Hovey’s Seven Aces Lead Falcons To Sweep Over UMBC

Friday, September 6

Dayton, Ohio

3 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

2-2,0-0MAC

UMBC

0-4,0-0America East

UMBC

Bowling Green

September 06, 2024 | Volleyball

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

Falcons Tally 14 Aces In Three Sets As A Team

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

DAYTON, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team picked up a 3-0 win over UMBC to begin play at the Tru by Hilton Beavercreek Invite on Friday (Sept. 6). The Falcons were able to hold off UMBC in extra points in the second set, carrying the momentum into a 9-0 run during the third set to secure the 3-0 final score. The win moves BGSU to 2-2 on the season with two more matches this weekend in Dayton.

Lauryn Hovey led the way for BGSU, landing a career-high seven aces, just one shy of the program's Rally Scoring Era record and three short of the overall program record. Hovey added a team-high 12 kills in the match while Anna Sitek registered 34 assists and six digs. In total, five different Falcons logged an ace in the match with four recording multiple.

How It Happened
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, UMBC 21

The first set began close with BGSU utilizing a 3-0 run to move in front 4-2 in the early going. A UMBC 3-0 run pushed them in front before a 5-5 tie.
The ties continued up to a 9-9 tie in the set before a 3-0 BGSU run pushed the Falcons in front 11-9.
Another 3-0 run for the Falcons soon after extended the Bowling Green lead to 16-11.
UMBC worked to close the gap with a 3-0 stretch of their own, drawing within two points at 17-15.
Bowling Green rebuilt their lead up to 20-16, forcing a timeout from the UMBC bench. The Retrievers landed a point out of the timeout, but a 3-0 BGSU run pushed the lead back to 23-17.
The Falcons were able to maintain their advantage through the end of set with a 25-21 score for a 1-0 lead.

Set 2: Bowling Green 27, UMBC 25

In the second set, UMBC put together an early 5-0 run to build a 5-1 advantage, however, the Falcons answered with a 6-0 stretch to reclaim the lead at 7-5, forcing a UMBC timeout.
The Orange and Brown tacked on another point after the timeout for a 7-0 run and 8-5 lead before UMBC tallied two to draw within one at 8-7.
The two teams played to a 9-9 tie, but the Falcons moved back in front with a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead to force a timeout from the Retrievers.
UMBC worked away at the BGSU lead before a 3-0 run tied it up at 15-15. The next point swung to BGSU in a challenge to keep the Falcons in front.
The Falcons and Retrievers continued trading points until UMBC moved in front 18-17 with back-to-back points to force a timeout from the Bowling Green bench.
Soon after the timeout, BGSU went on a 3-0 run to build their lead to 23-21 late in the set. UMBC challenged, bringing the score to 24-23 Falcons with a Bowling Green timeout.
The UMBC run stretched to 3-0 with a 25-24 score, forcing the set into extra points, but the Falcons rattled off a 3-0 run of their own to take the second set.

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, UMBC 18

The first run of the third set came in the way of a 4-0 stretch in favor of UMBC for a 5-2 lead.
The Falcons worked to chip away at the UMBC lead, eventually tying the set at 8-8, starting a back-and-forth between the teams that lasted to a 12-12 tie.
From there, a 3-0 UMBC run gave the Retrievers a 15-12 advantage going into the media timeout of the set.
Coming out of the media break, Lauryn Hovey landed a kill followed by an ace to draw the Falcons within one before a Jordan Newblatt kill tied the score at 15-15.
The run continued with back-to-back UMBC attack errors, including a block by Newblatt and Jessica Andrews, for a 5-0 BGSU run to force a UMBC timeout with the Falcons leading 17-15.
The Falcons added two more points out of the timeout with another Hovey ace and a block by Andrews and Anna Sitek with another UMBC timeout.
The run stretched to 9-0 with Hovey's seventh ace of the match followed by a Newblatt kill for a 21-15 Bowling Green lead.
The Falcons and Retrievers went back-and-forth up to the end of the set with the Falcons taking a 25-18 final after a challenge overturned the final point to be in BGSU's favor.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (12)
Assists: Anna Sitek (34)
Digs: Lindsey LaPinta (9)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (7)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (5)

Falcon Stat Facts

Lauryn Hovey landed a career-high seven aces in the match, coming one shy of the program record during the Rally Scoring Era, set by Sam Fish with eight on Oct. 6, 2007. The program record is held by Lisa Mika with 10 against Sheridan on Nov. 19, 1988. Both Fish and Mika reached their marks in three sets as well.
Hovey's seven aces brings her career total to 97, placing her fifth during the program's Rally Scoring Era for career aces. In the match, Hovey passed four spots on the list with the next being Petra Indrova's 99 for fourth. As for overall program record, Hovey is nearing the top 10, now 10 shy of entering the list.
Anna Sitek logged a career-high 34 assists in the match, the most by a Falcon so far this season. Sitek added her first two career aces, a season-high six digs and her first two block assists.
Marija Tabak made her BGSU debut, landing eight kills, tied for second on the team, on 24 attacks while adding five digs and two block assists.
Sydnie Hernandez tallied her first two collegiate aces in the match and added a season-high eight digs, coming one shy of the team lead, held by Lindsey LaPinta's eight.
The win for the Falcons marks the first in program history for BGSU against UMBC, having now met three times.
Both of Bowling Green's wins this season have come in the orange jerseys while all four of BGSU's matches have finished in three sets.

Up Next
The Falcons will continue play at the Tru by Hilton Beavercreek Invite on Saturday (Sept. 7) against the No. 22-ranked Dayton Flyers. Bowling Green and Dayton are set for a 3 p.m. first serve.

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