BGVB Battles Brown To Thrilling Five-Set Victory

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team went to five sets for the first time this season on Friday (Sept. 13), picking up the 3-2 win to move back to .500 on the season at 4-4. Bowling Green was led by a ferocious attack, seeing four different Falcons log double-digit kills while maintaining a season-best .296 hitting percentage. BGSU took the first two sets of the match before Brown battled back to tie up and force a fifth, but the Falcons prevailed in the final set to secure the win.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, Brown 19

The match began with the two teams trading points. The first run of the match was in favor of Brown, 3-0, to move ahead 8-6 in the early going.
Bowling Green soon responded with a 3-0 run of their own, swinging the score to the Falcons, 10-9.
The runs continued to trade sides with Brown utilizing a 3-0 run to move back to a 14-12 lead. BGSU tallied a point before another 3-0 Brown run to make it a 6-1 stretch. The Falcons called timeout with the score at 17-13.
The Falcons soon put together another 3-0 run, including back-to-back blocks by Jessica Andrews and Amanda Otten to tie it up at 18-18 and force a Brown timeout.
The run carried through the pause in the action for BGSU, reaching 5-0 with a 20-18 lead capped off by an Isabelle Laube ace.
Brown landed a point, but it was followed by two more for the Falcons to bring about the second Brown timeout in the midst of a 7-1 BGSU stretch and 22-19 lead.
Bowling Green tallied a 3-0 run after the timeout, closing out the first set with a 10-1 run for the 25-19 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Brown 16

An early 4-0 run for Brown pushed the Bears to a 5-1 lead, forcing a timeout from the Falcons.
BGSU tallied a run of their own soon after the timeout, going on a 4-0 stretch to tie up the match at 6-6.
Bowling Green was able to move in front with a 10-8 lead followed by the first Brown timeout of the set. Another point out of the timeout made it a 3-0 BGSU run and 11-8 advantage.
The Bears chipped away, but another 3-0 run in favor of the Falcons extended their advantage back to 14-10.
The runs continued to fall Bowling Green's way with another 3-0 burst to push the lead to 18-12 with Brown taking their second timeout of the set.
A 4-0 run came later for BGSU, including another Lauryn Hovey ace, to make it a 22-14 BGSU lead down the stretch.
The Falcons were able to finish the set out with a 25-16 score to move ahead 2-0 for the match.

Set 3: Brown 25, Bowling Green 20

The Falcons jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, including a Sydnie Hernandez ace and an Alexis Mettille solo block.
Brown registered a 5-0 run to move in front with a 7-6 lead before a BGSU point ended the run and tied it up at 7-7.
Brown reclaimed the lead, taking an 11-9 score to force a Bowling Green timeout. A 3-0 run later in the set pushed the Bears' lead to 17-11 with the second BGSU timeout.
Bowling Green was able to record a 3-0 run of their own to work away at the Brown lead, closing the gap to 18-14 with Brown taking a timeout.
Brown held on through the end of the set despite BGSU's comeback efforts for a 25-20, forcing a fourth set.

Set 4: Brown 26, Bowling Green 24

The Falcons came out swinging in the fourth set, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead, including a 3-0 run.
The lead for Bowling Green extended to 10-6 with back-to-back Mia Tyler kills followed by a Brown timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Bears tallied a 5-1 stretch to knot the score at 11-11 to force a Bowling Green timeout.
The run for Brown reached 5-0, granting them a 14-11 lead in the set. The stretch reached 7-1 with a 16-12 Bears lead and a BGSU timeout.
Coming out of the break, the Falcons rattled off a 3-0 run to draw within one at 16-15 to force a timeout from the Brown bench.
After the Brown timeout, Bowling Green was able to tally two of the next three points for a 5-1 stretch, knotting up at 17-17 in the set.
The teams went back-and-forth before a 4-0 run for the Falcons pushed them in front late in the set 24-23. Brown tallied a point to tie it again at 24-24 and force the set into extra points.
Brown finished the set with a 3-0 run to take it 26-24 and force a fifth set.

