Falcons Sweep Buffalo To Clinch First Round Bye In MAC Tournament

Saturday, November 12

Buffalo, N.Y.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

19-9,14-3MAC

Buffalo

17-12,9-8MAC

Bowling Green

Buffalo

Photo by: Jodi Anderson

Falcons Sweep Buffalo To Clinch First Round Bye In MAC Tournament

November 12, 2022 | Volleyball

Box Score Support Our Student-Athletes

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball program completed the three-set sweep over the Buffalo Bulls on Saturday (Nov. 12) to secure the weekend sweep as well. BGSU took the first and second sets by scores of 25-20. In the third set, Buffalo moved out in front and held the lead for most of the set. However, a 6-0 surge at the end of the set was able to swing the score in the Falcons' favor for a 25-22 set win to clinch the sweep. The win secures the Falcons the MAC East Division title, clinching a bye in the first round of the MAC Tournament.

The Falcons showed a balanced attack with three players ending the night with nine kills, one with eight and another with seven, but none reaching double-digits. Jaden Walz tallied 20 assists for the Orange and Brown while Petra Indrova and Yelianiz Torres combined for 25 digs, having 13 and 12, respectively. The win moves BGSU to 19-9 on the season while being 14-3 within the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons will close out the regular season on Wednesday (Nov. 16) on the road against Miami (OH). A win against the RedHawks could secure at least a share of the MAC Regular Season title.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 20

The first set began close with the teams trading points. BGSU tallied back-to-back points early to move in front 5-3 to get a bit of breathing room before the trading of points resumed.
The first run of more than two points came via a 3-0 run for the Falcons to extend their lead to 10-6 in the first set.
BGSU put together another 3-0 run later in the set to push the score to 15-9 and bring on the media timeout.
The Bulls trimmed the lead to 20-17 with a 3-0 run, prompting the first Bowling Green timeout of the match.
Buffalo continued their late push, but the Falcons remained out in front to claim the first set with a 25-20 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 20

An early 3-0 run for the Falcons pushed BGSU to a quick 4-1 advantage in the second set.
The Bulls battled back with a 6-1 stretch to take an 8-6 lead, but the Falcons quickly regrouped to reclaim the lead at 11-9 with a 3-0 run.
The 3-0 runs continued for Bowling Green with the next pushing the BGSU lead to 20-15 and forcing Buffalo to call their second timeout of the set.
The Bulls had a 3-0 run of their own late in the set to make the score 24-20 BGSU with the Falcons using a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons registered the first point to claim the set 25-20 and go up 2-0 for the match.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 22

Early in the third set, the Falcons had a 3-0 run to move ahead 4-3 before the Bulls had a 4-0 run of their own to go up 7-4, beginning the set back-and-forth.
Another 3-0 stretch in favor of the Falcons brought the set back to a tie, this time with the score at 7-7.
The point trading went deep into the set before the Falcons took a timeout trailing 21-18.
The Falcons quickly closed the gap out of the timeout, scoring three of the next four points to bring the score to 22-21 Buffalo and prompt a UB timeout.
Out of the Buffalo timeout, the Falcons landed the next two points to move ahead 23-22 and bring another Bulls timeout.
The run continued through the timeout for BGSU, closing out the match with a 6-0 run to finish with a 25-22 score and a match sweep.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Mia Tyler, Katelyn Meyer, Lauryn Hovey (9)
Assists: Jaden Walz (20)
Digs: Petra Indrova (13)
Aces: Jaden Walz, Petra Indrova, Lauryn Hovey (1)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (6)

Falcon Stat Facts

The Falcons were paced by a balanced attack. Five of the six Falcons to land a kill ended the match with at least seven, but none reached 10 kills.
Jessica Andrews was the most efficient on the attack, landing eight kills on 14 error-free attacks for an attack percentage of .571 while matching her career-high for attack attempts. Andrews was atop the blocks column as well, finishing the match with one solo block and five block assists.
Katelyn Meyer registered the most attacks for the Orange and Brown, finishing with 32. Meyer tied with Mia Tyler and Lauryn Hovey for the most kills, all concluding the night with nine.
In addition to her nine kills, Hovey added seven assists, five digs, two block assists and an ace for the Falcons, doing a little bit of everything throughout the match.
Jaden Walz led the way in the assist column for Bowling Green, ending with 20 assists.
Petra Indrova registered a .316 attack percentage with seven kills while also leading Bowling Green in digs with 13. Yelianiz Torres was close behind with 12 for BGSU.
Indrova tallied 19 attacks for the Falcons, bringing her career total to 3,518. That mark moves Indrova into seventh on the all-time attack attempts list, passing Jelena Sunjic.
With 13 digs in the match, Indrova brought her season total to 301 to set a new single-season high for her collegiate career.
With the win, the Falcons have now won seven straight against Buffalo and 13 of the last 15 matchups. Additionally, eight of the last nine BGSU victories against Buffalo have come via sweep.

Coach Tomic's Quote
"We are proud of another great team effort and the improvements that we made in our play from the last match. We came in the match focused on executing the game plan and playing to our standards. We lived up to our team's core value of excellence and got 1% better as a team tonight. Winning is hard, but winning on the road is even harder, and our BG Warriors showed that we can do hard things.

We will enjoy this win and celebrate winning the East Division on our way back to Bowling Green, but on Monday we will put it behind us and start preparing for the last regular season match against Miami and the MAC Tournament."

Up Next
The Falcons will conclude the regular season in Oxford, Ohio on Wednesday (Nov. 16) against the Miami RedHawks. The match is currently set for a 7:00 p.m. first serve.

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