Falcons Overcome 2-0 Deficit To Win Five-Set Thriller Over Loyola Chicago In Home Opener

Thursday, August 31

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

3-1,0-0MAC

Loyola Chicago

2-2,0-0Atlantic 10

Loyola Chicago

Bowling Green

Photo by: Mallory Hiser, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Overcome 2-0 Deficit To Win Five-Set Thriller Over Loyola Chicago In Home Opener

September 01, 2023 | Volleyball

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Alex Laboy Records First Career Double-Double

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 262
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team overcame a 2-0 deficit at home on Thursday (Aug. 31) to top Loyola Chicago, 3-2, in five sets at the Stroh Center. After falling shy in the first two sets, the Falcons battled back to force the match into five sets and the fifth set into extra points, winning the final set 18-16 to complete the comeback over the Ramblers. The win moves BGSU to 3-1 with two more home matches to play this weekend.

Alex Laboy paced the Falcons with her first career double-double with Bowling Green, finishing with 19 digs and 11 assists. On the attack, Mia Tyler landed a team-high 20 kills on a .309 hitting percentage, followed closely by Lauryn Hovey's 19 kills on a .533 mark. Jaden Walz and Amanda Otten set up the Falcons, each finishing with 24 assists.

The point that completed the comeback! BGVB overcomes 2-0 deficit to win the home opener over Loyola Chicago not only in five sets, but extra points in the fifth set!#AyZiggy || #BGVB23 || #BGWarriors || #DreamBig pic.twitter.com/cMLyb1XrSX
— BGSU Volleyball (@BGSUVolleyball) September 1, 2023

How It Happened
Set 1: Loyola Chicago 25, Bowling Green 16

The match began close with the first run coming for Loyola Chicago with a 5-0 burst to move in front 8-5.
Bowling Green quickly responded with a 3-0 run to tie it back up at 8-8 before the team resumed trading points back-and-forth.
Another 5-0 run for the Ramblers later in the set propelled them in front 18-12, forcing a timeout from the Falcons.
The score remained until a 3-0 run late in the set for Loyola Chicago increased their advantage to 24-15, closing out the set 25-16.

Set 2: Loyola Chicago 25, Bowling Green 23

The second set began similarly to the first set with the first sign of separation coming from a 3-0 BGSU spurt to move ahead 8-5 in the early going.
The deficit was closed by Loyola Chicago with a 4-0 run to narrow the gap to 14-13.
The Falcons kept the advantage with back-to-back points to get the score to 16-13 and a 4-0 run of their own later in the set to move the score to 20-14 and force Loyola Chicago to burn both of their timeouts.
Coming out of their second timeout, the Ramblers rattled off four straight points to decrease the deficit to 20-18. The Falcons tallied a point, but Loyola Chicago resumed their run with three more points to tie it up at 21-21 with a 7-1 stretch.
The tie increased to 22-22, but a pair of points for the Ramblers granted them the advantage, rolling into a 25-23 set score.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Loyola Chicago 20

Like the first two sets, the third set began close before a 3-0 BGSU run created space with the score at 8-5. Loyola Chicago responded with a pair of points to draw the score to 8-7, but BGSU answered as well, this time with a 6-0 run to take a commanding 14-7 lead.
The lead remained until a 5-0 run for the Ramblers late in the set closed the gap to 19-16.
The two teams traded points before the Orange and Brown increased their lead with a 3-0 burst to move ahead 24-18 before wrapping up the set at 25-20 and forcing a fourth set.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Loyola Chicago 21

The fourth set carried through the theme of the match with the first separation coming from a 3-0 run, this one leaning to the Falcons with a 7-4 advantage.
Loyola Chicago soon answered with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the set at 8-8 early, but a 6-0 stretch in favor of the Falcons granted BGSU a 16-9 lead.
The Ramblers made a late push with a 3-0 stretch that narrowed the gap to 21-15 and another 4-0 run later to bring the score to 23-19, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Falcons' lead, ending the set at 25-21 to head to a fifth.

Set 5: Bowling Green 18, Loyola Chicago 16

The fifth set followed suit by remaining close throughout. BGSU recorded the first two points of the set to go up 2-0, but Loyola Chicago quickly matched to tie it up, starting a trend.
The ties continued through the set, seeing it knotted up at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6 and 7-7 before three Loyola Chicago points pushed them ahead 10-7 and prompted a Bowling Green timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons quickly regrouped with a 3-0 run of their own to tie the set back up at 10-10, forcing a timeout from the Ramblers' bench this time around.
The BGSU run stretched to 4-0 out of the timeout, taking an 11-10 lead, which sparked another line of ties, coming at 11-11, 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15 to send the set into extra points to decide a winner in the five-set thriller.
The ties didn't stop there, going to 16-16 as well, but the Falcons were able to land back-to-back points to secure the 18-16 set win and 3-2 match win to erase the two-set deficit.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Mia Tyler (20)
Assists: Amanda Otten, Jaden Walz (24)
Digs: Alex Laboy (19)
Aces: Amanda Otten, Lindsey LaPinta, Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (1)
Blocks: Lauryn Hovey (5)

Falcon Stat Facts

The win over Loyola Chicago marks the first for the Falcons since 1998, also beating the Ramblers 3-2 in that match. The BGSU win snapped a three-match skid against Loyola Chicago, including a 3-1 loss to them last season. It's also the first win for Bowling Green against Loyola Chicago on the home floor of the Falcons.
The win marks the first time BGSU has overcome a 2-0 deficit at home since topping Miami (OH) during the 2020-21 season.
The win moves Bowling Green to 32-3 at home dating back to the start of the 2020-21 season.
Alex Laboy recorded her first double-double as a Falcon, finishing with career-highs in both digs (19) and assists (11), leading the team in digs as well. Laboy's 11 assists also more than doubles her season-total, now at 21, setting a new career-high for a single-season.
Mia Tyler landed a career-high 20 kills for BGSU, the team's first 20-kill match of the season, while maintaining a .309 hitting percentage with just three attack errors over the five sets.
Amanda Otten and Jaden Walz tied for the team-lead in assists with 24 each, both setting new season-highs. Walz just missed a double-double with eight digs while Otten was close to a triple-double with nine kills and a season-high eight digs.
Lauryn Hovey put together her best match of the young season so far. She landed 19 kills on 30 attempts with just three errors for a .533 hitting percentage. Hovey added her first ace of the season and a team-high five block assists on top of a season-high four digs.
Kat Mandly landed a season-high 16 kills on a season-high 44 attacks while posting a season-best .205 hitting percentage. Mandly also just missed her second double-double of the season, finishing with nine digs.
Lindsey LaPinta tallied a career-high 10 digs for the Orange and Brown and landed her first ace of the 2023 season.
Coming in to start the third set for the Falcons, Gwen Crull tallied a season-high four block assists while adding her first collegiate assist and her first two collegiate digs in addition to three kills on six attempts.
Benedetta Marcon made her collegiate debut for the Falcons, playing in all five sets. Marcon logged six digs and an assist while being perfect in serve receive on 13 attempts.
As a team, the Falcons landed 69 kills, the most so far this season. The last time BGSU has 69 or more kills in a match was when they landed 70 against Ball State in the 2022 MAC Championship.

Up Next
The Falcons will continue their weekend homestand on Friday (Sept. 1) against Texas A&M, set for a 6 p.m. first serve. The match will mark the grand opening of Ziggyville, the new student section for BGSU. Students can enter through the new student entrance on the north side of the Stroh Center. Ziggyville shirts will be handed out to students at the entrance and free pizza will be available above the student section. There will also be a live DJ in Ziggyville.

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