Set 5: Bowling Green 15, Brown 11

The fifth set began the way the fourth ended, back-and-forth. BGSU jumped in front with a 4-2 lead before Brown tied it up at 4-4.
Hovey and Andrews tallied back-to-back kills to push the Falcons in front 6-4 with a Brown timeout.
The Falcons added two more points, including Hovey's fifth ace of the match, to move ahead 8-4 with the teams switching sides.
Jordan Newblatt and Andrews soon tallied two more kills for Bowling Green, stretching their lead to 10-5 with Brown taking their second timeout.
The Falcons and Bears traded points to a 14-9 score with BGSU taking a timeout.
Browns challenged late with a 3-0 run, but the Falcons stayed in front to take the set and match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Alexis Mettille (14)
Assists: Amanda Otten (50)
Digs: Lindsey LaPinta (18)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (5)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (7)

Falcon Stat Facts

As a team, the Falcons hit .296 in the match, the best hitting percentage by the team so far this season. The best set for BGSU on the attack was the second, hitting .429. Bowling Green had seven different players log a kill, six with at least seven kills and four with double-digit kills.
Lauryn Hovey tallied five aces in the match to bring her career total to 105. That places her third on the program's Rally Scoring Era list and two away from breaking into the Top 10 all-time. The performance is the second time this year Hovey has had at least five aces in a match and was just one off the program record for aces in a five-set match.
Hovey just missed a double-double in the match, finishing with nine kills and a season-high 11 digs. She filled out her stat line with five aces, three block assists and two assists.
Alexis Mettille led the Bowling Green attack with a career-high 14 kills while maintaining a .542 hitting percentage. Mettille's 14 kills came on 24 attacks with just one attack error.
Jessica Andrews was similarly effective for the Falcons in the middle on the attack, landing a season-high 11 kills that matched her career-high. Andrews added a season-best .409 hitting percentage on a career-high 22 attacks.
Andrews tallied a season-high two solo blocks for the Falcons and Mettille tallied one. That brings their respective career totals to 31 and 33. Mettille is currently 10th on the program's Rally Scoring Era list with Andrews close behind.
Mettille added a pair of block assists to her stat line, giving her 219 as a Falcon. That mark moves her past Taylor Twite for ninth during the Rally Scoring Era. Mettille also now has 253 career total blocks, pushing her to ninth on that list during the Rally Scoring Era as well, passing Corrie Mills.
Amanda Otten registered a career-high 50 assists in the match for BGSU, doubling her previous career-high of 25. Otten is the first Falcon with 50 or more assists in a match since Jaden Walz had 66 against Ball State last season on Nov. 18. She added a season-high seven kills, eight digs and a season-high five blocks including her first solo block of the season.
Jordan Newblatt logged a season-high 13 kills for the Orange and Brown, the most of her BGSU tenure, on a season-high 35 attacks.
Mia Tyler posted a similar stat line, finishing with a season-high 12 kills while attempting a season-high 32 attacks for the second-straight night. Tyler added a season-high five digs to her stat line.
Isabelle Laube landed a career-high two aces for the Falcons, marking the first two of the season for her as well.
Lindsey LaPinta tallied a team-high 18 digs for the Falcons, her third time this season with 18 or more digs in a match, all coming within the last four matches.

Up Next
The Falcons will conclude the weekend against DePaul on Saturday (Sept. 14) at 6 p.m. EST to wrap up the invitational.

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Alexis Mettille

Jordan Newblatt

Mia Tyler

Jessica Andrews

Players Mentioned

Jessica Andrews

Sydnie Hernandez

Lauryn Hovey

Lindsey LaPinta

Isabelle Laube

Alexis Mettille

Jordan Newblatt

Amanda Otten

Mia Tyler

Jaden Walz

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