With the talent the Mid-American Conference volleyball teams have this season, it is a battle every time two teams take the floor.
The Falcons strove to open MAC play with a couple wins, but played inconsistently and had trouble closing sets as they dropped two matches to Akron and Buffalo this weekend at Anderson Arena.
‘It’s always good to open the MAC with wins and wins at home,’ said coach Denise Van De Walle. ‘But we didn’t and we have to go back to the drawing board and get after it in practice.’
To open MAC play, BG (7-9, 0-2 MAC) hosted Akron Friday. The Falcons pushed Akron to five sets, but came up short in the match, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 15-8.
Emily Kauth tied her career high with 18 kills and Kaitlin Jackson finished with 10 kills, 15 digs and six blocks.
The Falcons had a 21-15 lead in the third set, but Akron came back with six consecutive points to tie the score. BG got two big kills from Jackson toward the end of the set, helping the team get the win.
In the fourth set, it was again close throughout. But three consecutive Falcon attack errors gave Akron control and helped them to a win.
For Van De Walle, it was the little mistakes that killed the team.
‘We needed to put the ball away when it counted and we didn’t,’ she said. ‘We struggled with hitting errors. Had we been able to keep the ball in play instead of errors in the fourth set, it would have changed the outcome.’
In the fifth set, BG never really got in rhythm and never had the lead. The team’s attack percentage went down each set, starting with a .316 and falling to .207, .184, .136 and .125.
On Saturday, Buffalo set the tone early as they hit an impressive .533 in the opening set, and then eventually defeated the Falcons, 25-29, 26-28, 25-15, 25-20.
Shari Luther had 17 kills and hit .457 and Corey Domek had 15 kills. Allison Kearney finished with a double-double with 43 assists and 14 digs.
Van De Walle was very happy with her seniors’ performances.
‘Shari did a great job in the middle again,’ Van De Walle said. ‘She put up some big numbers for us. For most of the match, Domek was error free and it was incredible. She had some big time swings.’
This week in practice, BG will work on consistency and confidence with blocking, as well as finishing off the set.
The Falcons will host Miami at 7 p.m. in Anderson Arena on Thursday. It won’t be easy for the team, but they are ready to play.
‘We have a couple tough weeks coming up, but we should welcome the challenge,’ Van De Walle said. ‘I think we’re learning more and more each day.”