BGVB Claims Five-Set Thriller; Secures MAC Opener Win For Seventh-Straight Season

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team began play within the Mid-American Conference with a five-set victory over the Ball State Cardinals Friday night (Sept. 27). The win marks the seventh-straight MAC opener victory for the Falcons, going back to the 2018 campaign. BGSU is now 6-6 on the season while being 1-0 to start conference competition.

Entering the match, four of the last six matches between the two teams in Muncie went five sets and Friday night was no different. Ball State jumped out to claim the first set, but the Falcons fired back in the second, using an early 5-0 run to jump ahead and even the match. The third set was a back-and-forth battle, going deep into extra points with Bowling Green claiming a 30-28 score. Ball State forced a fifth set, but in the fifth the Falcons jumped out to a 9-4 lead before closing it out for the 3-2 match win.

Mia Tyler led the attack for the Falcons with 17 kills, but was followed closely by Alexis Mettille and Lauryn Hovey, both with 12 kills each. Jordan Newblatt rounded out the list of players with double-digit kills with 10. Jessica Andrews just missed joining the list, concluding the match with nine kills for the Orange and Brown.

How It Happened
Set 1: Ball State 25, Bowling Green 20

Ball State landed the first kill of the match followed by a Lauryn Hovey kill for the Falcons, beginning a back-and-forth between the two teams with ties following. The Falcons were the first to get back-to-back points with Hovey tallying a kill followed by an ace for a 4-3 lead.
Ball State answered with back-to-back points of their own before another tie in the set at 5-5 before the Cardinals moved in front 7-5.
The Falcons and Cardinals continued trading points up to the media timeout, coming with the score at 15-11 Ball State.
Jessica Andrews landed a kill out of the media break, but a 3-0 Ball State run pushed the Cardinals' advantage to 18-12 with the Falcons taking a timeout.
The Falcons responded after the timeout with a 4-1 stretch, including a 3-0 run, to work away at the deficit, trimming it down to 19-16.
The trading of points resumed with Ball State pushing their lead to 22-18 to force the second BGSU timeout of the set.
The Falcons registered back-to-back points soon after the timeout, cutting into the score 23-20, but Ball State closed out the set for a 1-0 match lead.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Ball State 18

Amanda Otten landed an ace for BGSU to begin the second set, but Ball State answered with two points before a Falcon point tied the set up at 2-2.
Bowling Green soon registered back-to-back points to move in front 4-3, but the Cardinals knotted it up at 4-4 and again at 5-5.
From there, the Falcons rattled off a 5-0 run to push ahead 10-5, including back-to-back aces from Sydnie Hernandez, to force a Ball State timeout.
Ball State tallied the first points out of the timeout, but the Falcons immediately put together a 3-0 run, including the first BGSU block of the match, coming from Hovey and Otten. The run extended the Bowling Green lead to 13-6 with Ball State taking their second timeout of the set.
Bowling Green and Ball State traded pairs of points before a Ball State 3-0 burst cut the lead down to 17-13 for the Falcons with BGSU taking a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Falcons went on a 3-1 stretch to rebuild their lead to 20-14. Bowling Green maintained the lead through the end of the set, 25-18, to tie the match at a set apiece.

Set 3: Bowling Green 30, Ball State 28

Ball State registered the first two points of the third set, but the Falcons responded with a 5-0 run to move in front 5-3, including the first ace of Avery Anders' collegiate career.
Ball State was able to put together a 3-0 run of their own to tie the set at 6-6 before making it a 4-0 stretch and 7-6 Cardinal lead, resulting in a Bowling Green timeout.
The Cardinals carried their momentum through the timeout, adding two more to their tally for a 6-0 run and 9-6 lead before an Andrews kill ended the stretch.
Hovey followed Andrews' kill with an ace to pull Bowling Green within one, 9-8, but a 3-0 run for Ball State rebuilt their lead to 12-8.
The runs swung back-and-forth with a 3-0 BGSU run bringing the score back to just a one point difference, 12-11, capped off by another Hernandez ace. Ball State ended the run for the Falcons, but back-to-back BGSU points tied the set up at 13-13 with a 5-1 stretch.
The tie continued on to 14-14 before back-to-back Ball State points gave the Cardinals a 16-14 lead, but the Falcons quickly tied it back up at 16-16 with ties following at 17-17 and 18-18.
Bowling Green moved in front with an Andrews kill, making it 19-18 to bring a Ball State timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Cardinals were able to tie the set at 19-19, but the Falcons tied it at 20-20 and 21-21, taking a 22-21 lead to force the second BSU timeout.
The ties continued, occurring at 22-22 and 23-23 with Ball State moving in front 24-23 with Bowling Green taking a timeout.
Mia Tyler landed a kill out of the timeout to tie the set at 24-24 and force it into extra points. The ties stretched to 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27.
A won challenge for the Falcons overturned a point in BGSU's favor for a 28-27 lead, but the ties continued at 28-28. Tyler landed a kill followed by an Otten, Mettille block to claim the set for the Falcons, 30-28.

