Bowling Green, Ball State Battle In Five-Set Fight Between Top MAC Teams

Thursday, October 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

12-8,6-2MAC

Ball State

12-8,8-0MAC

Ball St.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

Bowling Green, Ball State Battle In Five-Set Fight Between Top MAC Teams

October 16, 2025 | Volleyball

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Hobson, Hovey, Sitek All Record Double-Doubles For BGSU

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

Ziggyville Population: 197
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team battled the Ball State Cardinals in a back-and-forth match Thursday night (Oct. 16) inside the Stroh Center. Going five sets, the two teams alternated set wins with Ball State edging out for a 3-2 final. The Falcons filled up the stat sheet, having three players register double-doubles in the same match for the first time in over two years, including Lauryn Hovey missing a triple-double by a single dig. Sydnie Hernandez added a career-high 26 digs and Edyta Waclawczyk landed a career-high 20 kills, both leading the team in the respective stats. The loss moves BGSU to 12-8 on the season while being 6-2 in MAC play. Bowling Green and Ball State will be back at it again on Friday (Oct. 17) with another 6 p.m. start at the Stroh.

How It Happened
Set 1: Ball State 25, Bowling Green 21

The two teams began by going back-and-forth with ties at each stop up to a 7-7 score. Ball State inched ahead, 9-7, but the Falcons tied it up again at 9-9.
A 4-0 run for the Falcons swung the score to BGSU's favor, 11-9, but Ball State battled back to tie it at 12-12. The Cardinals worked for a 4-0 run of their own, taking a 14-12 advantage.
Each team added a point from there for a 15-13 score at the media timeout. After the break, the teams traded points to a 19-17 tally.
Ball State broke the back-and-forth with back-to-back points for a 21-17 lead, forcing a timeout from the Bowling Green bench.
After the break, the two teams continued trading points to a 22-20 score with Ball State taking a timeout. From there, the Cardinals closed out the set with a 3-1 stretch for a 25-21 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Ball State 21

The Falcons and Cardinals played out to a 4-4 tie, but a 5-0 run for Ball State pushed them out to an 8-4 advantage in the set.
The two traded points until a 3-0 run for the Falcons cut the lead down to one with a 10-9 tally. Ball State halted the run, but the Falcons kept the pressure on with another 4-0 run, making it a 7-1 stretch for a 13-11 BGSU lead.
The score between the two moved to 15-12 for the media timeout. The Falcons soon worked to extend their lead to 18-14 in the set with a BSU timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Cardinals worked to pull within one, 18-17, with a 3-0 run, but the Falcons responded with a pair to push the lead back to 20-17.
The teams traded points through the end of the set until back-to-back BGSU points gave the set to the Orange and Brown.

Set 3: Ball State 28, Bowling Green 26

Like sets before, the score moved out to an early tie to 3-3 before back-to-back points for Ball State pushed them ahead, 5-3.
Bowling Green worked to tie the score at 7-7, but a 3-0 run for Ball State made it 10-7. BGSU ended the run, but two more BSU points made it a 5-1 stretch and 12-8 lead with a timeout from the Falcons.
A 3-0 burst for Bowling Green after the timeout trimmed the lead down to 12-11. The two traded points before a second BGSU timeout with Ball State increasing their lead to 18-14.
The lead for Ball State expanded to 19-14, but a 3-0 BGSU run cut it down to 19-17. Ball State increased their hold on the score, but the Falcons again pulled within two, 22-20, with a Cardinal timeout.
The back-and-forth continued with the Falcons cutting the deficit down to one, 24-23, with a 3-1 run to force the second Ball State timeout of the set.
A kill from Avery Hobson sent the set into extra points with ties at 25-25 and 26-26 as well, but back-to-back Ball State points gave them the set.

