Falcons Tally Eighth-Straight Win, Clinch Spot In MAC Tournament With Win Over NIU

Friday, November 8

DeKalb, Ill.

7 p.m. EST

Bowling Green State University

18-8,13-2MAC

Northern Illinois

3-22,1-14MAC

Bowling Green

NIU

Photo by: Brenna Orton, BGSU Athletics

Falcons Tally Eighth-Straight Win, Clinch Spot In MAC Tournament With Win Over NIU

November 08, 2024 | Volleyball

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

Otten Logs Second-Straight Double-Double, Leads Team In Assists And Digs

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

DeKALB, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team claimed a 3-0 sweep over Northern Illinois Friday night (Nov. 8), extending the team's winning streak to eight matches and clinching a spot in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are the first team to secure a spot in the conference tournament and sit atop the standings with a 13-2 MAC record while being 18-8 on the season. Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will return to the court Saturday evening (Nov. 9) to wrap up the weekend with a 5 p.m. EST start.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 26, Northern Illinois 24

The Falcons opened the match with the first two points of the night, forcing an error before an Alexis Mettille kill. The lead stretched to 3-1, but NIU tied it up at 3-3, moving ahead 4-3 with a 3-0 run.
Bowling Green was able to tie it up at 4-4, carrying ties at 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10 before a 3-0 run for the Falcons pushed BGSU in front 12-10.
Northern Illinois responded with a pair of points to tie it again at 12-12, continuing to 13-13 and 14-14 before the media timeout with the score at 15-14 Bowling Green.
Coming out of the media break, Bowling Green registered a 3-1 stretch to increase their lead to 18-15 with a timeout from the NIU bench.
The same sequence followed from the timeout with a 3-1 BGSU stretch pushing the Bowling Green lead to 21-16 with the second NIU timeout of the set.
Northern Illinois put together a 4-1 stretch late in the set, cutting the score to 23-21 forcing a timeout from the BGSU bench.
Out of the timeout, NIU added two more points to tie the score at 23-23, making it a 4-0 run and 6-1 stretch with the Falcons taking their second timeout.
NIU claimed a 24-23 lead out of the timeout, but BGSU tied it at 24-24 to force the set into extra points.
The Falcons answered with a 3-0 run to claim the set, coming from kills from Lauryn Hovey, Mettille and Jordan Newblatt for the 26-24 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 21

The second set started with a Bowling Green point, but NIU responded with a 5-0 run to take a 5-1 lead in the set. The Falcons paused the action with an early timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons responded with a 5-1 run of their own to knot it up at 6-6 to force a timeout from Northern Illinois.
NIU added a point out of the timeout, but the Falcons quickly put together another run, this time a 4-0 burst for a 10-7 score.
The score carried to 15-10 before a 4-0 run for Northern Illinois cut the lead down to 15-14. The Falcons added two points to push back ahead 17-14 to force a timeout from NIU.
The Falcons and Huskies continued going back-and-forth until a 3-0 Bowling Green burst increased the BGSU advantage to 24-19. NIU answered with a pair of points for a 24-21 score and a Falcon timeout.
Mia Tyler landed a kill after the timeout to clinch the set for the Falcons, 25-21.

Set 3: Bowling Green 26, Northern Illinois 24

Northern Illinois jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third set, but the Falcons put together a 3-0 burst to tie the set at 5-5. The ties carried to 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8.
NIU broke the string of ties with a 3-0 burst, moving ahead 11-8 with Bowling Green calling a timeout.
The run continued through the timeout for NIU, making it a 4-1 run and 7-1 stretch with the second BGSU timeout, trailing 15-9.
The Falcons regrouped in the timeout, answering with a quick 3-0 run to cut into the lead 15-12 to force an NIU timeout.
Bowling Green added a point after the timeout, but the Huskies registered a 5-1 stretch to rebuild their lead to 20-14 in the set.
The Falcons quickly recorded a 3-0 run to bring the score back down to 20-17 with the second NIU timeout.
Bowling Green added three more to the run, making it a 6-0 stretch to tie the set at 20-20.
The ties resumed from there, carrying to 21-21, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24 to send the set into extra points.
The Falcons closed out with a 3-0 run for the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Mia Tyler (11)
Assists: Amanda Otten (33)
Digs: Amanda Otten (14)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (2)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews, Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (4)

Falcon Stat Facts

With the win, the Falcons clinched a spot in the MAC Tournament. With three matches remaining in the regular season, the Falcons are currently in first with a 13-2 MAC record.
Bowling Green has now won eight straight matches, the longest winning streak since winning eight straight during the 2022 season from Nov. 3-19.
Amanda Otten recorded her second-straight double-double, leading the team in both assists (33) and digs (14), matching her career-high in digs. Otten now has five double-doubles this season and six over her BGSU career. She added four kills, an ace and a block to her stat line.
Lauryn Hovey registered a team-high two aces in the match, bringing her career total to 131 and her season total to 46. Hovey added 11 digs, tied for second on the team, seven kills and four blocks, which tied for the team lead.
For the season, Hovey is now second during the Rally Scoring Era trailing only her 59 aces from last season. As for the all-time list, she's now tied for 10th all-time. For her career, Hovey's 131 aces are now tied for seventh all-time with Jo Lynn Williamson (1984-87).
Mia Tyler led the Falcon attack with a team-high 11 kills on a team-high 34 attacks, adding one dig to her stat line.
Jessica Andrews landed nine kills for the Falcons on 17 error-free attacks for a .529 hitting percentage. Andrews added a career-high five digs, four blocks and an assist in the match.
Jordan Newblatt contributed eight kills to the BGSU effort, doing so on 21 error-free attacks for a .381 attack percentage.
Lindsey LaPinta tied for second on the team in digs with 11 and added five assists, matching her career-high, as well as an ace.
Going back to the start of the 2022 campaign, the Falcons are now 18-1 in the month of November.

Up Next
The Falcons and Huskies will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday (Nov. 9). BGSU and NIU are scheduled for a 5 p.m. EST start, marking the final regular season road match this year for Bowling Green.

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