Bowling Green Completes Weekend Sweep Over Zips With 3-0 Victory

Saturday, November 4

Akron, Ohio

4 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

14-12,8-7MAC

Akron

11-15,6-9MAC

Bowling Green

Akron

Photo by: Lauren Laudato, BGSU Athletics

November 04, 2023 | Volleyball

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

Hovey Leads Falcons To Seventh Win In Last Eight Matches

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

AKRON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team completed the weekend sweep over the Akron Zips on Saturday (Nov. 4) with another 3-0 final. The Falcons were strong on the attack logging a .337 mark for the match, including .432 in the win-clinching third set. With the win, the Falcons have now won seven of their last eight, moving their season record to 14-12 with an 8-7 MAC standing.

Lauryn Hovey led the way for the Falcons, leading the team in kills with 16 while tying for the team lead in both blocks with three and aces with two. Kat Mandly and Hannah Best followed on the attack with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Jaden Walz set the offense with 38 assists to go along with six digs and her second consecutive match with a solo block. On the defensive end, Alex Laboy paced the Orange and Brown in digs with 15 while Alexis Mettille matched Hovey's three blocks.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, Akron 22

The two teams traded points in the early going of the match, but a 3-0 run for Akron pushed the Zips in front 8-5.
The Falcons quickly responded with a 4-1 stretch, including a 3-0 run, to tie the set score at 9-9.
The ties continued before the Falcons inched forward 15-13 at the media timeout of the first set.
The back-and-forth battle carried through the timeout, trading ties, before a BGSU timeout with Akron up 19-18.
Out of the timeout, Bowling Green recorded three of the next four points to move in front 21-20 and force an Akron timeout.
Akron landed the first point after the timeout, but another 3-1 stretch in favor of BGSU made it a 24-22 score with the second Akron timeout.
The Falcons recorded the next point after the timeout to take the set.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Akron 23

The Falcons tallied four of the first five points in the second set to go up 4-1, but the Zips responded with a 4-0 run to move in front 5-4.
Bowling Green soon registered a run of their own with a 3-0 stretch to reclaim the lead at 8-7.
The two teams continued to go back-and-forth up until the media timeout with Akron leading 15-13.
Bowling Green logged three of the next four points out of the media break to tie the set at 16-16. However, Akron responded with a mirror stretch to move back in front 19-17 and force a BGSU timeout.
Akron landed the first point out of the timeout, but the Falcons answered with a 3-0 run to tie it up at 20-20.
The Falcons continued the run through the timeout, stretching it to 6-0 with three more points to push the advantage to 23-20 and force the second timeout from the Zips.
Akron landed three of the next four points to cut the lead down to 24-23 BGSU with the Falcons calling timeout.
Hannah Best recorded a kill out of the timeout to give BGSU the second set.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Akron 17

The Falcons put together a 5-0 run early in the third set to take a 6-2 lead, forcing a quick Akron timeout.
The stretch carried through the timeout with another 5-1 span in favor of Bowling Green to make it a 10-1 stretch and an 11-3 lead.
Akron worked to close the gap, including a 3-0 run to make it a 14-11 score with the Falcons taking a timeout.
Bowling Green worked to rebuild their advantage, stretching the lead to 19-14 before the next stoppage coming from the second Akron timeout.
The momentum for the Falcons carried through the timeout, landing the next two points to further the lead to 21-14.
Akron landed a few points late, but Bowling Green was able to close out the set and the match with a 3-0 run.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (16)
Assists: Jaden Walz (38)
Digs: Alex Laboy (15)
Aces: Alex Laboy, Lauryn Hovey (2)
Blocks: Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (3)

Falcon Stat Facts

The win marks the 50th all-time for the Falcons over the Zips as well as the 25th in Akron. BGSU has now won nine straight over Akron, including 18 of the last 19 matches. The Falcons have also won nine straight matches in Akron.
Lauryn Hovey landed two aces for the Falcons, bringing her season total to a team-leading 46. With the total, Hovey is now in a three-way tie for ninth all-time in program history for aces in a single season. One more ace and she will move into a five-way tie for fifth all-time.
Hovey also led the attack for the Falcons with a team-leading 16 kills and a .357 hitting percentage. She also logged eight digs, second on the team and just two shy of a double-double, while tying for the team-lead in block assists with three.
Alexis Mettille tied with Hovey for the team-leading in block assists with three while landed seven kills on 12 error-free attempts for a mark of .583.
With the sweep, the Falcons have now won seven of their last eight, including six 3-0 sweeps.

Up Next
The Falcons will return home to the Stroh Center for the final three home matches of the season. BGSU will first host Buffalo on Nov. 10 and 11 before concluding the regular season against Miami (OH) on Nov. 15, all scheduled for 6 p.m. starts.

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