Falcons Fight No. 17 Purdue Down To The Wire In Five-Set Thriller

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team took No. 17 Purdue down to the wire in five sets Thursday night (Sept. 4) with the Boilermakers edging out the Falcons for the 3-2 final. The teams traded sets with the Falcons taking the second, 25-22, before forcing a fifth set with an extra-points, 28-26, win in the fourth set. In the fifth, Purdue pushed ahead late to claim the hard-fought set in front of a packed Holloway Gymnasium. BGSU will now face No. 23 Georgia Tech on Friday (Sept. 5) at 1 p.m. to wrap up the week.

For the Falcons, Lauryn Hovey led the way with a 30-kill, 11-dig double-double to accompany a .481 hitting percentage and a team-high three aces. Amanda Otten added a double-double of her own with 50 assists and 11 digs to go along with seven blocks and three kills. Sydnie Hernandez totaled 12 digs and seven assists while Avery Hobson had 10 kills and seven digs, both coming close to double-doubles of their own.

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

Lauryn Hovey started the night with a kill, but Purdue tallied the next point to match, 1-1. The early back-and-forth continued with ties at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5.
Bowling Green broke the string of ties with a 3-0 run, jumping out to the first multi-point lead of the match at 7-5. The back-and-forth resumed from there, carrying the score to 10-8 before a pair of Purdue points knotted it up at 10-10.
Responding to the tie, the Falcons quickly matched Purdue's burst. Another 5-0 run for the Orange and Brown, highlighted by back-to-back blocks from Amanda Otten and Kendall Williams, reclaimed the lead with a 15-10 tally, prompting the media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Purdue landed a point to end the run. Ava Buddelmeyer brought the response with a kill for the Falcons, beginning another bout of back-and-forth points, taking the score to 17-12.
The Boilermakers worked to close the gap with a 3-0 run, cutting the BGSU lead down to 17-15 with the Falcons using a timeout.
Out of the break, the trading of points resumed in the match with the score moving to 19-17. A 4-1 stretch for the Boilermakers knotted it up once again, this time at 20-20.
Bowling Green worked to reclaim the lead at 21-20, but a 3-0 run for Purdue put the Boilermakers in front 23-21 with a BGSU timeout.
The run continued for Purdue, closing out the set with a 5-0 run for the 25-21 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Purdue 22

Like the first set, the Falcons landed the first point of the second set with Avery Hobson logging a kill. Hovey followed with one of her own, giving BGSU a 2-0 start to the set. Purdue answered to knot it up at 2-2 before moving out in front 6-2 with a 6-0 run.
Bowling Green battled back with a 3-0 run, drawing within one with a 6-5 score. The Boilermakers were able to rebuild their lead with a 5-1 stretch, taking an 11-6 advantage with a BGSU timeout.
After the timeout, the two teams went back-and-forth on the scoreboard. The score moved to 14-9 before the next set of consecutive points. BGSU went on a 3-0 run, cutting the Purdue lead down to 14-12.
The Boilermakers stopped the run, but the Falcons went back to work turning the 3-0 run into a 6-1 stretch with another 3-0 burst, tying the set at 15-15.
Purdue reclaimed the lead with two points, but Bowling Green quickly answered, tying it again at 17-17. Another kill for Hovey pushed the run to 3-0 BGSU for an 18-17 advantage. An ace from Sydnie Hernandez extended the lead to 19-17 with Purdue taking a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Purdue worked to tie the score at 19-19. A Hovey kill put the Falcons back in front, but Purdue again answered before an ace pushed them in front, 21-20. A Boilermaker service error followed to even the score, 21-21.
Avery Anders landed an ace for Bowling Green followed by a block from Otten and Williams for a 23-21 lead, prompting a Purdue timeout.
Purdue ended the run, but the Falcons answered back to close the set with a 5-1 run for a 25-22 score.

Set 3: Purdue 25, Bowling Green 16

Purdue took the first two points of the set, but the Falcons fought back to tie it up at 2-2 with the ties moving to 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5.
A pair of points for Purdue broke the string of ties with a 7-5 score. The Falcons answered, but the Boilermakers worked for a 4-1 stretch, building a 9-6 lead. Another BGSU point halted the run, but Purdue kept it going with a 3-0 burst, making it a 7-2 stretch and 12-7 lead to force a Bowling Green timeout.
After the timeout, the run for Purdue reached 7-0 with the stretch going to 11-2 for a 16-7 advantage. A kill from Hovey ended the run, but Purdue answered to prompt the second BGSU timeout of the set with the score at 17-8.
Following the timeout, the teams traded points to a 21-12 score. The back-and-forth ended with a 3-0 BGSU run, cutting into the deficit to 21-14.
The back-and-forth resumed to a 23-16 score, but back-to-back Purdue points closed out the set with a 25-16 tally.

