Falcons’ Valiant Comeback Bid Falls Short in Five Set Loss to IU

Friday, August 28

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

0-1

Indiana

1-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Indiana	25	25	21	21	15	3
Bowling Green	9	20	25	25	12	2

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

Falcons’ Valiant Comeback Bid Falls Short in Five Set Loss to IU

August 28, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Box Score (PDF)
Box Score (HTML)

Murfressboro, Tenn. – In the Falcons' 2015 season opener versus Indiana on Friday afternoon, the Bowling Green State University volleyball team overcame a very slow start to take both the third and fourth sets and send the match to a fifth and decisive set before two late points helped the Hoosiers escape with a 3-2 match win at the Blue Raider Bash hosted by Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The Falcons fell in five sets to IU 25-9, 25-20, 21-25, 21-25 and 15-12.

The loss drops BGSU to 0-1 on the season, while Indiana starts the year at 1-0 with the win.

BGSU was led by the duo of Jelena Sunjic and Nicole Slimko, who posted 15 and 11 kills, respectively, while sophomore setter Katie Scholten dished out a career-high 36 assists over the five set match. Junior middle blocker Alyssa Maloney tallied six kills and five blocks assists overall, while junior Madeline Garda led the Falcons with a team-high 25 digs.

For the Hoosiers, four different players recorded double digit kills led by Amelia Anderson's match-high 26 kills, while setters Makayla Lundin and Megan Tallman combined for 54 set assists in the win. Three IU players registered double digit digs highlighted by Courtney Harnish's team-high 19.

"Our young team showed a lot of heart and grit in the heartbreaker loss to IU. We started very nervous and couldn't find our rhythm until the third set," head coach Danijela Tomic stated. "We had our chances in the fifth set, but unfortunately couldn't find a way this time to win a tiebreaker. We were proud of our team's effort and we're hoping we build on it in the next match versus MTSU."

After the young Falcons' team, that has only four upperclassmen on the entire roster, struggled from the opening serve of a first set 25-9 loss, BGSU opened up the second set with back-to-back kills from freshman Isabel Kovacic and Slimko to push the team in white out to a 2-0 lead.

The Falcons stayed out in front for the next several points, until a 6-0 run by the Hoosiers propelled IU in front by four at 12-8 on an Anderson kill and forced BGSU to call a timeout.

Out of the timeout, BGSU picked up a kill from Slimko and a service ace from Maloney to cut the Indiana lead to two at 12-10. Indiana was able to extend its lead out to as much as six points until a kill from Sunjic put the Falcons within two points once more, this time at 20-18, and then once again at 21-19 on an IU service error.

However, IU would outscore the Falcons 4-1 over the final five points to pull away with a 25-20 set win and take a 2-0 match lead.

Out of the break, the Falcons fell behind early at 4-1 to start the third set, but then used two kills apiece from both Sunjic and Slimko, and a big block at the net from Scholten and Madeline Brandewie to fly past the Hoosiers and take a 12-9 lead on three straight IU attack errors.

Bowling Green refused to relinquish the lead for the remainder of the set, as IU tied the match up at 14-14 only to see the Falcons pull back out in front at 18-15 on back-to-back spikes from Sunjic.

Following an Indiana timeout, the Falcons picked up a block from the combination of Sunjic and Maloney and another kill from Maloney to take a 21-18 lead.

With the Falcons up 22-19, IU's Anderson traded kills back-and-forth with BGSU's Slimko over the next four points, before the Falcons put the frame away at 25-21 on an IU attack error.

With the momentum of the match on the Falcons side, BGSU got kills from Kovacic, Brandewie, Sunjic and freshman Ryann Cox to take a 5-3 lead to start the fourth set.

Neither team would be able to pull away from the other over the next several rallies, until a BGSU attack error followed by an IU kill by Elizabeth Asdell and a Harnish service ace drove the Hoosiers out to a 13-10 lead midway through the set.

Following a BGSU timeout, the Falcons exploded with kills from Kovacic, Sunjic and Maloney for a 6-1 run to take a 16-14 lead and force an Indiana timeout.

The Falcons would fight off Indiana's attempts to retake the lead, as neither team could put together back-to-back points until a kill from Sunjic, immediately followed by a spike from Slimko, closed the set out with BGSU on top 25-21.

With the match tied up at 2-2, the Falcons battled back from a 2-0 deficit to take a 4-3 lead on two straight service aces from freshman Kallie Seimet to start the fifth set.

After a kill from Scholten put the Orange and Brown in front once more at 6-5, the Hoosiers used a kill from Allison Hammond and three kills from Anderson to take a 9-7 lead and force a BGSU timeout.

BGSU trimmed the Indiana lead to one at 9-8, at 10-9, and then again at 13-12, before IU finished the fifth set off with kills from Hammond and Asdell to pick up the 15-12 set win and escape with the 3-2 match win.

The Falcons were huge at the net defensively all match long, totaling nine team blocks compared to the Hoosiers' two team blocks. However, the Hoosiers posted a team attack percentage of .262 for the five set match, while the Falcons overcame a slow first set to hit .204 overall.

Bowling Green (0-1) will continue its first day of play at the Blue Raider Bash tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET versus Middle Tennessee.

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