Falcons Complete Comeback For Second Straight Match To Top Western Michigan

Friday, October 4

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

9-6,4-0MAC

Western Michigan

5-9,1-2MAC

Western Mich.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Avery Zuercher, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Complete Comeback For Second Straight Match To Top Western Michigan

October 04, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score BGSU-WMU Match Stats Lauryn Hovey, Coach Tomic Interview Support Our Student-athletes Photo Gallery

Hovey Breaks Rally Scoring Era Record For Career Aces

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 104
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team overcame a 2-0 deficit for the second straight match on Friday (Oct. 4), topping the Western Michigan Broncos in a 3-2 final. After coming back against Toledo on Tuesday (Oct. 1) this marks the first time in program history the Falcons have battled back for a win from a 2-0 deficit in consecutive matches. The win was capped off by a 9-0 run in the fifth set, tying the longest run by the Falcons this season. The win bumps BGSU up to 4-0 in MAC play while being 9-6 on the season. With a loss for Central Michigan Friday night, Bowling Green is now the only undefeated team remaining in MAC play.

Mia Tyler paced the BGSU attack with 19 kills and a .312 hitting percentage followed closely by Lauryn Hovey with 17 kills and a .333 mark as well as Alexis Mettille with 10 kills and a team-high .450 hitting percentage. As a team, Bowling Green recorded a season-high 16 blocks, led by Mettille's eight and Jessica Andrews' six. In addition, three Falcons reached double-digit digs led by Lindsey LaPinta's 14 to go along with 11 from Sydnie Hernandez and 10 from Avery Anders.

How It Happened
Set 1: Western Michigan 25, Bowling Green 20

Bowling Green landed the first two points of the match followed by a 3-0 run by Western Michigan. The Falcons landed a point with a kill from Lauryn Hovey for a 3-3 tie in the early going.
Western Michigan tallied another 3-0 run to reclaim the lead at 6-4, but the Falcons chipped away to tie the set back up at 7-7.
The teams continued battling back-and-forth up to the media timeout, coming from Hovey's 115th career ace for a 15-14 BGSU lead at the media break.
The Falcons landed the first point out of the break, but WMU responded with a 3-0 run to force a BGSU timeout with the Broncos leading 17-16.
Western Michigan added two more to the run after the timeout for a 5-0 stretch and 19-16 lead.
WMU later tallied back-to-back points to stretch their lead to 23-19 to force a BGSU timeout. The Falcons added a point to their tally, but the Broncos took the first set 25-20.

Set 2: Western Michigan 25, Bowling Green 17

The second set began with ties up to 4-4, but a 4-0 Western Michigan run pushed the Broncos to an 8-4 lead, resulting in a Bowling Green timeout.
Bowling Green worked to decrease the deficit, utilizing a 4-1 stretch to cut into the lead, 12-10.
A pair of points for Western Michigan extended their lead to 17-13, bringing about the second BGSU timeout of the set.
The Falcons registered the next two points out of the timeout, closing the gap to two again, this time at 17-15.
Western Michigan put together a 7-1 run to push the score to 24-16. The Falcons tallied a point, but WMU answered for a 25-17 score.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Western Michigan 19

The Falcons started off the third set with a 5-0 run, capped off by back-to-back blocks by Amanda Otten and Alexis Mettille, forcing a Western Michigan timeout.
BGSU registered another point out of the timeout for a 6-0 run, but Western Michigan answered with a 3-0 run to cut into the lead, 6-3.
The Falcons came back firing, rattling off another 5-0 run, resulting in the second WMU timeout of the set with Bowling Green up 11-3.
After a back-and-forth affair, BGSU tallied a 3-0 burst to extend their lead to 21-13, but Western Michigan answered with a 3-0 run of their own to pull the score back to 21-16.
Bowling Green was able to maintain their advantage through the end of the set for a 25-19 score.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Western Michigan 17

The two teams each tallied a point to start the set, but the Falcons quickly logged a 4-0 run to take a 5-1 lead. They followed with a 3-0 run to make it an 8-2 lead and 7-1 stretch, resulting in a WMU timeout.
The Falcons and Broncos went back-and-forth through the set, trading singles and pairs of points, before a 3-0 WMU run trimmed the lead to 21-15 with a BGSU timeout.
Out of the timeout, Bowling Green registered a pair of points to push ahead 23-16 before trading points through the end of the set for the 25-17 score.

