Falcons Fall In Thrilling Five-Set Match At Ohio

Saturday, November 5

Athens, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

18-9 (8-6MAC)

Ohio

14-12 (10-4MAC)

Bowling Green

Ohio

Photo by: Ruben Kappler, BGSU Marketing & Communications

November 05, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

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

ATHENS, Ohio – Despite an epic 36-34 second-set victory that put the Bowling Green State University volleyball team ahead, 2-1, the Falcons were defeated in a thrilling conference match by Ohio University Saturday (Nov. 5) evening at OU's Convocation Center. The Bobcats won the match by a score of 18-25; 25-20; 34-36; 25-21; 15-12.

Bowling Green is now 18-9, and 8-6 in Mid-American Conference play. Ohio improves to 14-12 (10-4 MAC) with the victory.

"I am so proud of our team and the warrior spirit that we showed tonight," said head coach Danijela Tomic. "It hurts to lose such a close match, especially after that unbelievable comeback and fight to win the third set. That set showed how tough we are and that we never give up. There are so many good things that we did tonight, and that we will build on. The credit goes to Ohio for making the plays and making less errors when it mattered most in the fourth and fifth sets.

"This was a good rehearsal for us in preparation for the MAC Tournament, because we will learn from tonight's loss, and will be better in the deciding fifth set that we might need to play in the MAC Tournament."

The third set was nothing short of one of the more epic sets you'll see across college volleyball this season. Ohio looked poised to take a 2-1 lead, as the Bobcats led the third set by a score of 23-16. However, the Falcons rattled off seven-consecutive points to knot things up at 23-23.

Over the course of the remainder of the set, Bowling Green fought off seven set points, while Ohio fought off four set points. Jelena Sunjic gave BGSU a 35-34 lead with a kill, and then an attack error gave the Orange and Brown the epic 36-34 set victory, which gave the Falcons the all-important 2-1 lead. However, Ohio won the final two sets to secure the 3-2 victory.

Freshman setter Isabelle Marciniak had an outstanding match. The freshman recorded a career-high 60 assists. Marciniak nearly registered her first 50-assist match in last night's win at Kent State, as she picked up 49, and has now recorded at least 40 assists in six matches this season. The freshman also had eight digs, three kills and three blocks.

Madeline Garda finished with 38 digs and finished just two digs shy of tying the program record, a record in which she set earlier in the season, for most digs in a single match. The 38 digs did tie the school record for most digs in a five-set match. Chelsey Meek posted 38 digs in a five-set match in 2007. Garda leads the country in digs per set (6.66) and total digs (633).

Kallie Seimet, who set a season high with 20 digs last night, established a new season high tonight with 21 digs tonight. The sophomore also had one assist.

Sunjic posted a season-high 24 kills on a season-high 64 attempts. The senior also recorded her second double-double of the season, as she also had 14 digs. Alyssa Maloney was second on the team with 15 kills. Maloney had a well-rounded match, and also contributed with three blocks, two digs, two services aces and one assist.

Jessi Holly, who had 12 kills in last night's match, tied a career high with 13 kills. Holly, who has now had 13 kills in three matches this season, hit .270 (13-3-37). Holly also chipped in defensively with seven digs. Isabelle Kovacic had nine kills and hit .240 (9-3-25), while Madeline Brandewie had six kills and three digs.

The Falcons will conclude the regular season at the Stroh Center next weekend with matches against Buffalo (Nov. 11) and Akron (Nov. 12). Before the Buffalo match, Jelena Sunjic (1,000 career kills) and Madeline Garda (1,500 career digs) will be honored before the match for reaching significant career milestones. The Akron match is Senior Night, where Garda, Sunjic, Maloney and Arkeilpane will be honored before the match.