Set 4: Ball State 25, Bowling Green 17

The fourth set started the way the third ended with a Ball State point followed by two from the Falcons, but a 3-0 Cardinals run pushed BSU to a 4-2 lead in the set. Bowling Green answered with another pair to knot it up at 4-4.
The ties in the set carried through to 5-5 and 6-6 before back-to-back Ball State points gave the Cardinals an 8-6 advantage, but the Falcons answered to tie it again at 8-8.
Ball State inched ahead 10-8, but again Bowling Green pulled back to knot it up, this time at 10-10. The ties resumed at 11-11 and again at 12-12.
The Cardinals tallied a 3-0 run to claim a 15-12 lead, bringing on the media timeout of the set. The lead stretched to 17-13 with the Falcons taking the first team-called timeout of the set.
Ball State added two points to their total after the timeout, making it a 4-0 run and 19-13 lead with Bowling Green taking their second timeout.
The Cardinals maintained their lead through the end of the set to force a fifth.

Set 5: Bowling Green 15, Ball State 11

The Falcons opened the fifth set with a 3-1 run, including the second solo block from Mettille in the match. The opening lead stretched to 5-2, forcing a timeout from Ball State.
The two teams traded points out of the timeout, taking the score to 7-4 Falcons. BGSU registered consecutive points with a Lindsey LaPinta ace to make it 8-4 with the teams switching sides.
After switching sides, Mettille landed a kill for the Falcons to make it a 3-0 Bowling Green run, resulting in a Ball State timeout with the score at 9-4.
The back-and-forth battle resumed after the timeout, going to a 14-10 BGSU lead, trading points the whole way.
Ball State tallied back-to-back points late, but a block from Andrews and Otten gave the Falcons the set and the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Mia Tyler (17)
Assists: Amanda Otten (48)
Digs: Lindsey LaPinta (14)
Aces: Sydnie Hernandez (3)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (6)

Falcon Stat Facts

With the win, the Falcons have started MAC play 1-0 in seven consecutive seasons, going back to the 2018 campaign.
Bowling Green is now 5-2 over the last seven matches played in Muncie between the Falcons and Cardinals with four of the seven matches going to five sets.
As a team, the Falcons had five players land nine or more kills, four reach double-digits and three record 12 or more.
Alexis Mettille concluded the match with a team-leading six total blocks, bringing her career total to 266. That moves Mettille up the Rally Scoring Era career total blocks list, now seventh, passing Danielle Tonyan (2010-13).
Mettille added a pair of solo blocks in the match as well, bringing her career total to 35. Jessica Andrews tallied one as well to give her 35, tying the two for ninth during the program's Rally Scoring Era. Both Andrews and Mettille trail Jelena Sunjic (2013-16) on the list by one (36).
Mettille added a team-leading .500 hitting percentage, landing 12 kills on 20 attacks with just two errors. Mettille completed her stat line with three digs and an ace.
Mia Tyler landed a team-high 17 kills for the Falcons, a new season-high coming on a season-high 41 attacks. Tyler's total brought her career mark to 616, surpassing the 600-kill milestone in the Orange and Brown.
In addition to Tyler's 17 kills and Mettille's 12, Lauryn Hovey logged 12 kills as well for the Falcons, missing a double-double by one dig, finishing with nine. Jordan Newblatt rounded out the double-digit kills column, finishing with 10 in the match.
Amanda Otten set a new single-season-high in assists for her BGSU career. Otten finished with a team-high 48 assists in the match to bring her season total to 271, surpassing her 257 from last season. Otten eclipsed the 500-assist mark for her career, now with 528.
Lindsey LaPinta registered a team-leading 14 digs for the Falcons, adding three assists and an ace to the winning effort.
Sydnie Hernandez landed a team-high and career-high three aces for the Falcons while matching her career-high for digs with eight.
Avery Anders recorded her first ace at the collegiate level while registering a career-high eight digs for the Orange and Brown.
With the third set going to 30 points, it marked the first 30-point set for Bowling Green since last season's MAC opener, winning the first set 32-30 over Northern Illinois on Sept. 21, 2024.
The Falcons are 2-0 in five-set matches this year, topping Brown in five sets on Sept. 13. Bowling Green landed eight aces in both five-set matches.

Up Next
The Falcons and Cardinals will continue their weekend series on Saturday (Sept. 28) with a 4 p.m. first serve. BGSU will then return to the road on Tuesday (Oct. 1) for the first match in this season's Battle of I-75, taking on the rival Rockets in a 6 p.m. start.

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