The BG women’s volleyball team stepped outside of the Mid-American Conference for the first time in eight matches on Tuesday night but found out quickly that would be no break defeating IPFW 3-1.
The win stretches the longest winning streak in school history to 15 matches. It also left BGSU 19-2 overall. IPFW fell to 17-10. The Mastadons came into the game just as hot as the Falcons, winning 11 of their previous 12 matches.
Much like the past weekend, BGSU was led in kills again by Madeline Means with 14. Kendra Halm added 12 kills while Corey Domek had 11 of her own. The Falcons saw Chelsey Meek lead the team with 28 digs while four others reached double digits as well. Halm also led the team in blocks with 7.
“I think we looked good at times and bad at others,” said Stephanie Swiger. “We are always glad to get a win but this was not our best effort.”
In the first game, BG was hot out of the gate, grabbing a 9-4 lead. But IPFW would not go away as they close the lead to three on a couple of occasions. The Falcons responded, though, by finishing the game well and grabbing an early advantage. BG did not hit well in the game, hitting .111. The defense got many of the close points for the team with four blocks.
In the next game, the Falcons hit better but the Mastadons improved as well. It was back and forth throughout with IPFW leading throughout the middle of the match. They rallied to tie it at 26-26 and never looked back, giving them a 2-0 lead going into halftime. Means had some very timely kills in this game and Swiger and Meek each added one to help the cause and keep BGs remarkable run alive.
The Falcons looked to close the match coming out of halftime and were on their way after taking a 5-0 lead early in the third game. But IPFW would not go away as they would rally to tie the match midway through and dominate in the second half of the game, eventually winning by 9 points. BG did not help their own cause though as they hit .000 on offense and committed 11 attacking errors in the process.
IPFW came into the fourth game with the momentum but the Falcons quickly picked up their game. The Falcons and Mastadons battled for much of the game, but BG pulled away with a 5-1 run in the middle of the game.
IPFW gave all they had but in the end could not make up that four point difference that the run provided for BG.
“We all played very well and the defense picked up the offense each time we needed it to,” said Chrissy Gothke. “We had 10 service aces and our blocking came up big as well.”
“Madeline Means hit very well for us while Chelsey Meek was doing great on defense, digging out balls all game,” said Domek. “Gothke held everyone together throughout and we had some good all around performances.”
The team could have been thrown off by playing in the middle of the week for the first time in 3 weeks. They last played a weeknight game on September 27th against Miami University.
“It threw us off a bit and it is definitely different,” said Swiger. “The only advantage was that there was not as much pressure because this was not a conference match.”
“I think it helped a lot to play this match when we did,” said Domek. “We got a see a good team that was new to us and it was a nice change because now we will start playing everyone for a second time in the MAC.”
The Falcons will open up the second half of MAC play on Friday night at Buffalo at 7 p.m. Earlier in the month, the Falcons set a new offensive hitting percentage record against the Bulls at home. The team will then conclude its’ weekend at Akron on Saturday at 3 p.m. They defeated Akron in three games earlier in the month as well.
