Toledo, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University volleyball program claimed a 3-1 win over the Toledo Rockets on Tuesday night (March 16) to advance to 16-0 on the season, setting the record for the best start to a season in BGSU Athletic department history. The Falcons also now stand one win away from tying the program record for consecutive wins at any point during the season, set at 17 by the 2006 squad. The Falcons will now turn their attention to a two-match home stand against Akron this coming weekend on Saturday and Sunday (March 19 and 20). 

Early in the first set the Falcons put together pairs of points, including a 3-0 run, to create an 8-3 lead. Bowling Green continued to add to the lead up to a timeout from the UT bench with the score at 12-7. The Falcons continued to stretch the lead, growing to 17-9 before the next stoppage, being the Rockets' second timeout. The momentum for the Falcons carried through the set seeing a 25-15 final and a first set win for BGSU. 

The second began back-and-forth before the Falcons were able to create space just before the media timeout, taking a 15-12 lead into the break. It was only a handful of points before the next stoppage with the Rockets calling timeout with Bowling Green leading 18-15. The Falcons were able to carry the lead to the end, closing out the set with a 25-20 score, extending the team's lead. 

The third set began close as well, seeing a tie as late as 12-12, but a 6-0 run for the Rockets gave them an 18-12 lead. The Falcons soon began to chip away at the score seeing a UT timeout with the score at 19-16. The comeback effort for Bowling Green came up just shy with the Rockets forcing a fourth set.  In the third set, UT began out in front, but a 5-0 run for the Falcons took the lead at 6-5 BGSU. The set remained close up to the media timeout with Bowling Green holding a narrow lead at 15-14. The Falcons then began to create space on the scoreboard, pushing the score to 20-17 before a Rocket timeout. That momentum carried through the remainder of the set as the Falcons clinched a 25-19 score to claim the victory. 

With the win, the Falcons move to 16-0 on the season, setting the BGSU Athletic department record for wins to begin a season, previously held by the 1964 men's tennis team at 15-0.

DEKALB, Ill.  – The Western Michigan volleyball team won its seventh-straight match on Tuesday night in three sets over Northern Illinois (25-23, 25-20, 25-14) for its seventh sweep of the season for the Broncos.

Western Michigan defeated the Huskies in straight sets and notched its fourth three-set sweep in the last five matches. With the win the Broncos have now won seven straight and are off to its best start (13-3) since the 2011 season. It's the eighth road victory for WMU, the most since having 10 back in 2015.

The Broncos hit a stellar .443 against the Huskies on Tuesday night with three Broncos registering double-digit kills with one double-double. Leading the way for WMU was the duo of junior Meredith Phillips and sophomore Maggie King with 14 kills. Phillips had a .379 hitting percentage while notching her third double-digit kill performance of the season.

Along with Phillips, Maggie King had 14 kills to go along with a .370 hitting percentage and three digs. It's the sixth straight match in which King has registered double-digit kills and the tenth match this season.

Senior outside hitter Rachel Bontrager earner her third straight double-double and seventh this season with 13 kills and 13 digs. Bontrager posted a staggering .524 hitting percentage with two assists and one block. The Valparaiso, Ind., is now just 12 digs away from 1,000 career digs and can become the first player in school history with 1,500 career kills and 1,000 career digs.

Two-time reigning MAC West Setter of the Week Logan Case paced the Broncos with 54 assists, marking the sixth match this season Case has recorded at least 50 assists. The freshman setter also had seven digs and two kills in the win over the Huskies.

Rounding out the kills for the Broncos was redshirt junior Charley Andrews with nine followed by senior Cassandra Smigiel with eight. Over the past two matches Smigiel has earned 18 kills, averaging 3.00 kills per set.

Winning its seventh straight match the Broncos now have an overall and Mid-American Conference record of 13-3. Western Michigan hits the road for the final time this weekend for a pair of matches against Ohio, March 19-20.

