Bowling Green Falls To Ball State Friday Evening

Friday, October 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

15-7 (5-4MAC)

Ball State

9-14 (5-4MAC)

Ball State

Bowling Green

October 21, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Coach Tomic Post-Match Interview
Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing & Communications)
Final Statistics: NCAA Box/Play-By-Play | HTML

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team lost to Ball State University, 3-0, Friday (Oct. 21) night at the Stroh Center. Ball State won the match by a score of 26-24; 25-16; 25-15. The loss for Bowling Green snapped a five-match winning streak, and was BGSU's first loss since Sept. 30.

Bowling Green now owns an overall record of 15-7, and the Falcons are 5-4 in Mid-American Conference play. With the win, Ball State improves to 9-14 (5-4 MAC).

"I have to congratulate Ball State – they played really well, and outplayed us in every aspect of the game, and they deserved this win," said head coach Danijela Tomic. "It's disappointing. I don't know what it is about us playing at home … We have to find a way to bounce back. We have another tough opponent tomorrow, and we have to find a way to bounce back and be better."

The Falcons had a big opportunity to jump out in front in the match by winning the first set, as BGSU built up a 20-16 lead, but Ball State rallied and scored 10 of the next 14 points to win the set by a score of 26-24. The set was tied at scores of 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24, but two-consecutive kills by Ball State's Mackenzie Kitchel secured the first set for the visitors.

Bowling Green had an uncharacteristic night offensively, and were held to a .060 hitting percentage, while the Cardinals hit .282 as a team. Ball State forced the Falcons into 24 attack errors, and notched 10 more assists and five more digs than Bowling Green. Ball State also had a great match at the net, as BSU registered a total of 15 blocks.

Offensively, Jessi Holly was a huge bright spot for the Orange and Brown. The freshman outside hitter came on in the third set, and was very efficient. Holly recorded five kills, and hit .444 (5-1-9) for the match. Nicole Slimko tallied seven kills, and Jelena Sunjic had six. Isabel Kovacic chipped in with five kills.

Isabelle Marciniak received her fifth-straight start, and racked up 26 assists and eight digs. Kallie Seimet led the Falcons in digs with nine, while Madeline Garda and Paulina Iacobelli had eight digs apiece.

The Falcons will host a Battle of I-75 matchup tomorrow with Toledo at the Stroh Center. The match is slated to begin at 5 p.m. Bowling Green will then hit the road for an Oct. 27 match at Miami, before returning to the Stroh Center to face Western Michigan on Oct. 29.