BGSU volleyball made program history today. After beating Central Michigan in four sets, the team now owns the best start to a season in program history with 13 straight wins.
They surpassed the 2011 team that started the season 12-0. They now tie the 1992 team in the best start to conference play.
The defense carried the Falcons today as the offense struggled. As a team, they hit 18.4%. CMU would hit for 20.4%.
The serving proved to be the difference again in this match. BGSU had 12 team service aces and only three service errors. CMU had six service aces and six service errors.
Junior Julia Walz had a career high six service aces in the match.
Junior Katelyn Meyer led the team in kills with 16. Sophomore Petra Indrova and senior Jacqueline Askin each had double digit kills. Indrova had 14 kills and Askin had 11 kills.
Indrova also notched another double-double with 11 digs.
Senior Katie Kidwell led the team in block assists with five. She tied for the team lead in solo blocks with two.
BGSU would be down early in the match. They soon caught fire and went on a 9-1 run.
During the run, Askin would have three service aces. Once the run ended, the Falcons would be up 11-6.
The Chippewas would go on a run of their own shortly after. CMU went on a 6-1 run to tie the game up at 14. From then on, both teams matched each other point for point.
Meyer led the Falcons in the set with six kills. As a team, BGSU had 16 kills in the set.
The Falcons would get hot at the right time and ended the set on a 4-0 run. BGSU took the set 25-20 to get an important 1-0 match lead.
The momentum continued for the Falcons. After giving up the first point, BGSU went on a 6-1 run. The offense was still hitting their spots and the defense forced CMU into some mistakes.
BGSU would keep a steady lead during the set. CMU could not get into a sustained rhythm.
Both teams had success in front of the net. The Falcons had five total blocks while the Chippewas had four total blocks.
The difference between the offenses was the deciding factor. BGSU had 17 total kills in the set while CMU had 10.
Indrova, Askin and Meyer each had five kills. Kidwell and sophomore Madelynn Luebcke each had at least a block in the set.
BGSU won the set 25-19 and led 2-0 in the match, just like yesterday.
In the third set, CMU would be the one to race out to a 7-3 lead. The Chippewas had five kills during this run.
After hanging around, BGSU got on a 5-0 run to close the gap.
Per NBA Jam rules, Walz was on fire during the BGSU run. She had three straight service aces to help ignite the run.
With BGSU down 12-14 after the run, CMU called a timeout. After the timeout, the Chippewas went on a 4-0 run to take back the six point lead.
The Falcons then went on a 4-0 run to get back within two of the Chippewas.
The stalling of the BGSU offense was too much to overcome. The Falcons had 7 attacking errors and would hit for 2.6%.
CMU won their first set against BGSU this season 25-21, forcing a fourth set.
BGSU started the fourth set on a 7-2 run. During the run, Indrova had two kills. The team had two total blocks. Walz also added a service ace to force a CMU timeout.
Eventually, CMU went on a 4-0 run to get within two of BGSU. After a BGSU timeout, the Falcons went on a 6-1 run to make the score 20-13.
The Chippewas made a late push to get within one as the Falcons tried to end the match. Despite getting out hit 5.9% to 13.5%, BGSU closed out the set, 25-23.
Meyer would get the last two kills for the Falcons to claim the match win.
BGSU will return back to Stroh to take on Eastern Michigan. The games will be on Thursday and Friday. Both games are slated to start at 4 p.m. EST.