Set 4: Bowling Green 28, Purdue 26

The fourth set started with back-to-back Purdue points, but the Falcons answered with a pair to tie it at 2-2. Purdue broke the tie, but another BGSU answer made it 3-3.
The Boilermakers were able to put together a 3-0 run, taking a 6-3 advantage in the set. The Falcons stopped the run, but another 3-0 Purdue burst followed for a 6-1 stretch and 9-4 lead to force a Bowling Green timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, Buddelmeyer landed a kill to end the run. Purdue responded with two points, but the Falcons matched the totals for an 11-7 score. The momentum continued for Bowling Green, rolling into a 3-0 run to cut the lead down to 11-8.
Purdue paused the run, but BGSU kept it going to make it a 5-1 stretch, drawing within two at 12-10.
A 3-1 stretch for the Boilermakers pushed their lead back to 15-11 before the teams traded points to a 16-12 score. The Falcons were able to build a 3-0 run, including back-to-back aces from Hovey to force a Purdue timeout with the score at 16-15.
Purdue ended the run out of the timeout with a pair of points. The Falcons answered back with a 3-0 run, including an Anders ace to knot it up at 18-18. The run expanded to 4-0 with a 19-18 BGSU lead before Purdue tied it at 19-19.
The Boilermakers moved in front, 20-19, but the Falcons tied it again at 20-20. Purdue pushed back ahead, 22-20, but a Hovey kill halted the spurt. Another point for Purdue made it 23-21 with a BGSU timeout.
The Falcons responded out of the timeout with a Hovey kill and Hobson ace to tie it up at 23-23. Purdue moved in front, but a service error forced the set into extra points with a 24-24 score.
A similar sequence followed with Purdue moving in front before a Hovey kill tied it up. Hovey followed it with an ace, giving BGSU a 26-25 lead, resulting in a Purdue timeout.
The Boilermakers tied it out of the timeout, but a Buddelmeyer kill put BGSU back in front. Otten came up with a solo block to secure the set and force a fifth, 28-26.

Set 5: Purdue 15, Bowling Green 9

Hobson and Hovey registered early kills for Bowling Green separated by a Purdue point for a 2-1 start in favor of the Falcons. The back-and-forth continued with another Purdue point to tie it, 2-2, before a Buddelmeyer kill to push BGSU back in front.
The Falcons stretched the lead to 4-2 in the set, but Purdue worked to knot it up at 4-4 before turning it into a 3-0 run and 5-4 advantage. A Purdue service error ended the run and tied the score at 5-5.
The back-and-forth carried the score to 6-6 and again to 7-7. A point for Purdue moved the Boilermakers in front with the team switching sides.
On the other side of the court, Hovey immediately went to work with a kill to tie it at 8-8. Purdue answered back with a pair of points for a 10-8 tally, seeing the Falcons take a timeout.
Hovey responded out of the break with her 30th kill of the match to pull BGSU within one at 10-9. Purdue was able to put together a 3-0 run to push out in front 13-9 with Bowling Green taking their second timeout.
Purdue closed out the set, ending on a 5-0 run, to take the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.

Falcon Stat Leaders
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (30)
Assists: Amanda Otten (50)
Digs: Sydnie Hernandez (12)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (3)
Blocks: Amanda Otten (7)

Falcon Stat Facts

Lauryn Hovey recorded 30 kills in the match, her most since landing a career-high 32 against Central Michigan on Oct. 27, 2023, marking her second 30-kill match of her BGSU career. Hovey now has 1,360 career kills as a Falcon, moving up to fifth on the Rally Scoring Era list by passing Petra Indrova who had 1,348. As for the all-time list, Hovey passed Indrova for eighth.
In addition to the 30 kills, Hovey managed to maintain a .481 hitting percentage, landing the 30 kills on 52 attacks with just five errors.
Hovey added 11 digs in the match, marking her second consecutive double-double and coming one shy of the team lead. Hovey now has 20 double-doubles in the Orange and Brown.
Amanda Otten added a season-high 50 assists to go along with 11 digs of her own for a double-double, her second of the season and 11th of her BGSU career. Otten led the team in blocks as well with seven, consisting of one solo and six block assists.
For Otten, the 50 assists gives her 1,612 for her BGSU career. The total moves Otten up to ninth on the program's Rally Scoring Era list, passing Katie Scholten (2014-16).
With Hovey and Otten both having double-doubles, it marks the first time this season BGSU has posted two double-doubles in the same match with the last time being against Western Michigan on Nov. 23, 2024.
Sydnie Hernandez led the way for the Falcons in the digs category with 12 and added seven assists, a new season-high while matching her career-high.
In just her second career match, Ava Buddelmeyer finished second on the team with a season-high 12 kills on 33 attacks while adding a block assist.
Avery Hobson followed Buddelemyer in the kills category with 10 while logging a season-best .241 attack percentage. Hobson added seven digs, nearly adding a third double-double to the team's effort.
Avery Anders landed a pair of aces for Bowling Green, a new season-high while matching her career-high.
As a team, the Falcons logged a .287 hitting percentage, the team's highest mark of the season.

Up Next
The Falcons will conclude play at the Stacey Clark Classic on Friday (Sept. 5) with a 1 p.m. start against No. 23 Georgia Tech. From there, BGSU will turn attention to the Loyola Invitational against Indiana, Stephen F. Austin and Loyola Chicago.

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