The 5-18 Falcons took part in a MAC doubleheader at the Stroh Center over Halloween weekend, going up against conference rivals Kent State University (14-9) and Ohio University (19-5). Bowling Green left the weekend with a win against Kent State 3-2 and a loss to Ohio University 0-3.
Kent State, whose record is now 14-9 and 8-2 in the MAC, was on a 7-game win streak before facing Bowling Green. Ohio’s record improves to 20-5 overall, 10-2 in the conference.
Bowling Green’s offense was able to push through 5 sets against the Golden Flashes with a short staffed team. Freshman captain Kallie Seimet had a personal best this season, with 34 digs out of the team’s 107, while Jelena Sunjic, Katie Scholten, Alyssa Maloney and Madeline Garda each had double digits for digs, totaling 61 among the four of them.
The Falcon offense began on a strong note, finishing off the first set 25-22.
The nine member team slowed in the beginning of the following sets, changing the match outlook as the second and third sets were won by Kent, 21-25 and 19-25 respectively.
The fourth set was more productive for the Falcons as they mounted a comeback to finish the set 28-26 after tying the Flashes 25-25.
Bowling Green was able to finish the match with a fifth set win 15-10.
Offensively, the Falcons had one of their strongest games of the season. Four players had double digit kills, largely off assists from sophomore Katie Scholten, delivering a career high 35 assists.
“Katie was outstanding. I believe this is the first time this season to do that. It just shows how much she’s also developed and grown this season,” head coach Danijela Tomic said. “This is huge, this is huge for our team to win in this fashion against a really good team that has been on a roll.”
Following the win over Kent, the Falcons hoped to start a streak and take down Ohio University, but were unsuccessful in a 3-0 loss.
“I’m pleased to see how we competed,” Tomic said. “I thought we fought but it’s always hard to come back after an emotional win in 5 against Kent and then playing one of the top teams in the MAC and with the lack of depth it is just hard to come back and win against such a quality team.”
Bowling Green was still able to play solid defense despite the loss, as they held similar performances to the Kent game. Kallie Seimet, Jelena Sunjic and Madeline Garda each had double digit digs totaling 48 digs out of the 62 in the match.
“I’m pleased. Our defense was very good again, it seemed to me like Ohio was eating everything,” Tomic said. “Just offensively we couldn’t score and we we couldn’t stop Ohio blocking, it was just hard for us to score tonight.”
Bowling Green’s record shifts to 6-19 overall and 2-10 in the MAC. They will travel to face Buffalo on November 6 and will visit Akron the next day.
