a match-high 19 digs.

The RedHawks also had three players with double digit kills in Olivia Rusek and Jenny Ingle with 13 kills apiece, and Paige Hill with 11 spikes. The visitors in red hit .313 overall as a team for the match and had two setters in Krista Brakauskas and Mackenzie Zielinski combine to pass out 49 set assists in the win.

Bowling Green started the match off with back-to-back errors, but then settled in to tie the set up at 2-2 with kills from Slimko and Sunjic to start the first set.

After tying the set up at 3-3 and again at 4-4 on two Miami attack errors, the Falcons saw Miami take a two point lead at 6-4 and then push it out to as much as five at 11-6 to force BGSU into an early timeout.

Out of the timeout, the RedHawks picked up a kill from Stela Kukoc to cap off a 5-0 run and take a six point lead at 12-6.

BGSU scored two straight points to get back to within four of Miami at 12-8, yet couldn't slow down the RedHawks' attack as the visitors extended their first set lead back out to six at 15-9 on a kill from Rusek.

The Orange and Brown picked up a spike from Sunjic and a total of five kills from Maloney over the next several services, but couldn't get any closer and still trailed by six at 22-16.

The two teams then traded points the rest of the way which allowed the RedHawks to take the first set win at 25-18.

The Falcons took an early 1-0 lead to start the second set on a kill from freshman Madeline Brandewie, only to see Miami use a 7-2 run to take a 7-3 lead on two straight Annie Reiswig kills and force another early BGSU timeout.

This time the Falcons responded out of the team meeting with 9-6 edge, led by two kills from Maloney and one kill apiece from Sunjic and Brandewie to trim the Miami lead to one at 13-12 on a Maloney solo block at the net.

Following a Miami timeout, the Falcons fell behind by three at 15-12 before a RedHawks' attack error kicked off an 11-1 run by the home team who soared out to a 23-16 lead on a series of kills from the trio of Scholten, Slimko and Brandewie, followed by an ace from Maloney.

Miami ended the run with back-to-back points to get to as close as five at 23-18, only to see a Slimko put the set away with two kills over the last three points to give the home team the 25-19 set win and tie the match up at 1-1.

The young Falcons team came out flat to start the third set, as Miami flew out to a 4-0 lead to open the game and then pushed it to double digits at 12-2 on a 7-0 scoring spurt.

BGSU, who hit just .024 in the third after posting a .400 team attack percentage in the second set victory, tried to get back into the set by cutting the lead to seven at 13-4 on a Sunjic spike, yet couldn't find any of its offensive rhythm and struggled in the serve receive game in the 25-10 set loss.

The fourth set looked to start out much like the third, as Miami took advantage of two Falcon errors and a solo block by Rusek to take a 3-0 lead early. However, the Falcons refused to quit and fought back to take the lead at 8-7 on a kill in the middle from Maloney.

The set would then see eight ties and four lead changes when the Falcons picked up a kill from Scholten, took advantage of a RedHawks' attack error and then got a huge block from the duo of Maloney and Scholten to pull out in front by three at 18-15.

The lead did not last for long, as Miami answered with three straight points to tie the set up once again at 18-18.

Following a BGSU timeout, the Falcons picked up a big kill from Slimko and a service ace from Maloney to halt the Miami run and put the home team back on top by two at 20-18.

After swapping points to put the score at 21-19 in favor of BGSU, the RedHawks ran off three straight points to retake the lead at 22-21 on a Rusek kill.

Not deterred, BGSU responded with a kill from Slimko to tie the set up at 23-23.

Back-and-forth the two teams went until another Maloney kill put the Falcons in front by one at 26-25.

However, the last three points went in favor of the RedHawks who closed the set out with two kills from Maris Below and a service ace from Maeve McDonald to propel the visitors to the 28-26 set win and the 3-1 match victory.

Miami held a 4-2 advantage in service aces, 5.0 to 3.0 in total team blocks and 73 to 63 in digs over the Falcons for the match.

BGSU as a team hit .205 on the night, but was bested by Miami's .313 team attack percentage overall.

"Our team has shown a lot of character throughout the season. We've had some tough losses and they've always responded well and continued to fight," continued Tomic. "I want them to play for each other, to play as a team and just get better. That's our goal. Play for BGSU. Every time they put the jersey on you are representing our great University. I just want them to play with a lot of fight and a lot of courage, play to the best of their ability, play to their potential and play for each other."

Bowling Green (7-21, 3-12 MAC) will wrap up its 2015 season with a home contest versus the MAC West Division leading Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday night, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. in the Stroh Center.

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