BGVB Bounces Back With 3-0 Sweep Over Zips

Friday, November 3

Akron, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

13-12,7-7MAC

Akron

11-14,6-8MAC

Bowling Green

Akron

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

November 03, 2023 | Volleyball

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

Mandly Leads Attack With Season-Best Performance

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

AKRON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team bested the Akron Zips in three sets Friday night (Nov. 3), winning all three sets by scores of 25-17. The Falcons took the first two sets before closing out the third set, and the match, with a 7-0 run to secure the win. As a team, BGSU hit .357 while holding the Zips to a mark of .075, bringing the Falcons' record to 11-3 this season when logging a higher attack percentage than their opponent. As for the season, the Orange and Brown are now 13-12 overall while being 7-7 in MAC play.

Kat Mandly led the attack for the Falcons with a season-high 18 kills and a season-best .417 attack percentage. Jaden Walz set the attack with 38 assists and just missed a double-double with nine digs. On the defensive side, Alex Laboy topped the stat sheet with 17 digs while Walz and Alexis Mettille tied for the team-lead in blocks with four.

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

The Falcons landed the first three points of the match to go up 3-0 before the first Akron point of the match. The opening run stretched to 5-1 BGSU.
Bowling Green continued adding to their lead, extending it to 8-2 before the first stoppage, coming from an Akron timeout.
Soon after the timeout, the Zips utilized a 3-0 run to cut into the BGSU lead, trimming it to 10-6.
The Orange and Brown tallied a 4-0 run to reclaim their advantage, extending the lead to 16-9.
Akron responded with a 3-0 run to close the gap to 16-12, but a 3-1 stretch pushed the lead back up to 19-13 and forced the second Akron timeout of the set.
The two teams traded points before a 3-0 Bowling Green run closed out the set in favor of the Falcons, 25-17, for the 1-0 match advantage.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Akron 17

The trading of points carried into the early going of the second set before a 4-0 BGSU run pushed the Falcons in front 7-4.
The Orange and Brown put together a 4-1 stretch not long after to extend their lead to 11-6. The Zips landed a point, but a 3-0 BGSU run followed to make it a 14-7 score before a 15-9 tally at the media break.
Akron recorded a 4-1 stretch out of the media timeout to cut the lead down to 16-13.
The Falcons were able to maintain their advantage to a 19-15 score with the Zips burning their first timeout of the set.
A 4-1 BGSU stretch out of the timeout furthered the Bowling Green lead to 23-16 before closing out the set 25-17.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Akron 17

Akron landed the first point of the third set, but the Falcons responded with a 4-0 run to claim a 4-1 lead, but a 3-0 Zip run cut the lead down to 8-7 with the first Bowling Green timeout of the night.
The Falcons were able to extend their lead out to 16-12 with Akron taking a timeout.
The two teams traded pairs of points before a 3-0 Akron run trimmed the Bowling Green lead to one at 18-17 with the Orange and Brown calling a timeout.
The Falcons recorded the next two points out of the timeout to move their lead to 20-17 to force the second Akron timeout.
The run continued through the timeout for the Falcons, stretching to 7-0 to close out the set and the match with another 25-17 score.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Kat Mandly (18)
Assists: Jaden Walz (38)
Digs: Alex Laboy (17)
Aces: Lindsey LaPinta (1)
Blocks: Jaden Walz, Alexis Mettille (4)

Falcon Stat Facts

The Falcons held the Zips to a .075 hitting percentage marking the fourth time this season, and third time in MAC play, BGSU has kept their opponent to a hitting percentage below .100.
Kat Mandly paced the attack for the Orange and Brown with a season-high 18 kills while registering a season-best .471 hitting percentage. Mandly had just two attack errors on 34 attempts to go along with the 18 kills.
Mia Tyler and Lauryn Hovey continued the attack for BGSU. Hovey landed 13 kills while Tyler added 12 while maintaining a .320 hitting percentage.
Jaden Walz tallied a team-high 38 assists for the Falcons and added nine digs, just missing what would have been her fourth straight double-double. Walz's stat line also included three kills, a season-high three block assists and her first solo block of the season for four total blocks, matching her career-high.
Alexis Mettille tied with Walz for the team-lead in blocks with four while Helen Wilford added three, including her first career solo block.
Alex Laboy led the way in digs with 17 followed by Lindsey LaPinta with 10. LaPinta also recorded a career-high assists and the lone ace for BGSU in the match.
The win marks the 49th all-time for the Falcons over the Zips, including the eighth straight. BGSU has now won 17 of the last 18 matches over Akron as well as the last eight matches played in Akron.

Up Next
The Falcons will wrap up the road portion of their 2023 regular season schedule on Saturday (Nov. 4) against the Zips. From there, Bowling Green will return home for the final three matches of the regular season.

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