BGSU volleyball claimed a MAC tournament title at the Stroh, beating Western Michigan 3-1. The Falcons last won the MAC tournament back in 2012. BGSU is now the regular season and tournament champions in the MAC.
“I wanted it for this group of women. They’ve given us so much joy all year long in the toughest year of our lives. I believed we could do this, I wanted them to believe in themselves and their teammates. We played like champions today,” BGSU head coach Danijela Tomic said.
They now get an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. 2012 was also the last time BGSU was in the NCAA tournament.
“This is not a team that is just happy to be there. We are going there to continue winning,” Tomic said.
The win shows how much this team has prepared for this moment.
“This shows all the hard work we have put into this season. It started from last semester, we knew we had all this time to prepare for it. Everyday, we put in so much effort. We never took a day off, we were always working hard in the gym,” Junior Katelyn Meyer said.
Just like last game, BGSU lost in the kills category. WMU had 65 kills compared to the 57 kills from BGSU.
The Falcons proved to be more efficient on offense. They hit for 30.5% and had 11 attacking errors. The Broncos hit for 23.6% and had 26 attacking errors.
Sophomore Petra Indrova led the team with 17 kills. Indrova notched another double-double with 12 digs. In the match, Indrova had 22 total points.
Meyer had 16 kills in the match. She was named the MVP for the MAC tournament. Senior Jacqueline Askin also reached double-digit kills with 15.
BGSU had a huge advantage in front of the net. The Falcons out blocked the Broncos 11-4.
Sophomore Madelynn Luebcke led the team with seven block assists.
The Falcons had a better start to the first set than yesterday’s game. The Falcons went on a 5-0 run to open the set. Askin had two kills during the run. WMU had three total errors. They continued to dominate the set throughout. They out hit the Broncos 45.7% to 16.3%.
Indrova was the star of the set. She led the team with six kills and two service aces. Meyer and Askin each had five kills. The team ended with 17 total kills.
WMU did hang around in the set, but could not string together some points to get back into the set.
Meyer ended the set with four straight kills, giving BGSU the 25-17 set win.
WMU got the early lead in the second set. BGSU played catch up but could not gain traction early on.
The Falcons would match the Broncos point for point. Eventually, a 3-0 run by WMU forced a BGSU timeout. The run ended at 5-0.
WMU responded to their first set loss by taking over in the second set. After the 5-0 run, the Broncos did not look back.
The Broncos hit for 31.7% with 18 kills. They held the Falcons to 7.3% hitting and eight kills. Askin had four kills in the set.
WMU closed out the set 25-16 to tie the match up at one set a piece.
BGSU went on a few runs to start the third set. The Falcons started with a 5-1 run to gain a 5-3 lead. Not long after, the Falcons went on a 5-0 run to gain a 12-6 lead.
In the first 12 points, BGSU had four total team blocks. Senior Katie Kidwell had three block assists during that span.
The Broncos responded with a 9-1 run to get the 17-16 lead. WMU senior Rachel Bontrager had four kills during that run. The run caused BGSU to burn their two timeouts.
The game went into a back and forth affair after the WMU run. The Falcons gained the momentum late with a 3-0 run to get a 22-20 lead.
Despite the Broncos having the edge in kills 18-12, the Falcons made up the deficit in other categories.
BGSU finished with six total blocks, WMU only had two. The Broncos also committed 11 attacking errors compared to the four by the Falcons.
Meyer led the offense with five kills. Kidwell and Luebcke each had three block assists to lead the team.
BGSU pushed their way to a 25-22 set win. The Falcons would enter the fourth set one win away from a MAC tournament title.
The Falcons struck first with a 4-0 run to gain a 10-6 lead.
WMU did not back down. They eventually tied the game at 14. BGSU got back the momentum with a 4-1 run to force a WMU timeout.
Both teams looked to win with their offense. WMU hit for 33.3% with 17 kills. BGSU hit for 51.4% with 20 kills.
Indrova led the team with seven kills in the set. Meyer also chipped in five kills.
Despite the Broncos hanging around, the Falcons won the set 25-20. BGSU never let WMU get a lead in the set.
The Falcons will find out tomorrow where they fall in the NCAA tournament bracket. The selection show will start at 4 p.m. EST.
