BGSU Improves To 9-1 Away From Stroh Center With Sweep At EMU

Friday, October 14

Ypsilanti, Mich.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

14-6, 4-3MAC

Eastern Michigan

7-13, 2-5MAC

Bowling Green

Eastern Michigan

Photo by: JD Pooley

October 14, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Final Statistics: NCAA Box/Play-By-Play | HTML

YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team opened up the weekend with a 3-0 victory over Eastern Michigan University on the road at EMU's Convocation Center on Friday (Oct. 14) evening. The Falcons won the match by a score of 25-17; 25-15; 25-9.

For BGSU, the sweep was its ninth on the season. Bowling Green has now won four-straight matches. The Falcons improved to 14-6, and 4-3 in Mid-American Conference play with the victory. The Orange and Brown are a staggering 9-1 in matches away from the Stroh Center.

"I am proud of our team and how focused we were from the second half of the first set until the end of the match," said head coach Danijela Tomic. "Our aggressive serving and offensive efficiency were the keys in our win. Getting EMU out of system from behind the serving line helped our blockers to have one of our better performances of this season. In addition, as a team, we were scrappy defensively, which helped create swing opportunities that were converted into kills."

Madeline Garda, who leads the nation in digs per set (6.67) and total digs (467), increased her totals with a match-high 23 digs. For the match, she averaged 7.67 digs per set. Garda also recorded seven service aces, which is the second most in program history for a single match, and the most in a match since 1988 (Lisa Mika -- 10). Paulina Iacobelli chipped in with five digs, while Kallie Seimet had four.

Offensively, Jelena Sunjic led the pack with 15 kills, and hit an extremely impressive .519 (15-1-27). Isabel Kovacic and Alyssa Maloney followed with six kills apiece, while hitting .294 (6-1-17) and .500 (6-0-12), respectively. Between the three Falcons, they committed just two attack errors on 56 attempts.

Nicole Slimko added four kills on 10 attempts. Celena Kanagin had two kills, and Madeline Brandewie had one. Isabelle Marciniak served as Bowling Green's primary setter, and registered 31 assists, four digs and three kills.

Sunjic got off to an extremely efficient start, as she racked up six kills on six attempts to give BGSU an early 10-9 lead. Garda already had four digs at that point, as both teams continued to play a tight first set. With the score tied at 15-15, there had already been 12 ties in the set. But three points later, the Falcons built up an 18-15 lead, and forced EMU into a timeout.

BGSU went on to seize control of the first set from there, winning it by a score of 25-17. Sunjic finished with eight kills, while Maloney had three. Marciniak totaled 14 assists, and Garda had nine digs.

Bowling Green scored seven of the second set's first nine points, and used that furious rally to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. The Falcons claimed the second set in dominating fashion, 25-15.

Sunjic had racked up 12 kills at the intermission, while Maloney and Kovacic had five apiece. Garda averaged 7.00 kills per set through two, as she had 14 digs. Marciniak followed up her 14-assist first set with seven more assists in the second set.

The Orange and Brown secured the sweep in the third set by completely dominating out of the gates. The Falcons scored the first six points, and then built up a commanding 13-1 lead. The Falcons went on to single-digit Eastern Michigan by a count of 25-9.

The Falcons will conclude their four-match road swing tomorrow evening with a 7 p.m. match at Central Michigan. Bowling Green will return to the Stroh Center next week for matches against Ball State (Oct. 21) and Toledo (Oct. 22).