Volleyball Concludes Non-Conference Play with Saturday Split

Match 1: Box Score (PDF)
Match 1: Box Score (HTML)
Match 2: Box Score (PDF)
Match 2: Box Score (HTML)

Pittsburgh, Pa. – BGSU wrapped up its non-conference slate with a Saturday split on day two of the Panther Invitational, as the Falcons fell to George Washington 3-0 in the morning match up and then ended the weekend out with a 3-0 sweep of the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh University in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Outside hitter Jelena Sunjic and setter Katie Scholten were both named to the Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team.

"Our team showed a lot of resilience and poise in today's win over a very good Lehigh team. We set a goal of having a strong start of the match in order to gain a momentum," commented head coach Danijela Tomic. "We have struggled with that this season, but were finally able to accomplish it and the result was a dominant first set performance. For a young team, we showed a lot of maturity and mental toughness to play from behind both of the next two sets and were still able to win them."

With the split on Saturday, BGSU finished the non-conference slate, which included five matches against Power 5 conference schools, at 4-9 overall.

The Falcons will begin MAC play next weekend on the road at Ohio and Kent State.

Match 1: George Washington 3, BGSU 0
In the first match on day two of the Panther Invitational, the Falcons were defeated by the Colonials 25-20, 25-23 and 25-16 on Saturday morning in a neutral site contest.

BGSU's Nicole Slimko tallied 12 kills and a total of 13.5 points for the match, while fellow outside hitter Jelena Sunjic chipped in with nine kills and seven digs. Junior middle Alyssa Maloney recorded six kills and four total blocks, while setter Katie Scholten passed out 31 set assists in the three set match.

For George Washington, Chidma Osuchukwu led the Colonials with a match-high 13 kills and five total blocks, while setter Jordan Timmer tallied 40 assists and seven digs. Kelsey Clarke and Loren Williams each finished with 11 kills, while Maddy Doyle and Maddie Brown picked up 11 and 10 digs apiece, respectively in the win.

The slow starting Falcons fell behind 2-0 early, yet used a kill from Maloney and a block from freshman Isabel Kovacic and Maloney to tie the set up at 3-3 in the opening set.
After the Colonials ran off four straight points to take a 7-3 lead, the Falcons stormed back to get within one at 11-10 on a Maloney spike.

A 5-2 run by GW pushed the Colonials lead back out to four at 16-12, yet the Falcons refused to give up and picked up a kill from Madeline Brandewie, a slam from Slimko and took advantage of a GW attack error to again get to within three of the Colonials at 19-16.

A Scholten service ace on the next play trimmed the GW lead to just two at 19-17, as the Orange and Brown would get to within just one point at 20-19 on a Madeline Garda ace three serves later.

However, GW would close the set out on a 5-1 run, highlighted by blocks from Osuchukwu and Loren Williams, to escape with a 25-20 first set victory.

Bowling Green found itself down big early to start the second set, as the Colonials pulled out to an 8-3 lead on four straight points to force a Falcons' timeout.

Out of the timeout, BGSU picked up a kill from Sunjic to end the GW scoring run and start a 12-7 scoring run of its own to tie the second set up at 15-15 on three straight Colonial miscues.

The two teams swapped sideout points to put the score at 16-16 when the Colonials got a kill from Williams and benefited from two straight Falcons mistakes to retake the lead at 19-17.

BGSU again closed the gap to get to within one at 21-20 on a block by the combo of Maloney and Isabel Kovacic and then fought off three straight GW set points to get to within one at 24-23 on a service ace from Garda and a block from Maloney.

GW ended the set with a block from Kristel Moor and Osuchukwu to hand the Colonials the 25-23 second set win.

The third set started off much like the first two, as GW scored first and took a 5-2 lead on a block by Williams and Maggie Skjelbred. However, the Falcons answered with four straight points to take a 6-5 lead on a BGSU block at the net by Scholten and Brandewie.

After trading kills to put the Falcons up 7-6, the Colonials used a kill from Skjelbred to march out to a 13-8 lead on a 7-2 spurt capped off by a Moor kill and a Skjelbred service ace.

The Falcons put together runs to get within three of the Colonials at 13-10, 16-13 and 17-14, but couldn't get back in front as GW pulled away late for the 25-16 set win to complete the 3-0 straight set victory.

BGSU totaled 35 kills on a .133 team attack percentage, but was not as good as the Colonials who recorded a total of 44 kills on a .248 attack percentage overall. Each team registered 113 attack attempts for the match.

