BGSU volleyball (17-14, 11-8 MAC) takes out Ohio (14-16, MAC 12-6) to move on to the second round in the MAC Championship.

The Falcons got a big boost of having Lauryn Hovey, the first-team All-MAC player, back in the starting lineup, as she hadn’t seen much action in about a month due to injury.

“It feels really good. I was very excited to be back, and I really wanted to return and do what I could to help the team,” said Hovey postgame. “I think our team is very adaptable as we have fought through adversity this season, but we have done a great job of going with the flow and we embraced that tonight.”

Sydnie Hernandez led the offense early for BGSU with an 11-5 lead, helping teammates Jessica Andrews and Amanda Otten get started.

Forcing Ohio to call an early timeout to regroup and regain momentum. After the timeout, Ohio would go on a small run to score some points, but BGSU would continue being all gas, no brakes, maintaining a seven-point lead about halfway through the set, making it 19-12.

Ultimately, OU’s push didn’t stop the Falcons as they would win the set 25-20, 1-0.

The second set saw a similar result, as Bowling Green went on an 8-2 run, with Ohio completely overwhelmed and unable to answer the Falcons’ attack. Hovey dominated this set with the help of Otten.

“It was like a let’s go mentality tonight. I didn’t expect to do anything great myself. I was kind of just hoping to help the team in whatever way I could,” said Hovey. “So obviously, I’m very happy the stats are there, but at the end of the day, it’s about the team.”

BGSU maintained a ten-point lead throughout this set, with no doubt in mind that they would relax. OU tried a similar tactic, calling a timeout around the midpoint of the match when it was 17-10.

This time, the Falcons used the break to close the set, playing strong defense and shifting to offense, ultimately winning the battle at the net 25-16, 2-0.

In the third set, Ohio finally wakes up and finds a rhythm matching the Falcons’ pace. Most of the set features both teams neck and neck, with no team gaining an advantage, making the score 15-15.

“It was less technical and a little more about mentality in the third,” said BGSU volleyball head coach Alex DelPiombo postgame. “We were getting frustrated because we weren’t maybe making plays we know we can make. Instead of just moving on, we were kind of living in the past.”

As Ohio has been struggling to find its offense all night, with a hitting percentage of .351 in this set, as in the past two sets (.161 in the first and .40 in the second), they got the victory 25-19, 2-1.

“I thought we did a better job of moving forward after this and going back to being simple, doing the little things well,” said DelPiombo. “Calling the ball, being balanced, going high with a dig or an audit system, and that got our mindset back. Which led to the play following.”

The fourth and final set started very tight, with both teams tying at 12-12. OU wasn’t about to give up without a fight, but like Bowling Green had done all day, they responded with strong defensive play.

Once again, 16-16, the Falcons took control, with Hovey leading the momentum shift by delivering kill after kill out of the timeout to push BGSU ahead 20-16.

Bowling Green closed the match on a 9-1 run, with Hovey delivering the pivotal swing off the set and later adding the final dagger, as the Falcons finished off the Bobcats 25-17 to win the fourth and final set.

The second round will continue tomorrow with Bowling Green taking on Western Michigan at 7:00 pm.

“We need to be the first to five. Three of the five—that’s all we care about. We will do a good scout and talk about what we need to do to get better,” said DelPiombo. “But it doesn’t matter who’s over on the other side of the net. The main idea is to see it as ‘let’s be the first to five’ and then move on from there.”