When the volleyball match was over last night, the players and coaches were singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and eating cake to celebrate assistant coach Rob Frost’s birthday.
It was no doubt a very happy birthday for the assistant coach.
The Falcons celebrated in several ways as they beat Kent State in five sets before a home crowd at Anderson Arena.
Coach Denise Van De Walle enjoys all the wins, but especially this one.
‘They’re all great,’ she said. ‘But the fact that we struggled so much with Kent State earlier in the season and the fact they’re such a great team made this one feel so wonderful. It was a huge win.’
The Falcons came out strong in the first set, winning 25-17. BG did a nice job holding onto the lead in this set, something they’ve struggled with a good portion of the season. For the majority of the set, the Falcons lead.
Kaitlin Jackson, who had a career-high 24 kills on the evening, hit an impressive .500 in the first set to go along with her seven kills.
She agreed with Van De Walle on this being a huge victory.
‘This is definitely one of our top wins of the season,’ Jackson said. ‘This sends a message across the [Mid-American Conference] we’re not going down without a fight and we can beat anyone.’
The momentum did not really carry over from the first set for BG as they lost the second, 17-25.
The team looked somewhat lost out there, but thankfully for them, it did not carry over into the third set.
BG came out of the locker room ready to play, easily beating the Golden Flashes 25-12 in the third set.
After the huge win in the third, the Falcons were all smiles heading into the fourth. For the most part, it was back and forth the entire set, but Kent snuck out a 28-26 hard-fought victory.
The tough loss in the fourth set must have made the Falcons pretty upset.
They absolutely dismantled Kent 15-3 in the final set of the match, hitting an incredible .733. At one point in the match, the Falcons had an 11-1 lead. They got on fire right away and never came close to cooling off.
‘We came out with the right attitude in the final set,’ Jackson said. ‘We knew how to beat them.’
Though Jackson led the way for BG, she was not the only key in the big win. Corey Domek had a double-double with 23 kills and 11 digs, Alex Zlabis posted 33 digs and Allison Kearney added 60 assists.
Van De Walle couldn’t have been happier with the win.
‘Tonight was great volleyball on both sides of the net,’ she said. ‘We put too much pressure on them at the net and they folded. We got them out of their system a few times.
Jackson thought the win came at a perfect time.
‘I definitely think we’re peaking just in time for the tournament,’ she said.
Tomorrow, the Falcons will finish off the regular season when Ohio comes to Anderson Arena for a 6 p.m. match.
The Bobcats (21-5, 13-1 MAC) have lost a mere five MAC matches in the past four seasons. With a win this weekend, they will lock up the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
Ohio ranks in the top 10 in the country with 2.87 blocks per set. Ellen Herman averages 4.63 kills per set, which ranks among the top 10 in the nation while Meghan Simmons’ 1.34 blocks per set rank in the top 25.