Match 2: BGSU 3, Lehigh 0
The Falcons ended the weekend on a high note, as BGSU dominated in the first set, finished the second set out strong and fought back in the third set to fly past the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh in straight sets 3-0.

BGSU took the win over Lehigh at 25-15, 30-28 and 25-22 to improve to 4-9 on the season.

Sunjic finished the weekend out with 13 kills on a .385 attack percentage in the three set win, while Maloney added 11 kills on a match-high attack percentage of .450. Both Maloney and Kovacic tallied three service aces apiece, while Scholten picked up 32 assists and seven digs in the night cap. Seimet finished with a match-high 16 digs overall.

For the Mountain Hawks, Leah Turner and Ana Vrhel registered 11 and 10 kills each, respectively, while setter Amy Matula passed out 23 assists. Emily Develle finished with 10 digs on the match.

BGSU took a 1-0 lead to start the match and then pushed it out to three at 6-3 on a Madeline Brandewie kill.

The Falcons never looked back, as BGSU took a four point lead at 9-5 on back-to-back blocks by Slimko and Maloney, to force a Lehigh timeout.

Out of the break, the Mountain Hawks cut the BGSU lead to one at 9-8 and then again at 10-9 to put pressure on the Falcons. However, the Orange and Brown refused to fold, as the Falcons picked up a spike from Slimko and a service ace from Garda to jump start a 7-1 run and fly out to a six point lead at 16-10 on a Kovacic kill.

After a Hannah Wagner kill for Lehigh, the Falcons answered with three straight points to start a 6-1 run and push BGSU's lead out to 10 at 22-12 en route to the double digit win at 25-15.
The second set started out with the Falcons taking a 2-0 lead on a Maloney kill before Lehigh picked up four straight points to take a 4-2 lead out of the gate.

Lehigh remained in front for the rest of the beginning of the set, as the Mountain Hawks held a 14-13 lead, when the Falcons posted a service ace from Maloney to tie the set up at 14-14.

Following three straight points from Lehigh to propel the Mountain Hawks back in front at 17-14, the Orange and Brown got a kill from Sunjic, a Kovacic ace and an error from Lehigh to tie the set up once more at 17-17.

The trend continued as BGSU tied the frame up at 18-18, fell behind by three at 21-18, and then fought back to tie the set up at 21-21 on a block from Scholten and Maloney and an ace from Seimet.

The set went back-and-forth, point for point, until another Maloney kill in the middle gave the Falcons the lead and set point at 24-23.

Five ties and one two lead changes later, the Falcons put together back-to-back points on a Lehigh service error and a Scholten kill to end the marathon match on top at 30-28.

With the 2-0 match lead, BGSU took a 2-0 lead to start the third set and held a slight 7-6 lead on a Maloney spike before the Mountain Hawks picked up four straight points to pull out in front by three at 10-8 an a service ace.

BGSU continued to keep pace with Lehigh over the next several points, until a Sunjic slam and a Ryann Cox ace put the Falcons within one at 15-14 midway through the frame.

Lehigh remained on top of the Falcons until a kill from Maloney, a Lehigh attack error and a Maloney ace gave the Orange and Brown a 22-21 lead over the Mountain Hawks.

After Lehigh tied the set up at 22-22 on a Stephanie Slater spike, BGSU closed the set out with three straight points to complete the 3-0 straight set match win with the 25-22 set victory.

The Falcons posted a sideout percentage of 65 percent overall, 10 service aces and nine total blocks. As a team, BGSU hit .237 overall despite the fact of recording 20 less attack attempts then the Mountain Hawks.

"The last four weeks have been very challenging, but they have prepared us well for the MAC. I am really proud of our young women for not letting previous losses negatively affect them," continued Tomic. "Instead, they used them as learning opportunities and kept getting better and better from each match both individually and as a team. We are looking forward to carrying this momentum and look to continue our team growth and development throughout the MAC season."

MAC play will begin next weekend, as the Falcons will hit the road to play Ohio on Friday, Sept. 25, and at Kent State, Saturday, Sept. 26. Both matches are set for a 7 p.m. start.

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Nicole Slimko

Jelena Sunjic

Alyssa Maloney

Isabel Kovacic

Players Mentioned

Madeline Brandewie

Ryann Cox

Madeline Garda

Isabel Kovacic

Alyssa Maloney

Katie Scholten

Nicole Slimko

Jelena Sunjic

Players Mentioned

Madeline Brandewie

Ryann Cox

Madeline Garda

Isabel Kovacic

Alyssa Maloney

Katie Scholten

Nicole Slimko

Jelena Sunjic

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