After going 1-1 yesterday, BGSU volleyball (2-1) looked to get another win today against the Saint Mary’s Gaels (1-1) to finish off the NDSU/UND Tournament.
The Falcons got out to a hot start, but dropped the third set that they seemed to have in the books. But the Orange and Brown pulled themselves together to get the fourth set and the match win.
Here is how the game went down:
The Falcons overpowered the Gaels in the first set, landing 11 kills with a .308 hitting percentage as a squad. Bowling Green led 17-14 early.
St. Mary’s would not be able to stop the Falcons, as the Orange and Brown would earn five straight points to end the first set at 25-17.
The second set started the same as the first ended, with the Falcons leading 10-3 over the Gaels early on. Acting head coach Chelsi Carter would call a timeout to give her team a breather after SMC landed a kill to make the score 12-6, still in favor of BGSU.
Freshman defensive specialists Alivia Brown and Anastajia Bozic had the opportunity to step onto the court for the first time in a BG uniform during the second set.
About midway through the set, the Gaels began to mount a comeback, closing the Bowling Green lead to just two.
However, the Falcons did not allow the set to slip away from them, closing out the second set with a final score of 25-21.
The Gaels stayed with the Falcons at the beginning of the third set, but the Orange and Brown pulled away and kept a solid lead throughout.
A 4-0 run for SMC caused the Gaels to close that small gap BG had created. St. Mary managed to tie the game up at 20-20.
The Falcons would then drop the third set to SMC, who fought from behind the whole way to take a set win of 25-22. BG still led in the match 2-1.
In the fourth set, it would be St. Mary’s who would jump out to an early lead. The Gaels continued their momentum from the third as they went up 13-10 over the Falcons.
The St. Mary’s defense had stepped up in the later sets to stop the BG attacks, and their offensive hitting percentage had increased as the game went on.
But Bowling Green replicated what the Gaels had done to them in the previous set, coming back from down 23-18 to tie things up at 24.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Edyta Waclawczyk tore through the St. Mary’s defense for the final point of the match, and the Falcons secured the victory 27-25 in the set and 3-1 for the match.
Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Helen Wilford had an excellent performance today for the Orange and Brown, with six kills on a .556 hitting percentage and nine total blocks.
The middle connection with senior setter Amanda Otten was obvious the whole weekend. The Canadian setter had herself another nice game today with 28 assists, seven blocks, and eight digs.
BG ends the NDSU/UND tournament with a 2-1 record and starts its season with a winning record after the first weekend of play.
Next week, the Falcons will travel again, this time to West Lafayette, Ind., to face off against Kansas, Purdue, and Georgia Tech. The first game against the Jayhawks will start at 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak will be on the call starting at 2:45 p.m on WBGU 88.1 FM.
