After the volleyball match Saturday, senior Corey Domek took a microphone and thanked a crowd full of fans for attending, telling them their support this season has been wonderful.
Domek knows the Stroh Center is going to be a nice place to play volleyball, but she doesn’t think anything will compare to playing in front of a home crowd at Anderson Arena.
‘It’s sad,’ she said, after the Falcons were swept by Ohio on Senior Night. ‘I just loved playing here. Anderson (Arena) has such a great feel and it’s a great gym to play in.’
Domek, along with seniors Shari Luther and Kaitlin Jackson, played the last home game of their college careers Saturday night before a strong crowd at Anderson Arena.
Coach Denise Van De Walle really hoped her team (12-19, 5-11 Mid-American Conference) could pull off an upset for the seniors.
‘They knew this was their last home match,’ she said. ‘As a team we wanted to play extremely well for them. I really do think when we’re playing well at every position, we should win.
‘Ohio is a great volleyball team. They’re physical, they’re athletic, they jump high and swing hard and they take risks behind the service line.’
They showed they are a good volleyball team as they hit .337, holding the Falcons to just a .179 attack percentage.
The Falcons took a 6-5 lead in the first set, but Ohio answered back with three points and never trailed the remainder of the set. Though the Bobcats led the rest of the way, BG rallied on numerous occasions, getting the deficit within just two.
After trailing the majority of the second set, the Falcons got aggressive and took a 23-21 lead. After an Ohio timeout, they came out strong and had a block and a kill to tie the score. Ohio’s Mandy Nichols’ kill ended the set, 26-24.
‘The second set is the one we let slip away,’ Van De Walle said. ‘We were a step behind. You’re not going to beat the MAC champions when you hit in the .100s.’
Domek thought the Falcons struggled quite a bit in blocking. ‘We just couldn’t block,’ she said. ‘They hit the ball really well and we couldn’t answer back.’
The third set went back and forth as neither team was able to get a lead larger than two points, but the Bobcats played very well at the end to finish off the set and the match.
Domek led the way for the Falcons with 11 kills, Jackson added nine and Luther posted six.
Though the three seniors led the way in the kill category, Van De Walle was very pleased with Alex Zlabis’ 16 digs.
‘I thought she played exceptionally well,’ she said. ‘I thought she had great fight on the court. She played very, very well and had some really key digs.”
