BGVB Advances To Fifth Straight MAC Championship With Sweep Over Buffalo

Sunday, November 19

Kalamazoo, Mich.

6:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

19-12,11-7MAC

No. 2 Buffalo

23-8,13-5MAC

Buffalo

Bowling Green

Photo by: Ashley Huss, WMU Athletics

BGVB Advances To Fifth Straight MAC Championship With Sweep Over Buffalo

November 19, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score BGSU-Buffalo Match Stats Coach Tomic Interview Lauryn Hovey Interview Support Our Student-Athletes Photo Gallery

Falcons Become First No. 6 Seed To Make MAC Championship Since 2017

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team topped the Buffalo Bulls Sunday night (Nov. 19) to advance to the MAC Championship for the fifth straight year. The Falcons logged a .434 hitting percentage and picked up the 3-0 sweep for the victory. BGSU will now take on host Western Michigan in the MAC Championship on Monday (Nov. 20) at 6:30 p.m.

Lauryn Hovey led the attack for the Falcons with her fifth 20-kill match of the season, and fourth in the last five matches, while maintaining a career-best .571 hitting percentage. Jaden Walz set the attack with 37 assists while adding seven digs. Alex Laboy topped the stat sheet for digs with 11 while landing a team-high two aces.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 17

The Falcons landed three of the first four points to move out in front 3-1 before Buffalo tied it up at 3-3.
Ties continued at 4-4 and 5-5 before a 3-0 run for the Falcons pushed the Bowling Green lead to 8-5.
Buffalo later tallied a 3-0 run of their own to tie it up at 10-10 for the set.
The Orange and Brown reclaimed their advantage, taking a 15-13 lead into the media timeout.
The two teams went back-and-forth before a 3-0 Bowling Green run, capped by an Alex Laboy ace, stretched the lead to 21-17 and prompted a Buffalo timeout.
Out of the timeout, Alexis Mettille and Lauryn Hovey partnered for the block before Laboy landed her second ace of the match to push the run to 5-0 and the lead to 23-17 with the Bulls taking their second timeout of the set.
The Orange and Brown registered the next two points to close out the first set with a 7-0 run, hitting .550 in the first set to move ahead 1-0.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 21

Buffalo tallied the first two points of the second set, but the Falcons came firing back with a 5-0 run to move in front 5-2.
The Bulls battled back into the set, using a 3-1 stretch to tie up at 7-7. The 3-1 stretch turned into a 4-0 run to push Buffalo to a 9-7 lead with BGSU taking a timeout.
The Falcons were able to record three of the next four points to tie the set up at 10-10.
The ties continued before a 4-0 Bowling Green run, including a Kat Mandly ace, pushed the Falcons in front 15-13.
The Bulls landed the next two points to knot it back up at 15-15 before a pair of BGSU points swung the score back to the Falcons at 17-15.
The Orange and Brown maintained their lead to a 19-17 score, resulting in a Buffalo timeout.
The two teams traded points before a pair of BGSU tallies pushed the lead to 24-20 to force a Buffalo timeout.
Buffalo landed a point after the timeout, but the Falcons answered to take the set.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Buffalo 21

The Falcons logged the first two points of the third set before Buffalo answered with a pair of their own, but another BGSU run, this time 4-0, made it a 6-2 Bowling Green advantage.
The lead for the Falcons stretched to 10-4 before a 4-1 stretch for Buffalo narrowed the gap to 11-8, but the Falcons answered with a 4-1 run of their own to rebuild the lead to 15-9 at the media timeout.
Buffalo registered the next point out of the timeout, but a 3-1 stretch for BGSU extended the lead to 18-11 to force a Bulls timeout.
Buffalo put together a 3-0 run to trim the lead down to 20-15 Falcons before a 21-17 score forced a BGSU timeout.
The score stretched to 23-19 out of the timeout to force another timeout, this time from the Buffalo bench.
The two teams traded points to the end of the set with the Falcons claiming the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (20)
Assists: Jaden Walz (39)
Digs: Alex Laboy (11)
Aces: Alex Laboy (2)
Blocks: Jaden Walz, Jessica Andrews, Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (1)

Falcon Stat Facts

With the win, the Falcons advanced to the MAC Championship for the fifth consecutive year, the longest streak since Ohio went to eight from 2003-2010.
The Falcons are the first six seed to make it to the MAC Championship since Western Michigan in 2017.
The Falcons have now won a season-best seven straight matches and have won 12 of their last 13 contests with nine coming via 3-0 sweep.
As a team, the Orange and Brown recorded a .434 hitting percentage, the team's fourth time in the last 13 matches hitting .400 or better.
Lauryn Hovey totaled 20 kills for the Falcons, her fifth 20-kill match of the season and fourth in the last five matches. The outing pushed Hovey's season kill total to 479, tying for ninth in program history with Jo Lynn Williamson for kills in a single season. In addition to the 20 kills, Hovey maintained a career-best .571 hitting percentage.
BGSU has now won 11 straight matches against Buffalo, including nine straight sets this season.
Bowling Green has now won 14 straight matches in the month of November, dating back to last season, and are 25-5 in November going back to the 2019 campaign.

Up Next
The Falcons will advance to the MAC Championship on Monday (Nov. 20) against host and number one seed Western Michigan at 6:30 p.m.

Follow the Falcons
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