Over the weekend, the Bowling Green Falcons’ volleyball team won two home matches against Buffalo and Akron, closing their regular season with a 20-9 overall record an 11-6 conference record. The team had a very impressive weekend, winning both matchups with comfortable leads.
On Friday, the Falcons took on the Buffalo Bulls, in which they defeated in three sets. With scores of 26-24, 25-15 and 25-14, the Falcons dominated the Bulls. In the matchup, Jelena Sunjic had a great performance as she recorded 21 kills. With zero attack errors, it was a very efficient matchup for Sunjic. Madeline Garda posted 14 digs in the match, as she continues to lead the country in total digs and digs/set.
Head Volleyball Coach Danijela Tomic was impressed by her team stating, “Jelena was just unbelievable, this was one of her best matches this year. Those are just All-American numbers and she kept us in the match in the first set. Our serving was the weapon that kept Buffalo out of system, It made it a little bit easier for us to defend them because they have dangerous hitters that are hard to stop when they are in system.”
On Saturday, the Falcons celebrated senior night in a victorious fashion. While honoring the four seniors on the team: Delaney Arkeilpane, Madeline Garda, Alyssa Maloney and Jelena Sunjic; the Falcons won in a three-set match against the Akron Zips. With scores of 25-18, 25-16 and 26-24, it was a tough matchup for the Falcons, as they prevailed in their 20th match of the season. Jelena Sunjic had another dominant performance. The honored senior recorded 20 kills, displaying her style of play during these past four years at Bowling Green. Isabelle Marciniak was finding scoring opportunities all night long, as she had 39 assists. Senior, Madline Garda recorded 15 digs, now just two shy of the school record at BGSU.
Coach Tomic responded to her team’s performance, by saying, “When Jelena plays the way she played last night and tonight, she’s unstoppable. She had 20 kills again and no errors. That’s something not many players can do and she did it back-to-back. But you win as a team and you lose as a team. Jelena couldn’t be hitting that way if our serve receive wasn’t good. What the seniors have done for this program is something you want for every player. They’ve left a legacy. They are great role models and great leaders. Every challenge we threw at them, they stepped up. I hope we can continue creating memories over the next few weeks, because I love all four of them.”
After the weekend, the Falcons will head into the MAC Conference Championship Tournament being seeded at four. With that high of a seed, the Falcons will have a bye for the first round of the tournament, and will automatically be advancing to the second round of the tournament. On Friday, the Falcons will face the winner of the 5th and 8th seed matchup.
