Dominant Fourth Set Sends Falcons Over Huskies In MAC Opener

Thursday, September 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-5,1-0MAC

Northern Illinois

2-11,0-1MAC

NIU

Bowling Green

Photo by: Daniel Carlson, BGSU Athletics

September 21, 2023 | Volleyball

Box Score BGSU-NIU Match Stats Coach Tomic Interview Lauryn Hovey Interview Match Highlights Support Our Student-Athletes

Hovey Lands Team-High 19 Kills, Logs .371 Attack Percentage In Win

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 168
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team kicked off the Mid-American Conference portion of their schedule Thursday night (Sept. 21), hosting the Northern Illinois Huskies in the Stroh Center. The Falcons were able to pick up the 3-1 win to move to 1-0 in conference play for the sixth straight season. The match began back-and-forth with BGSU tallying a 32-30 first set score. NIU battled back to take the second set, but the Falcons surged in the third set, 25-21, before dominating the fourth set, 25-11, to secure the win.

Lauryn Hovey led the way on the attack for the Falcons, landing 19 kills with a .371 attack percentage. Kat Mandly followed with 13 kills and eight digs, just missing a double-double. Jaden Walz also came close to a double-double, recording a team-leading 32 assists and nine digs. In digs, Benedetta Marcon paced the team with 24, the highest-mark by a Falcon this season. Alexis Mettille also added four aces, as did Lindsey LaPinta, while Mettille registered a career-high nine block assists as well. The Falcons and Huskies will conclude their series on Friday (Sept. 22) with a 6 p.m. first serve for Alumni Night as well as Dollar Night.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 32, Northern Illinois 30

Northern Illinois landed the first point of the match, but the Falcons quickly responded with a 7-1 stretch to take a 7-2 lead, forcing a timeout from NIU.
Northern Illinois responded out of the timeout with a 3-0 run to close the gap to 7-5.
The Huskies continued to chip away, tying it up at 11-11 before a 3-0 run propelled the Falcons back to a 14-11 lead, forcing the second NIU timeout of the set.
The Huskies once again fought back in the set, drawing the score to 17-16 with the Falcons pausing the action with a timeout.
NIU managed to tie the match at 17-17, but Bowling Green reclaimed the advantage. The Huskies stormed back to knot it up again at 23-23.
The two teams went back-and-forth into extra points for the set with a 3-0 run sealing it for the Falcons with a 32-30 score.

Set 2: Northern Illinois 25, Bowling Green 20

An early 3-0 run gave Northern Illinois a 5-2 advantage to begin the set.
Bowling Green utilized a 3-0 run of their own later in the set to close the gap to 11-10, forcing a timeout for the Huskies.
Another BGSU 3-0 burst pushed the Falcons in front 13-12, but the Huskies responded. NIU put together a 4-0 run to reclaim the lead at 16-13, seeing the Orange and Brown take a timeout.
The two teams traded points through the end of the set with Northern Illinois taking the set 25-20.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 21

The Falcons came out swinging in the third set, beginning with a 5-0 run, including back-to-back Lindsey LaPinta aces, to prompt an NIU timeout.
Northern Illinois regrouped with a 3-0 run out of the timeout to trim the lead to 5-3. Another 3-0 run later in the set drew NIU within one, trailing 13-12, before moving in front 15-14 with another 3-0 burst and forcing a BGSU timeout.
The Orange and Brown battled back later in the set with a 4-1 stretch to move back to a 22-20 lead with NIU taking a timeout.
The Falcons finished out the set with an ace from Alexis Mettille to take the set 25-21 to move ahead 2-1 in the match.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 11

The Falcons opened the set with a 3-0 run, stretching to 6-2 before NIU took a timeout to pause the action.
The run continued through the timeout for Bowling Green, including two more aces for Alexis Mettille, with NIU taking their second timeout of the set trailing 10-2, capping a 6-0 run.
Another 4-0 run in favor of the Falcons later in the set extended the BGSU advantage to 15-4.
The runs continued for BGSU with the next being a 3-0 stretch to move ahead 19-6.
NIU put together a 3-0 run of their own late in the set to cut into the deficit, 21-11, but the Falcons responded with a 4-0 run to close out the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (19)
Assists: Jaden Walz (32)
Digs: Benedetta Marcon (24)
Aces: Lindsey LaPinta, Alexis Mettille (4)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (9)

Falcon Stat Facts

Reaching 32 points in the first set, the Falcons surpassed the 30-point mark for the first time since the 2021 MAC Championship, taking the second set against Ball State 31-29. BGSU had reached 29 points three times previously this season.
The 32 points for the Falcons are the most for BGSU since recording 36 in a 36-34 third set final against Ohio during the 2016 season on Nov. 5.
With the win, Coach Tomic moved to 199 wins at the helm of the Falcons, sitting just one away from 200 with the Orange and Brown. Of the 199 wins, 129 have come during MAC play.
Benedetta Marcon led the team in digs with a career-high 24. The mark is also the highest digs total by a Falcon so far this season, surpassing Alex Laboy's 23 against Wright State (Sept. 2), which also came in four sets. Marcon also recorded a career-high three assists in the match.
The Orange and Brown totaled 11 aces against the Huskies, the first time this season that BGSU has eclipsed the double-digit mark for aces. Alexis Mettille and Lindsey LaPinta led the way with four apiece.
LaPinta's four aces marked a new career-high in a match. She also set a career-high with two assists. Her stat line wrapped up with 20 serve receptions, the second-most on the team, with just one error for a .952 percentage.
Mettille's four aces marked a season-high for her. She added a career-high nine block assists, resulting in a season-high 11.5 points.
As a team, the Falcons landed 57 kills over the course of the four sets. The total is the second-most, trailing only the five-set win over Loyola Chicago with 69 kills.
Lauryn Hovey led the team in kills with 19, matching her season-high, while recording a season-high 35 attempts for a team-leading .371 hitting percentage. She also finished with a season-high 23.5 points thanks to seven block assists.
BGSU also recorded 56 assists during the match, which was the second-most behind the Loyola Chicago match when Bowling Green tallied 62.
Of the 56 assists, Jaden Walz led the way with 32, surpassing the 30-assist mark for the second time this season after recording 39 against Wright State. Walz added nine digs to her stat line, missing a double-double by just one.
The Falcons continued a dominant stretch at the net, recording 14 team blocks. Over the last two matches, Bowling Green has a total of 29 blocks, including 54 block assists.
Kat Mandly entered for the Falcons and landed 13 kills, second on the team. Mandly maintained a season-best .333 hitting percentage while recording a season-high three block assists. She also recorded eight digs, just two shy of a double-double.
Jessica Andrews tallied two digs for the Falcons, bringing her season total to 15 to mark a career-high for a single season after 14 a year ago. Andrews also recorded her first assist of the season.
Gwen Crull entered in the third set for the Orange and Brown and registered her first career solo block with Bowling Green.
With the win, the Falcons have now won seven of the last eight meetings against NIU, as well as the last six inside the Stroh Center.
The Falcons have now started conference play with a 1-0 record in six straight seasons, dating back to 2018.

Up Next
The Falcons and Huskies will conclude their series to open MAC play on Friday (Sept. 22) with a 6 p.m. first serve. It will be Alumni Night as well as Dollar Night. Tickets and select concessions will be available for $1.

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