Falcons Secure Outright MAC Championship With Win Over Akron On Senior Night

Saturday, March 20

Bowling Green, Ohio

5:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

18-0,18-0MAC

Akron

4-15,4-15MAC

Akron

Bowling Green

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Secure Outright MAC Championship With Win Over Akron On Senior Night

March 20, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program topped Akron on Saturday night (March 20) in a 3-1 final to move to 18-0 on the season, becoming the outright MAC Regular Season Champions in the process. The win snaps the program record for most consecutive wins, previously set at 17 by the 2006 squad. On the stat sheet, the Falcons were paced by a double-double from Jaden Walz as well as a career-high 30 digs for Yelianiz Torres. The Falcons will now transition to the second match in the Battle of I-75, set for Tuesday (March 20) at the Stroh Center.

Set Scores (Box Score PDF)
Set 1 - Bowling Green 25, Akron 17
Set 2 - Akron 25, Bowling Green 18
Set 3 - Bowling Green 25, Akron 19
Set 4 - Bowling Green 25, Akron 15

Play-By-Play Notes

The first set began back-and-forth for both teams up to the media timeout with Akron holding a slim lead at 15-13.
Out of the media timeout, the Falcons would score five of the next six points, including a 3-0 run, that would prompt an Akron timeout at 18-16 BGSU. Out of the timeout, the Falcons added two more points followed by another Akron timeout at 20-16.
The momentum would roll through the set as the Falcons captured the first set with a 25-17 score, including a 4-0 run to close it out.
In the second set, Akron took the lead early in the set, seeing Bowling Green use both timeouts. However, the Falcons were able to use a 4-0 run to work the Akron lead down to 18-15 with the Zips calling a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Akron regrouped leading to a 25-18 score to even the match at a set each.
In the third set, the Falcons began assembling a lead early in the set with Akron pausing play at 7-3 with a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Bowling Green continued to add to the lead, stretching out to a 7-1 run before the next Akron timeout with the score at 12-4.
Akron began working back into the set before a timeout from the Falcon bench with the score at 20-16 in favor of the Orange and Brown.
The Falcons were able to turn that into a set win with a 25-19 score to reclaim the advantage at 2-1.
In the fourth set, the Falcons came out firing with a quick 4-0 run that forced an Akron timeout with the score at 6-3 BGSU.
Akron fought back to knot it up, but a 3-0 run for the Falcons retake the lead at 16-13 before a timeout from the Zips.
The Falcons put together a 7-0 run to push the score to 24-14 before taking the set and the match at 25-15.

Falcon Stat Facts

With the win, the Falcons clinch becoming outright MAC Champions of the regular season. Last night's win clinched a share with this win giving Bowling Green sole possession of the achievement.
With the team tallying a total of 15 blocks, Katie Kidwell logged a team-high eight in the match, bringing her career total to 415 block assists, which places her second in program history.
Staying in blocks, Jaden Walz also tallied a career-high four block assists in addition to her first career double-double. Walz totaled 38 assists in the contest on top of a career-high 14 digs.
Staying in digs, Yelianiz Torres set a career-high for the second consecutive night. After logging 29 last night, Torres answered with 30 tonight, marking the second 20+ dig outing of her career.
The Falcons also saw two players reach double digit kills in the contest with Katelyn Meyer landing a team-high 13 with Petra Indrova not far behind with 10.

Coach Tomic's Take

Up Next

The Falcons will be back at the Stroh Center for their next match, completing the second leg of the Battle of I-75 on Tuesday (March 23), set for a 6 p.m. start. Bowling Green claimed a victory in the first match this past Tuesday (March 16) in a 3-1 final.

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