Over this past weekend, BGSU traveled to North Dakota to battle against Temple, NDSU, and St. Mary’s, where they went 2-1 overall, beating both Temple and St. Mary’s but being swept by NDSU.
Although there were mistakes for the Falcons to improve on, BG also did many things right. They were still able to secure two wins despite the absence of both their starting senior middle blocker, Jessica Andrews, and their head coach, Alex DelPiombo.
Now the Orange and Brown look towards their next tournament, the Stacey Clack Classic, where they will have to battle against three top 25 opponents.
First is No. 15 Kansas on Sept. 3 at 3 p.m., followed by No. 17 Purdue on Sept. 4 at 7 p.m., and concluding with No. 23 Georgia Tech on Sept. 5 at 3 p.m.
The Falcons have met the Jayhawks and Yellow Jackets only twice. Both matches against Kansas went to a fifth set. Kansas came out victorious in the last meeting at home in 2013. Bowling Green has not taken a win from Georgia Tech, who also beat the Falcons in their previous matchup in 2012.
Purdue has faced off with BG the most recently and the most often of the three other schools. The Boilermakers are winning the all-time series against the Orange and Brown 4-1, having swept them in the latest game in 2022.
Scouting Kansas
The 1-3 record currently attached to the Jayhawks is incredibly misleading. Kansas won its first game against Vanderbilt, but has since lost three straight.
However, those losses are all to opponents ranked higher than them, including No. 5 Penn State. In all three matches, Kansas took those teams to a fifth set.
Kansas’ best hitter and player to watch out for is freshman hitter Jovana Zelenovic, who has 52 kills on a .260 hitting percentage and 22 total blocks through four matches.
Scouting Purdue
Purdue has the opposite story of Kansas. The Boilermakers’ record of 2-0 is an excellent start to their season, but they had to go to a fifth set against South Florida in their opener and beat another unranked team, Tennessee, in four sets for their second win.
Although the #17-ranked team had a weaker schedule to start, Purdue will also have the home-court advantage in this tournament when facing the other squads.
A player to watch out for on the Boilermakers is junior setter Taylor Anderson. She has already tallied a double-double with 41 assists in both of the matches this season and led the BIG 10 in assists as a sophomore in 2024.
Scouting Georgia Tech
GT has also had a weaker schedule so far this season, similar to the Boilermakers, but has gone 3-0 against that competition and been dominant in those matchups.
So far, the Yellow Jackets have swept Wofford and beaten Ole Miss and Arkansas State in four sets. However, all three of these matches have been on Georgia Tech’s home court.
Senior middle blocker Liv Mogridge is a significant concern for any team facing the Yellow Jackets this season. The 6’4” middle had 199 kills, 71 digs, and 90 total blocks last year. In 2025, she swung for seven kills and assisted on six blocks.
Scouting Bowling Green
The Falcons enter this game as underdogs with a 2-1 record and no national ranking. If the Orange and Brown manage to pull off an upset in one of these matches, that would be amazing. If not, games against more competitive opposition will allow the team to learn and improve.
Andrews will still not be joining the team this week, but Coach Delpiombo will be able to travel with her squad. The Falcons will again be leaning heavily on the two new middle blockers, redshirt sophomore Helen Wilford and freshman Kendall Williams, to step up.
Join Falcon Media Sports Network’s own Ben Corak for all three matches on WBGU 88.1 FM. The first match against the Kansas Jayhawks will begin at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3. Tune in at 2:45 p.m. for pregame before the action.