Set 5: Bowling Green 15, Western Michigan 7

The teams started the set back-and-forth to a 5-5 tie, but a 4-0 run for the Falcons pushed BGSU to an 8-5 lead, switching sides of the court.
The run for Bowling Green carried through the timeout, extending to a 9-0 run for the Falcons with a 13-5 lead and a Western Michigan timeout.
The Broncos landed back-to-back points out of the timeout, but the Falcons responded with a pair of their own to secure the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Mia Tyler (19)
Assists: Amanda Otten (50)
Digs: Lindsey LaPinta (14)
Aces: Avery Anders, Sydnie Hernandez, Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (1)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (8)

Falcon Stat Facts

After winning on Tuesday (Oct. 1) over Toledo in the same fashion, overcoming a 2-0 deficit, this marks the first time in program history that the Falcons have won back-to-back matches after trailing in both 2-0. The last time BGSU had two reverse sweep wins in the same season was in 2017, which came in consecutive wins but were separated by a loss.
Over the course of the season, Bowling Green is now 4-0 when playing in five set matches, including three of those coming in MAC play.
The 9-0 run for Bowling Green in the fifth set matched the team's longest run of the season, recording a 9-0 stretch against UMBC on Sept. 6.
Lauryn Hovey registered an ace for the Falcons, bringing her career total to 115 aces in the Orange and Brown, breaking the program's Rally Scoring Era record, previously held by Paige Penrod. Hovey is now ninth all-time for the stat.
Hovey finished second on the team in kills as well with 17, matching her season-high. After having three kills over the first two sets, Hovey landed four in the third set, five in the fourth and another five in the fifth, scoring a third of BGSU's points in the fifth set. Hovey added eight digs and four block assists in the match, matching her season-high.
As a team, the Falcons logged a season-high 16 blocks at the net, the most since having 15 in five sets against Michigan last year on Sept. 17, 2023.
Jessica Andrews tallied six blocks in the match for Bowling Green, bringing her career total to 267. That moves Andrews past Danielle Tonyan on the program's Rally Scoring Era list for eighth, now chasing teammate Alexis Mettille in seventh with 284.
Mettille led Bowling Green in blocks in the match with a season-high eight and was once again efficient on the attack. Entering the night 25th in the nation and first in the MAC for hitting percentage, Mettille topped the stat sheet for BGSU, finishing with a .450 mark, landing 10 kills on 20 attempts with just one attack error.
Mia Tyler logged 19 kills for the Falcons in the match, the most by a Falcon this season, while maintaining a .312 hitting percentage on a season-high 48 attacks. Tyler has now paced BGSU in kills in four straight matches with BGSU going 4-0 over that stretch. Tyler also matched her season-high for digs (4), set a new season-high for total blocks (4) and recorded her first solo block of the season.
Amanda Otten set the attack for the Orange and Brown, logging 50 assists in the match, her third time this season with 50 or more assists in a match. Otten added eight digs, just missing a double-double.
Bowling Green had four players reach double-digits in the digs column. Lindsey LaPinta led the way with 14 while Sydnie Hernandez tallied 11 and Avery Anders finished close behind with 10. LaPinta added a career-high five assists in the match.
With Central Michigan losing Friday night (Oct. 4), the Falcons are now the last remaining undefeated team in MAC play. The 4-0 start for BGSU marks the team's fourth time in the last five seasons with a start of 4-0 or better in MAC play.

Up Next
The Falcons and Broncos will conclude their weekend series on Saturday (Oct. 5) with a 4 p.m. start at the Stroh Center. It will be Kids Day at the Stroh with a wristband making station on the concourse before the match and autographs after the match.

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