Falcons Fall In Five Sets To No. 23 Louisville

Saturday, August 27

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

1-2

Louisville

3-0

Louisville

Bowling Green

August 27, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Photo Gallery (Larry Clapper)
Statistics: HTML | Box (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team concluded the Hampton Inn Invitational Saturday (Aug. 27) afternoon with a 3-2 defeat to No. 23 Louisville. Bowling Green forced the fifth set with a 25-17 fourth, but ultimately fell 25-15; 18-25; 22-25; 25-17; 11-15.

The Falcons finished play at the invitational with a 1-2 record. BGSU knocked off VCU on Friday (Aug. 26) to start things off, but fell to Oakland in the night cap. Louisville went a perfect 3-0, while VCU went 0-3 and Oakland finished 2-1.

Alyssa Maloney was named to the All-Tournament Team following the match. Maloney, who had 12 kills in today's match, finished the invitational with 32 kills (2.91/set) and hit .303 across the weekend. Jelena Sunjic also had a really strong match. Sunjic, who has hardly practiced at all while recovering from an injury, recorded 17 kills and hit .484.

Jessi Holly added a career-high 12 kills, after she posted 11 against Oakland, while Isabel Kovacic also established a new career high with 14 kills. Both Holly and Kovacic set career bests for kills in all three matches in the invitational. Holly notched seven against VCU in the first match. Kovacic registered double-digit kills in all three matches. She put up 10 kills against VCU and 12 against Oakland before finishing with the 14 today.

Katie Scholten finished with a season-high 51 assists, while Madeline Garda led the way in digs with 22. Kallie Seimet recorded 11 digs. Delaney Arkeilpane notched seven.

Bowling Green started extremely fast, and ran away with the first set. The Falcons held leads of 5-0, 11-3 and 20-8 before taking the set by a score of 25-15. On six attempts, Sunjic racked up five kills. Kovacic was feeling it, as well, as she had four kills on six attempts.

The second set saw a change in momentum, as Louisville came out swinging and took the set with ease. The Falcons battled hard in the third, and trailed by two late in the set at 23-21, but Louisville took the 2-1 lead by scoring two of the next three points.

In the fourth, Bowling Green dug deep, and eventually built up a comfortable lead. With things tied, 3-3, Sunjic recorded a kill and then an ace. After an attack error and a Scholten kill, the Falcons began to take control at 7-3. Louisville inched back to within three at 11-8, but just nine points later, BGSU led by a total of 18-10.

Across that span, Sunjic racked up two more kills. Madeline Brandewie posted one of her two kills in the run, as well. Sunjic leaped up for a big-time kill to give the Falcons a 24-17 lead, prior to Kovacic ending the set and forcing a fifth with a service ace.

The deciding set started well for BGSU, as a service error and an attack error gave the hosts a 2-0 lead. After a Falcon error, Sunjic and Holly scored back-to-back kills for a 4-1 advantage. The Cardinals fought back to take a 7-6 lead, but a Louisville attack error and a Kovacic kill put the Falcons back on top, 9-8, at the switch.

Unfortunately for BGSU, multiple services aces and an attack error helped Louisville score six-straight points to take a commanding 14-9 advantage. Bowling Green fought off two match points before a Louisville kill ended the upset attempt.

The Orange and Brown will be back in action next Friday (Sept. 2) evening. The Falcons host the BGSU Invitational over Sept. 2-3 inside the Stroh Center. Bowling Green will take on Fort Wayne Friday at 7 p.m., and conclude the event Saturday at 5 p.m. with a match against Northern Kentucky.