Falcons' MAC Tournament Run Comes To A Close In Five-Set Championship

Monday, November 20

Kalamazoo, Mich.

6:30 pm.

Bowling Green State University

19-13,11-7MAC

No. 1 Western Michigan

30-2,18-0MAC

Bowling Green

Western Mich.

Photo by: Ashley Huss, WMU Athletics

Falcons' MAC Tournament Run Comes To A Close In Five-Set Championship

November 20, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score BGSU-WMU Match Stats Support Our Student-Athletes Photo Gallery

Hovey, Walz Named To All-Tournament Team

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team made a late rally in the MAC Championship, reflecting their season's journey, by coming back after a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set. Despite the strong push, the Falcons came up short in the five-set thriller with Western Michigan taking the 3-2 final. Bowling Green closed out the season with wins in 12 of their last 14 matches and became the first six seed to make the MAC Tournament final since 2017.

Lauryn Hovey and Jaden Walz were named All-Tournament for the Falcons. Hovey recorded her third straight 20-kill match, finishing with 21 in addition to 12 digs for her sixth double-double of the season while landing a career-high six aces. Walz added 48 assists, four block assists and three digs in the final match. Alex Laboy recorded a career-high 25 digs for her second 20-dig match of the season.

How It Happened
Set 1: Western Michigan 25, Bowling Green 16

Lauryn Hovey landed the first kill of the match, but Western Michigan responded with a 4-0 run to take an early 4-1 lead.
BGSU closed the gap to 5-4, but the lead for the Broncos stretched to 8-4 with a 3-0 run to force a timeout from the Bowling Green bench.
The run continued through the timeout for Western Michigan, extending to 7-0 to make it a 12-4 lead with the second BGSU timeout. WMU added one more point to the run out of the timeout for an 8-0 stretch and 13-4 advantage.
The Falcons tallied two, but Western responded with a 3-0 run to push their lead to 16-6.
Bowling Green worked to chip away at the score, utilizing a 3-0 burst to cut it down to a 20-14 score.
Western Michigan was able to maintain their lead, taking the first set.

Set 2: Western Michigan 25, Bowling Green 21

The second set began similarly to the first. Hovey landed a BGSU kill to start the set, but Western Michigan responded with a 4-0 run to go up 4-1.
The Falcons responded with a 5-1 stretch, including a 3-0 run, to move in front 6-5 in the set.
The momentum swung back to Western Michigan with a 4-0 run to take a 9-6 lead.
Bowling Green chipped away at the Western Michigan lead before a 4-0 run granted the Falcons a 15-14 lead at the media timeout.
The Broncos answered with a 4-0 run out of the timeout to reclaim the lead 18-15 to force a BGSU timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Orange and Brown recorded a 4-1 stretch to close the gap and tie the score again, this time at 19-19.
Western Michigan moved back in front with a 23-20 lead with BGSU taking their second timeout.
The Broncos closed out the set to move ahead 2-0 for the match.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Western Michigan 14

The Falcons started the third set with a 3-0 run, getting kills from Kat Mandly, Lauryn Hovey and Mia Tyler. The opening stretch extended to 5-1 for the Falcons.
Western Michigan trimmed the lead, but the Falcons registered another 3-0 run to move their lead to 9-4.
The Falcons stretched their lead to 12-6, including an incredible rally for their 11th point of the set, to force a Western Michigan timeout.
Western Michigan landed the first point out of the timeout before Bowling Green tallied a 4-0 run to push their advantage to 16-7.
Another 3-0 run for the Orange and Brown pushed the Bowling Green lead to 19-9 to bring the first Western Michigan timeout.
Western Michigan challenged late, but the Falcons held their advantage to force a fourth set.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Western Michigan 15

The Falcons opened the fourth set with a run. Lauryn Hovey landed a kill followed by a Jaden Walz ace and Helen Wilford solo block to make it a 3-0 start for BGSU. The 3-0 run turned into a 5-1 start, similar to the third set.
Bowling Green put together another 4-0 run, including back-to-back aces by Hovey to push their lead to 10-3 and bring a WMU timeout.
The two teams traded points before a 3-0 run extended the BGSU advantage to 19-10, forcing the second Western Michigan timeout of the set.
The Falcons added two more points out of the timeout to push the run to 5-0 and the lead to 21-10.
The Broncos worked to chip away at the lead with a 4-1 stretch, but the Falcons held on to take the set and force a fifth.

Set 5: Western Michigan 15, Bowling Green 7

Western Michigan started the fifth set with a 3-0 run to force a Bowling Green timeout with the lead stretching to 5-1 after the timeout.
The Falcons responded with a 3-0 run of their own to close the gap to 5-4, but Western held the lead to 8-5 with the teams switching sides.
The lead for the Broncos stretched to 11-6, bringing the second BGSU timeout of the set.
Western Michigan closed out the match with a 4-1 stretch.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (21)
Assists: Jaden Walz (48)
Digs: Alex Laboy (25)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (6)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (6)

Falcon Stat Facts

Lauryn Hovey and Jaden Walz were named All-Tournament for the Falcons. Hovey added her fifth double-double of the season with 21 kills and 12 digs.
Hovey logged 21 kills for the Falcons, bringing her season total to 500, moving her up to seventh all-time for kills in a single season. The total marked Hovey's sixth 20-kill match this season and her fifth in the last six matches.
Hovey added a career-high six aces to her season total, bringing it to 59 and pushing her up to second all-time for aces in a single season.
Alex Laboy finished with a team-leading and career-high 25 digs, her second 20-dig match of the season.
Alexis Mettille added six block assists for the Falcons, assisting the Orange and Brown to 10 blocks as a team.
Mia Tyler landed 17 kills for the Falcons, second on the team, while adding a season-high five digs to her stat line.

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