Walz, Hovey Stuff Stat Sheet To Send Bowling Green Over Buffalo

Friday, November 10

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

15-12,9-7MAC

Buffalo

22-6,12-4MAC

Buffalo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

November 10, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score BGSU-Buffalo Match Stats Support Our Student-Athletes

Walz Posts Ninth Double-Double, Hovey Lands 26 Kills

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 143
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team bested the Buffalo Bulls on Friday night (Nov. 10) in four sets for a 3-1 victory. The Falcons and Bulls played a close first set, nearly needing extra points, but from there on it was Bowling Green's match. A 25-12 second set score set the tone for BGSU before taking the third and fourth sets for the win. BGSU moves to 15-12 on the season with the win, including a 9-7 MAC record and a 7-4 home standing.

Jaden Walz and Lauryn Hovey both posted strong stat lines. Walz led the team with her ninth double-double of the season, logging a team-leading 46 assists and 13 digs. She also paced the team in aces with three while recording a career-high five blocks. Walz's stat line completed with three kills. As for Hovey, she landed a team-high 26 kills for her second 20-kill match of the season while maintaining a .380 hitting percentage. Hovey added nine digs, three blocks, two aces and an assist to her stats.

How It Happened
Set 1: Buffalo 25, Bowling Green 23

The match started back-and-forth before a 3-0 run pushed Buffalo in front 9-7. The Falcons soon tied it up at 11-11.
The Falcons were able to notch back-to-back points to take the lead at the media timeout, 15-14, following a Lauryn Hovey ace.
The ties continued after the timeout as far as 20-20 with a 3-0 Buffalo run giving them a 22-20 lead with a BGSU timeout.
Bowling Green landed the first point out of the timeout, but two more Bulls points forced the second timeout by the Falcons of the set with the score at 24-21.
BGSU landed the next two points to bring the score to 24-23 with Buffalo taking a timeout this time.
After the timeout, Buffalo landed the next point to take the first set 25-23.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 12

The Falcons came out swinging in the set, landing three straight kills to take a 3-0 lead. Buffalo, though, responded with a 3-0 run to tie it up and start a trend of ties in the set.
Bowling Green put together a 5-0 run later in the set to move up 11-6 and force a Buffalo timeout.
Buffalo tallied a 3-0 run of their own out of the timeout to trim the BGSU lead to 11-9, but the Falcons quickly registered another big run, this time 6-0, to move their lead to 18-10 and force the second Buffalo timeout of the set.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons landed two more points to push the run to 8-0 and the lead to 20-10.
BGSU was able to maintain the advantage to take the set 25-12 and even the match.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 18

The Falcons landed the first point of the third set, but Buffalo responded with a 5-0 run to take the lead.
A 3-0 BGSU run began to trim the lead, cutting it down to 6-5 before tying it up at 7-7.
A 5-0 run for the Falcons pushed them to the lead, up 12-9, before taking a 15-11 advantage into the media timeout.
A 5-0 Buffalo run after the media timeout swung the score back to the Bulls at 16-15 before a few ties followed.
The Falcons were able to tally a 3-0 run to force a Buffalo timeout with the score at 20-18. The run continued to 6-0 before the second timeout at 23-18. The Falcons finished off the set with an 8-0 run for the 25-18 score.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 19

Buffalo landed the first point of the fourth set, but the Falcons were able to go on a 4-0 run in response to take a 4-1 lead.
A 3-0 run later in the set increased the BGSU advantage to 10-6 before another 3-0 run made it a 15-9 Bowling Green lead at the media timeout.
Buffalo utilized a 3-0 run to trim the lead down to 20-15 before taking a timeout down 22-16.
The Bulls challenged late, but the Falcons held their lead for a 25-19 set win to secure the match 3-1.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (26)
Assists: Jaden Walz (46)
Digs: Alex Laboy (13)
Aces: Jaden Walz, Kat Mandly (3)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (7)

Falcon Stat Facts

Jaden Walz put together a career night for Bowling Green, logging her ninth double-double of the season. Walz registered a team-leading 46 assists and added 13 digs, the second most on the team. She also finished second on the team in blocks with a career-high five block assists and tied for the team lead in aces with three. Her full stat line completed with three kills as well. The performance for Walz moved her past the 500 career digs mark and set a new single-season-high for assists with 773 assists this year.
Lauryn Hovey led the team in kills with 26, the second-most of her career behind only her record-setting 32 earlier this season. Hovey's 26 kills marks her second 20-kill match this season and the third for the Falcons. In the midst of landing 26 kills, Hovey also registered a .380 hitting percentage.
Hovey added two aces to her stat line, bringing her season total to 48, giving her sole possession of fifth all-time for aces in a single season. The next step will be 51 aces to tie for fourth all-time with Holli Costein's 1990 total.
As a team, the Falcons landed 12 aces to tie for the team's season-high, landing 12 against Kent State previously.
Bowling Green also totaled 11 blocks as a team, their first time hitting double-digit blocks since recording 11 against Ohio on Oct. 14.
Alexis Mettille led the way in hitting percentage for the Falcons with a mark of .500, landing seven kills on 12 attempts with just one error. Mettille also led the team in block assists with seven.
With the win, Bowling Green has now won nine straight over the Bulls, including 10 of the last 11.
The win moves BGSU to 3-0 in the month of November this year. Going back to the start of the 2019 season, BGSU is 21-5 in the month of November.
With the win for the Falcons and a loss for Central Michigan, BGSU is now in control of their postseason, moving ahead of CMU in the standings. A BGSU win and CMU loss Saturday would clinch a spot in the MAC Tournament for the Falcons.

Up Next
The Falcons will conclude the weekend series against Buffalo on Saturday (Nov. 11) with a 6 p.m. start in the Stroh Center. The game will also be Senior Night for the Falcons, recognizing the team's six seniors after the match.

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