BGSU Volleyball Captures Five Set Victory To Begin Season

Friday, January 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

6:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

2-0,1-0MAC

Northern Illinois

0-1,0-1MAC

Northern Ill.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

January 22, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program took the court for the first time in well over 400 days and came out with a five set victory over Northern Illinois on Friday night (Jan. 22). The Falcons took the first two sets before the Huskies battled back to force a fifth set. In the fifth, the Falcons led nearly wire-to-wire with no lead changes, but seven ties in the set. The win puts the Falcons at 1-0 to begin the season. They will return to the court tomorrow (Jan. 23) to face Northern Illinois with a 5 p.m. first serve.

Set Scores (Box Score PDF)
Set 1 - Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 21
Set 2 - Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 20
Set 3 - Northern Illinois 26, Bowling Green 24
Set 4 - Northern Illinois 25, Bowling Green 18
Set 5 - Bowling Green 15, Northern Illinois 13

Play-By-Play Notes

Much of the match was a back-and-forth affair and it began earlier. It wasn't until the score was 23-20 in favor of Bowling Green that a team led by more than two-points. In fact, three was the largest lead of the entire first set until the Falcons scored the final point of the set to win it by four.
The second set saw more of the same with no team gaining more than a three-point lead until the Falcons pulled away at 24-19 before clinching the set at 25-20.
In the third set Northern Illinois gained an advantage, taking the lead at 5-4 and holding it until the Falcons rallied back late in the set. After trailing 20-15, Bowling Green closed the gap to 24-24, including a 6-0 run, forcing extra points to settle the set. However, Northern Illinois came away with the next two points.
The momentum carried into the fourth set as Northern Illinois led for the majority of the time before forcing a fifth set with a 25-18 fourth set win.
In the fifth and final set, the match returned to what we saw in the first two sets with both teams trading points. The Falcons were able to string together enough points, including the final two, to clinch the first win of the season for Bowling Green.

Strong Individual Performances

For the Falcons, Petra Indrova was able to register the first double-double of the season for the Falcons with 16 kills and 10 digs. The match marks just her second career double-double after logging one as a freshman last season.
Starting at setter, Hanna Laube was able to tally 51 assists, a new career-high. She was also able to add eight digs to her line for a near double-double.
On the attack, Katelyn Meyer landed the most kills with 20, her first of the season after having six a season ago.
As for digs, Julia Walz led the way with 20, also her first of the season after doing so 18 times during the 2019 season.
The Falcons also had three different players log a pair of block assists, being Katie Kidwell, Alexis Mettille and Indrova.
The Orange and Brown also landed nine aces as a team having two from each of Alex Laboy, Katrin Trebichavska and Indrova. Kidwell, Walz and Kerstie Shaw all had one apiece as well.
In total, Bowling Green had four freshmen see the court, including having all four start the fourth set. Laboy tallied two aces and seven digs while Jaden Walz registered six assists and five digs. Trebichavska landed 17 kills and two aces along with eight digs. Rounding out the freshmen was Mettille who had two kills, three digs and two block assists.

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