Falcons Fall In Five Friday To NIU

Friday, September 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-6,1-1MAC

Northern Illinois

3-11,1-1MAC

NIU

Bowling Green

Photo by: Nathan Kubala, BGSU Athletics

September 22, 2023 | Volleyball

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

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 383
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team concluded the opening series of conference play on Friday night (Sept. 22), hosting the Northern Illinois Huskies. BGSU began with a strong first set, but the Huskies battled back in the second and third to move ahead. The Falcons were able to force a fifth set, but it was NIU who took the 3-2 final in the match.

Jaden Walz paced the Falcons with 43 assists and 13 digs for her third double-double of the season while adding a career-high eight kills and two blocks. Lauryn Hovey contributed a double-double as well, finishing with a team-high 19 kills and 10 assists. The loss moves BGSU to 1-1 early in MAC competition, taking on Western Michigan next week.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 10

Northern Illinois landed the first point of the match, but the Falcons responded with a 5-0 run to force an NIU timeout with the score at 5-1.
The Huskies fought back into the set, but another 5-0 run for the Orange and Brown, including two aces by Kat Mandly, brought the score to 12-4 with Northern Illinois taking their second timeout of the set.
The Falcons continued the strong set with a pair of 3-0 runs, combining for a 6-1 stretch to go up 19-7.
The momentum carried through the end of the set, finishing with a 4-0 burst, including a Lauryn Hovey ace, to cap the set at 25-10 finishing with a .611 team hitting percentage in the set.

Set 2: Northern Illinois 25, Bowling Green 23

Northern Illinois tallied the first two points of the second set, but the Falcons answered with a 6-0 run to go up 6-2 and force an NIU timeout.
The Huskies battled back with a 5-0 run later in the set to take a 10-8 lead. Another 3-0 run soon followed for NIU to bring their lead to 14-10, prompting the first BGSU timeout of the night.
Bowling Green continued to chip away at the advantage, utilizing a 3-0 run to knot it up at 18-18 with Northern Illinois taking their second timeout of the set.
The two teams traded points up to a 21-20 lead that resulted in BGSU taking their final timeout of the set as well.
BGSU and NIU went back-and-forth through the end of the set with the Huskies taking a 25-23 score to even the match.

Set 3: Northern Illinois 25, Bowling Green 22

In the third set, the two teams carried over the back-and-forth affair from the second set with the media timeout being the first stoppage, coming at a 15-14 NIU lead.
Out of the media break, the Falcons went on a 4-1 stretch to move in front 18-16, making NIU burn their first timeout of the set.
Northern Illinois worked their way back into the set with a 4-1 stretch of their own to close the gap to 22-21, forcing a BGSU timeout.
NIU recorded the next two points of the timeout to continue their stretch to 6-1, taking a 23-22 lead that resulted in the second Bowling Green timeout.
The Huskies landed the next two points, taking the set 25-22 and closing with an 8-1 stretch.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 20

In the fourth set, the Falcons moved out to a 2-0 lead before a 3-0 burst pushed them out to a 6-2 advantage that resulted in an NIU timeout.
The teams went back-and-forth before another 3-0 run for the Falcons extended their advantage to 17-12 with the second NIU timeout.
The run continued through the timeout, stretching to 7-0 for BGSU, to make it a 21-12 BGSU lead.
A 3-0 run late in the set closed the gap to 23-19, forcing a BGSU timeout before the Falcons closed out the set 25-20.

Set 5: Northern Illinois 15, Bowling Green 9

The two teams went back-and-forth up to switching sides, coming with an 8-6 NIU score after a 3-0 NIU run.
The Huskies' run carried into a 5-1 stretch to go up 10-7 with Bowling Green taking a timeout.
NIU extended their lead to 12-8 before the next BGSU timeout. The Falcons recorded the next point out of the timeout, but NIU went on a 3-0 run to close out the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Hovey (19)
Assists: Walz (43)
Digs: Marcon (15)
Aces: Hovey (5)
Blocks: Crull (5)

Falcon Stat Facts

Jaden Walz led the Falcons with a double-double while setting multiple season-highs. Walz tallied 43 assists and 13 digs for the double-double, both season-highs, while adding a career-high eight kills, coming just two shy of a triple-double. Walz added a pair of block assists to her stat line as well.
Lauryn Hovey added her second double-double of the season to the BGSU effort, landing a team-high 19 kills to go along with 10 digs.
Gwen Crull registered career-highs for both block assists (5) and kills (4) in the match.
In addition to leading the team in digs with 15, Benedetta Marcon logged a career-high seven assists.
Lindsey LaPinta added a career-high 13 digs for the Falcons as well.
Kat Mandly recorded four digs to bring her season total to 55, setting a new career-high for digs in a single season, surpassing her 53 from last year.

Up Next
The Falcons will continue the MAC portion of the season next week with their first conference road series. BGSU will be hitting the road to Kalamazoo, facing Western Michigan on Thursday and Friday (Sept. 28-29) with both matches scheduled for 6 p.m. starts.

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