Set 4: Bowling Green 26, Ball State 24

Ball State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the set, but the Falcons battled to tie it up at 4-4. The Cardinals added a point, but a 3-0 run for BGSU made it a 7-5 lead.
The teams went back-and-forth to an 8-8 tie, but a 5-0 run for the Falcons built a 13-8 lead with a timeout from the Ball State bench.
After the timeout, Ball State utilized a 4-1 stretch to close the gap to 14-12. They continued chipping away, tying it up at 16-16 before taking a 17-16 lead after a 3-0 run.
The tie score carried to each point up to a 24-24 score, including timeouts from each team through the back-and-forth with Ball State's coming with the score at 24-23 BGSU.
While Ball State logged the first point after the break for the 24-24 tie, the Falcons rattled off two more points for a 26-24 set score to force a fifth set.

Set 5: Ball State 15, Bowling Green 12

The fifth set began with a back-and-forth with ties at each point up to 4-4. Two Ball State points put the Cardinals in front, but the Falcons answered to tie it at 6-6.
The ties continued at 7-7 before a block from Helen Wilford and Lauryn Hovey gave BGSU an 8-7 lead with the teams switching sides at the media timeout.
Ball State knotted it up after the break, but back-to-back kills from Edyta Waclawczyk made it a 10-8 BGSU lead with a BSU timeout.
The two teams traded points out of the break before a 3-0 run for Ball State to take a 12-11 advantage and force a BGSU timeout.
Ball State added two points after the timeout, but a BGSU tally continued the match with the score at 14-12 and a Cardinal timeout.
Ball State landed a point after the break to close the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Edyta Waclawczyk (20)
Assists: Anna Sitek (32)
Digs: Sydnie Hernandez (26)
Aces: Avery Hobson, Anna Sitek (5)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (5)

Falcon Stat Facts

Jessica Andrews led the Falcons in blocks for the match with five, including one solo and four block assists. Andrews now has 55 solo blocks as Falcon, tying with Kristin Gamby for third during the Rally Scoring Era. As for total blocks, Andrews now has 416, passing Caty Rommeck for ninth all-time in program history.
Andrews was strong on the attack for BGSU as well, landing 12 kills while swinging for a career-high 32 attack attempts.
Sydnie Hernandez led the back line for BGSU in the match, registering a career-high 26 digs, her third time this season with 20 digs in a match and the first time at home.
Edyta Waclawczyk landed a team-high 20 kills for the Falcons, the first 20-kill match of her BGSU career. Waclawczyk is the third different Falcon with 20+ digs in a match this season, joining Avery Hobson and Lauryn Hovey. The kills came on a career-high 50 attacks and she also logged her first two solo blocks of the season.
Hobson followed Waclawczyk in the kill category with 18 kills to go along with 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Hobson added a .311 hitting percentage, landing the 18 kills on 45 attacks with just four errors.
Hovey added a double-double of her own, also her fourth of the season, finishing with a season-high 17 assists and 12 kills. Hovey added nine digs, coming one shy of what would have been her fifth career double-double.
Hovey's double-double is the first for the Falcons that consists of kills and assists since Hovey posted 17 kills and 17 assists against Ball State on Oct. 7, 2023.
Anna Sitek added a double-double as well, the first of her BGSU career. Sitek finished with a season-high 32 assists and a career-high 10 digs.
With Hobson, Hovey and Sitek all posting double-doubles, it marks the first time BGSU has had three double-doubles in the same match since having three against Ohio State on Aug. 26, 2023.
Kendall Williams landed four kills for the Falcons on seven error-free attacks for a .571 attack percentage while adding three blocks and two digs.
The Falcons set season-highs as a team for kills (69), digs (69) and assists (65).
As a team, the Falcons outhit Ball State, registering a hitting percentage of .246 opposed to the Cardinals' mark of .242. This is the first time this year BGSU has had a higher hitting percentage than their opponent and lost the match, previously 12-0 this year when doing so.

Up Next
The Falcons and Cardinals will continue their weekend series on Friday (Oct. 17) with a 6 p.m. first serve inside the Stroh Center. The match will also be Future Falcon Kids Club Night.

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