Bowling Green (5-6) traveled to East Lansing for the Kathy DeBoar tournament, where they fell in four sets to undefeated Michigan State (9-0) on Friday night.
The Spartans proved why their record was perfect so far and took the first set 25-20 over the Falcons. Blocking for the Falcons was a struggle early on, while the Michigan State hitting was fast and well-placed.
MSU’s height on the frontline caused problems for the Falcon hitters. Through two sets, BG had already racked up 14 attack errors.
In the second set, the Orange and Brown fought to stay close early on, but the Spartans kept them a few points away and pulled ahead late, winning the set 25-18.
The Falcons kept it close early in the third set, with the score tied at 10-10 as BGSU began making fewer mistakes and limiting the Michigan State hitters.
However, the Spartans took a three-point lead heading into a media timeout. BG fought back, coming out of the timeout, making the score 16-15 in favor of MSU.
The sudden resurgence by the Falcons forced MSU to call a timeout, but the momentum the Orange and Brown had built continued after the timeout and led to BG taking a 21-20 lead.
BG went on to win the third set and force a fourth after some outstanding play by the Bowling Green front court. The Falcons won the set 26-24.
Michigan State took a quick lead in the fourth set, but the Orange and Brown maintained a close game with the Spartans at 12-12.
MSU would then go on a 6-0 scoring run and would not look back. They took the win over BGSU with a fourth set score of 25-16 and a match score of 3-1.
MSU junior outside hitter Karoli Staniszewska had a match-high 14 kills with a .281 hitting percentage, 14 digs, and five total blocks.
Junior outside hitter Avery Hobson led the way for the Falcons in the kills department, tallying 12 kills on a .162 hitting percentage with seven digs and a block.
Both redshirt-freshman setter Malayah Long and junior setter Amanda Otten had themselves a great match with 36 assists each. Otten had two kills and nine digs, while Long had one kill and eight digs.
BG will look to get back in the win column tomorrow when they take on the Binghamton Bearcats (5-7) at 3 p.m. in their last non-conference matchup of the 2025 season. Tune into Falcon Media Sports Network’s Ben Corak on WBGU 88.1 FM for the call. Pregame starts at 2:45 p.m.
