Slow Starts Doom Falcons in 3-0 Loss to the Raiders

Friday, September 4

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

2-3

Wright State

4-1

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Wright State	25	25	29	3
Bowling Green	19	20	27	0

September 04, 2015 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Box Score (PDF)
Box Score (HTML)
Photo Gallery (1) (courtesy of Paul Duncan)
Photo Gallery (2) (courtesy of Larry Clapper)

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team fell behind early in all three sets and was plagued by nine service errors throughout the match, as Wright State swept the Falcons in straight sets 25-19, 25-20 and 29-27 in the night cap of day one of the Hampton Inn Invitational at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Falcons fall to 2-3 overall on the season with the loss, while the Raiders improve to 4-1 on the year with the win.

The difference in the match was with the service and receive, as the Falcons had two aces, nine service errors and nine receiving miscues, while Wright State totaled nine service aces and only four service errors for the three set match.

"This is a disappointing loss. I mean the opening match in the Stroh and in front of our fans, and we just didn't play the way that we played last weekend and the way that I know our team can play and we've seen them play. The credit goes to Wright State. They played really well. They fought and they competed. I didn't feel or didn't think that our team competed throughout the whole match," commented head coach Danijela Tomic. "That is one of the things that we know we have to do. Being so young, we have to fight. Competitiveness doesn't matter how old, young, tall or short you are you have to compete."

BGSU was led by Nicole Slimko's match-high 14 kills, while junior Jelena Sunjic chipped in with 12 spikes. Setter Katie Scholten totaled 37 assists and four kills, while freshman libero Kallie Seimet registered a match-high 15 digs for the Falcons.

The Raiders had a trio of players with double digit kills, as Katie Klusman totaled 12 kills, while both Haley Garr and Marisa Aiello added 11 kills apiece. Setter Maddie Lohmeier dished out 36 assists, while Aiello and Rachel Kremer each tallied three service aces in the win.

The Falcons struggled from the opening serve on Friday night, as WSU took a 2-0 lead on back-to-back service aces to start the match before running out to a 9-3 lead on a kill from Megan Hopkins.

BGSU stopped the Raiders' run with a kill from junior Alyssa Maloney, however, a kill from Garr followed by three straight service aces from WSU's Kremer pushed the Raiders out to a nine point lead at 14-5 and forced a BGSU timeout.

Looking to regroup, the Falcons picked up two kills from Slimko and one kill apiece from both Isabel Kovacic and Sunjic over the next nine points to put the Falcons down just six at 17-11.

Out of a Wright State timeout, the Falcons were able to cut the WSU lead to as low as four at 21-17 on back-to-back kills from Scholten, yet could not overcome the slow start in the 25-19 set loss to the Raiders.

An attack error by the Raiders gave the Orange and Brown a 1-0 lead to start the second set, however, the Falcons failed to capitalize and saw the Raiders score six of the next seven points to again pull out in front early, this time at 6-2 on a BGSU attack error.

Following an early BGSU timeout, the Falcons used back-to-back kills from Sunjic and Kovacic to trim the Raiders' lead to just two at 6-4.

However, the Raiders refused to relinquish the lead, as WSU had an answer for every Falcon run to stay out in front of the home team before a 7-2 run, capped off by two more service aces, increased the WSU lead to seven at 19-12.

Refusing to quit, BGSU used kills from Kovacic, Maloney, Scholten, and Sunjic, as well as a huge block from the combo of Maloney and Slimko, to fight its way back into the set and climb to within two of the Raiders at 22-20.

The next three points would all come off the right arm of WSU's Klusman, as the Raiders held on for the 25-20 set win to take a 2-0 match lead.

Again, the third set saw the Falcons fall behind right out of the gate, as a BGSU attack error and a WSU block put the home team down 2-0. Only this time, the Falcons battled back to tie the match up at 4-4 on a Sunjic kill, at 5-5 on a Maloney kill, and then take a 6-5 lead on a Slimko kill.

A service error by the Falcons tied the match up at 6-6, before another Slimko spike gave the Falcons the lead back at 7-6.

Yet a second service error by BGSU retied the set up at 7-7, as the Falcons continued to give the Raiders new life.

The two teams would trade points over the next several plays with BGSU holding on to a slight three point lead at 12-9 on a Kovacic kill.

The tight play would continue for the remainder of the set, as neither team could pull away from the other with the Raiders taking a slight 24-22 edge for set point on a kill from Aiello.

BGSU fought off two straight set points by way of back-to-back kills from Sunjic, before a kill from Hopkins put the Raiders back up by a point at 25-24 and on the verge of the third set win.
A third kill from Sunjic, followed by a kill from Slimko, pushed the Falcons out in front at 26-25 and gave the home team set point.

Wright State answered with a kill from Garr to tie the frame up at 26-26, only to see Slimko pound the ball into the floor on the next rally to put BGSU back in front at 27-26.

The marathon set would end with three consecutive kills from the Raiders who escaped with the 29-27 set win and the 3-0 match victory.

For the first time this season, the Falcons' struggled with their offensive efficiency as BGSU hit just .171 in the second set and .178 as a team in the third set after posting a team attack percentage of .345 in the opening set.

Bowling Green (2-3) will look to bounce back tomorrow afternoon, as the Falcons will host Loyola (Chicago) at 12:30 p.m. ET and then wrap up the two-day Hampton Inn Invitational against the IPFW Mastodons at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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