BGVB To Close Home Regular Season Slate With Akron This Weekend

Friday, November 7

Bowling Green, Ohio

6 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Akron

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

November 06, 2025 | Volleyball

Buy Tickets BGSU Match Notes Live Stats Watch Friday (ESPN+)Watch Saturday (ESPN+)Support Our Student-Athletes

Falcons, Zips Enter Weekend Tied In MAC Standings

By: by Kyle Edmond, BGSU Athletics

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team will wrap up the team's regular season home schedule, hosting the Akron Zips for a pair of matches inside the Stroh Center. Bowling Green and Akron enter the weekend tied in the MAC standings with four matches left in the regular season, both 7-7 in conference play. The two will begin the weekend series on Friday (Nov. 7) with a 6 p.m. first serve before transitioning to a 4 p.m. start on Saturday (Nov. 8). Both matches will be available to stream on ESPN+ with radio broadcasts from Falcon Media.

BGSU Schedule This Week
Friday, Nov. 7 | BGSU vs. Akron | 6 p.m. | Musical Theatre Night | ESPN+
Saturday, Nov. 8 | BGSU vs. Akron | 4 p.m. | Senior Night | Pirate Night | ESPN+

At The Matches
Friday, Nov. 7

Friday will be Musical Theatre Night at the Stroh Center with the in-house music reflecting the theme throughout the match.

Saturday, Nov. 8

Following Saturday's match, the Falcons will recognize three seniors on the court; Jessica Andrews, Lauryn Hovey and Isabelle Laube.
The theme for the fans will also be Pirate Night. Find your eye patch and bring a few mateys to the Stroh Center for the match.

First Serve

Bowling Green will host the Akron Zips in the final two home matches of the regular season for the Falcons.
Both BGSU and Akron enter the weekend with 7-7 records in MAC play, being tied for fifth in the standings with four matches remaining in the regular season.
The Falcons have won the last 10 meetings against the Zips, as well as 19 of the last 20, but Akron enters the weekend riding a five-match winning streak, the longest active winning streak in the conference.
Following Saturday's match, the Falcons will recognize three seniors; Jessica Andrews, Lauryn Hovey and Isabelle Laube.
For Andrews, she has worked her way into the BGSU blocking record books. Entering the weekend, she is currently third during the Rally Scoring Era for Bowling Green in each blocking category; career solo blocks, career block assists and career total blocks. Her block assists mark is fifth all-time while her total blocks are eighth. She's also stepped up this year, transitioning into a right side after being a middle blocker her first three seasons in the Orange and Brown.
For Hovey, she has placed her name in the Falcon record books for multiple stats. Her 167 aces hold the Rally Scoring Era record and are second all-time. Meanwhile, her kills total ranks third in the Rally Scoring Era and sixth all-time. She's also worked her way into the top 10 during the Rally Scoring Era for career bock assists, career total blocks and career attacks.
As for Laube, she has been a key leader for this BGSU squad. Laube took charge of leading the offseason workouts for the team in the spring and summer. As for the season, she stepped up as a setter when the team faced injuries, despite having not set since her club volleyball days. Laube led the team in assists in both matches against Western Michigan.
As a team, Bowling Green currently ranks inside the nation's top 50 for four stats, including total blocks (242.5, 9th in the nation), assists (1,183, 21st), kills (1,267, 24th) and total attacks (3,425, 35th).
Helen Wilford enters the weekend ranked 14th in the nation for total blocks with 118, trailing the nation's leader, Bella Wooden at Utah Valley, who has 150.

Attacking Akron
The Akron Zips will go into the weekend as arguably the hottest team in the MAC, holding the longest active winning streak in the MAC with five straight. The streak for the Zips includes five-set wins over Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Eastern Michigan while adding a four-set win over NIU and a three-set sweep over EMU. The other two MAC wins for Akron include a five-set win over Western Michigan and a four-set victory over Ohio. Leading the charge for Akron has been their attack. During MAC play, the Zips are hitting .220 while averaging 13.25 kills per set, both third in the conference.

BGSU vs. Akron, All-Time
The Falcons and Zips have met 68 times in program history entering the weekend with BGSU holding the all-time advantage with a 51-17 record. As for hosting Akron, Bowling Green maintains the edge with a 25-9 standing. For the Orange and Brown, the series is in the midst of a 10-match winning streak as well as BGSU claiming 19 of the last 20 going back to 2014 on top of 25 of the last 27 dating back to 2011. For the Zips, their last win in the series came inside the Stroh Center on Oct. 4, 2019 with a 3-1 final. In addition to BGSU's 10-match win streak, the last four have all come via 3-0 sweep.

Andrews Moving Up Record Book
Jessica Andrews once again moved up in the BGSU record books. With nine block assists over the three matches, Andrews pushed her career block assists total to 384. The mark moved her past Stephanie Swiger on both the Rally Scoring and All-Time lists. Andrews is now third during the Rally Scoring Era and fifth all-time for career block assists. Andrews is also third during the Rally Scoring Era in both solo blocks (56) and total blocks (440). She will likely move up the all-time blocks list as well, sitting at 440 and needing 443 to move up to seventh.

Blocking Among The Nation's Best
This season, the Falcons have established themselves as one of the best blocking teams in the nation. As a group, Bowling Green has totaled 242.5 blocks, ranking ninth in the nation and second in the MAC behind only Miami (OH) with 245.5. Leading the unit for BGSU has been Helen Wilford with 118 total blocks. Wilford's total places her 14th in the nation and third in the MAC behind only Miami's Gentry Warrick (136) and Eastern Michigan's Hatteras Welker (124).

Hitting Holds The Key
For Bowling Green, hitting percentage has played a key part in outcomes in this season. This year, the Falcons have a record of 11-3 when holding their opponents to a hitting percentage below .200. However, when teams hit above .200 the Falcons are 2-10. As for the offensive side, BGSU is 10-4 when hitting above .200 this year and 3-9 when hitting below the .200 threshold. Similarly, BGSU is 13-1 this season when registering a hitting percentage higher than their opponent while being 0-12 when the opponent has a higher mark.

Turning Over To November
The Falcons will head into the month of November with recent success in the month. Combining the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons the Falcons posted a record of 21-2 (.913) in the month of November while being 17-0 during the regular season during that stretch in the month of November. Going back even further to the 2019 season the team holds an impressive 32-7 (.821) in the month of November. BGSU currently has four regular season matches left in November this year.

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons volleyball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUVolleyball
Instagram - 'bgfalcons' and 'bgsuvolleyball'
Facebook - 'BGSU Athletics' and 'Bowling Green State University Volleyball'
TikTok - @bgsuvolleyball
YouTube - 'Falcon Athletics'