A Trio of Falcons Post Double Digit Kills in Road Loss at UB

Friday, November 6

Buffalo, N.Y.

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-20, 2-11MAC

Buffalo

7-18, 6-7MAC

Bowling Green

Buffalo

Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications

November 06, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

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

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

Buffalo, N.Y. – Despite a career-high 12 kills from freshman Madeline Brandewie and double digit spikes from both Nicole Slimko and Alyssa Maloney, the Bowling Green State University volleyball team struggled with its offensively execution on Friday night in a 3-1 loss to the home standing Buffalo Bulls inside Alumni Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo defeated the Falcons by scores of 25-17, 24-26, 25-23 and 25-21 on Friday night.

The difference in the match proved to be at the net, as Buffalo totaled 12.0 team blocks overall compared to the Falcons' 8.0 team blocks, and forced BGSU to hit just .096 overall as a team over the four sets of play. The Falcons committed 33 attack errors overall on the night.

Slimko led the way for BGSU with a team-high 14 kills and was followed by Brandewie's 12 spikes and fellow middle Alyssa Maloney's 11 kills. Sophomore setter Katie Scholten passed out 45 set assists and picked up 11 digs to record her fifth double-double of the season, while libero Kallie Seimet tallied a team-high 16 digs in the four set loss. Jelena Sunjic finished with eight kills and 10 digs.

Buffalo was led by Megan Lipski's double-double of 20 kills and 16 digs, while Cassie Shado finished with 14 kills, five solo blocks and two block assists. Five different Bulls recorded attack percentages of over .300 on the night, led by Shado's percentage of .385 overall. Setter Madison Clark recorded a double-double with 50 assists and 10 digs, while both Abby Beecher and Tessa Ooyama ended the match with 13 and 12 digs apiece, respectively.

The Bulls stampeded the Falcons off of the opening serve to start the match, as UB ran out to a 9-0 lead with the help of six Falcon attack errors, before a service error got the visitors on the scoreboard.

BGSU picked up a kill from Brandewie to jump-start an 11-6 run by the Falcons who clawed back into the first set at 16-12 with four straight points by way of a kill from Maloney, a solo block by Maloney, a Slimko spike and another Maloney kill.

Following a Buffalo timeout, the two teams went back and forth, point for point, with BGSU getting to within three points at 18-15 and again at 20-17 on two Brandewie kills.

However, the set of runs ended with UB scoring the last four points to hold off the Falcons for the 25-17 first set win.

Bowling Green took its first lead of the match early in the second set, as a kill from Slimko, an ace from Madeline Garda and a block from the freshman combo of Isabel Kovacic and Brandewie pushed the visitors out in front by two at 3-1.

Buffalo battled back to tie the set up at 5-5 and again at 6-6 before retaking the lead at 7-6 on a BGSU attack error.

The Bulls stayed a few points ahead of the Falcons for the next several points until back-to-back BGSU offensive miscues allowed UB to take a six point lead at 17-11 and force a Falcon timeout.

The timeout proved to be beneficial, as the Falcons responded with a 9-3 scoring spurt to tie the frame up at 20-20 on a Buffalo attack error.

On the next service, the Falcons registered a kill from Sunjic and continued the run with the help of two more UB errors to pull out in front by three at 23-20.

Back-to-back kills from UB's Shado cut the BGSU lead to one at 23-22, however, a Brandewie spike gave the visitors set point at 24-23.

Buffalo fought off two straight Falcon set points to tie the set up at 24-24, only to see the Orange and Brown end the set out with two straight slams from Sunjic to give BGSU the 26-24 second set victory.

With the match tied up at 1-1 heading into the third set, the Falcons looked to carry over the momentum from the second set win by running out to a 3-0 lead to open the third.

After the Bulls tied the set up at 3-3, BGSU refused to relinquish the lead and pulled back out in front by as much as five at 11-6 on two straight UB mistakes.

Again the home team horned its way back into the set, tying it up once more at 12-12 on a kill from Akeila Lain.

BGSU outscored the Bulls 3-1 over the next four services to take a 15-13 lead on two consecutive service aces from Garda to force a UB timeout.

Out of the break, UB caught fire and ran off five straight points to take an 18-15 lead and then extended it to four at 20-16 and again at 21-17 on kills from Lain and Lipski.

Refusing to quit, BGSU erased the four point deficit and recorded a series of kills from Sunjic, Brandewie, Slimko, Slimko again, and Brandewie once more to soar back into the lead at 23-22.

The effort proved to come up just short, as the Bulls took advantage of back-to-back Falcon errors and then got a kill from Raven Jordan to escape the set with a 25-23 win.

Not to be deterred, Bowling Green flew out to a 6-0 lead to start the fourth set on a kill from Slimko and led 7-1 on a UB attack error.

Yet the close match would continue, as UB chipped away at the Falcons' lead slowly until a block from Megan Wernette and Valisha Watkins, followed by an ace from Lipski tied the score up at 17-17.

UB increased its scoring run to seven straight points with two straight kills from Wernette and another block to take a three point lead at 20-17.

Three straight points from the Orange and Brown tied the set back up at 20-20, before Buffalo finished the set out on a 5-1 run to hold on for the 25-21 come from behind set win and the 3-1 match victory.

BGSU (6-20, 2-11 MAC) will look to bounce back tomorrow evening, as the Falcons will stay on the road to face off with the Akron Zips at 5 p.m. in Athens, Ohio.

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