"Our team showed great resilience, teamwork and mental toughness to come back and earn this win over a very good Kent State team," said head coach Deane Webb.

The Bobcats attacked at a .281 clip for the match while limiting the Golden Flashes to a .199 hitting percentage. Ohio won the battle at the net, out blocking Kent State, 12-8.

Junior outside hitter/right side hitter Lauren Park (Millersburg, Ohio) led the way for the Bobcats, totaling a team-high 17 kills while hitting .297.

"Lauren had another dominant match attacking. Hard to believe that an outside hitter that hit .125 last year has become this dominant in such a short period of time," said Webb. "That said, she has put a tremendous amount of work in, so I'm proud of the work and happy for her development."

Junior outside hitter Mariana Rodrigues (Santana De Parnaiba, Brazil) hit .265 with 12 kills, recorded three total blocks (two block solos, one block assist), tied for the team lead with two service aces and achieved a double-double with 13 digs. Senior middle blocker Tia Jimerson (Sugar Hill, Ga.) also registered double-digit kills, finishing with 10 kills while attacking at a .286 rate. She also led the match with five total blocks (two block solos, three block assists). Redshirt freshman middle blocker Caitlin O'Farrell (Suwanee, Ga.) tallied nine kills and four block assists while senior opposite Maggie Nedoma (Brook Park, Ohio) notched eight kills and three block assists.

Senior setter Vera Giacomazzi (San Vendemiano, Italy) provided a match-high 58 assists and just missed out on a double-double with nine digs. She also compiled four kills and three block assists. Freshman defensive specialist/libero Sam Steele (Omaha, Neb.) piled up a match-high 34 digs. She and Rodrigues were joined in achieving double-digit digs by senior libero/defensive specialist Macy Reihing (Lexington, Ky.), who totaled 11.

Kent State posted a wire-to-wire win in the first set, hitting .325 as a team on its way to a seven-point victory and a 1-0 match lead. The Golden Flashes then edged the Bobcats by three points in the second set to take a commanding two-set advantage.

Ohio responded to the adversity by hitting a blistering .586 in the third set to record a 10-point win as Park paced the Bobcats with six kills while hitting .600. The Golden Flashes managed just a .103 attack percentage as Ohio clawed its way back into the match.

In the fourth set, Ohio burned its second timeout trailing 19-18 but proceeded to even the match at two-all by ending the set on a 7-1 run that was highlighted by two kills by Jimerson, a kill and a service ace by Rodrigues, a double block Giacomazzi and O'Farrell and a kill by sophomore opposite Emily Margolies (Galena, Ohio). The scoring was spread out across Ohio's lineup in the fourth set, with Park posting four kills, Jimerson and O'Farrell each adding three and Nedoma and Margolies each recording two.

Kent State opened the decisive fifth set up by building an early 6-4 lead that forced Ohio to call timeout. The Bobcats flipped the script with a 9-3 run to take a 13-9 lead and force the Golden Flashes to use up both of their timeouts. Ohio used its second timeout after back-to-back attack errors allowed Kent State to pull to within two, but a kill by Giacomazzi and a double block by O'Farrell and Rodrigues put the exclamation point on the comeback for the Bobcats.

"We had some impressive moments on offense including an almost unbelievable 3rd set when we hit nearly .600, but I was most impressed with the defense we played in the 3rd and 4th sets to even the match," said Webb.

Ohio will look to build off the comeback win as it faces a quick turnaround, as the Bobcats are set to play host to Toledo on Wednesday (March 17). The match is slated to get underway at 5 p.m. ET at the Convocation Center in Athens.

 
The Cardinals (7-9, 7-9 MAC) served up six aces and made some tremendous defensive plays to earn a much-needed victory over the RedHawks (8-8, 8-8 MAC) and snap a six-match homecourt losing streak. The win also keeps Ball State neck-and-neck with the pack in the race for a berth in the four-team MAC Tournament in a little less than two weeks.
 
"Serve and pass was a big strength for us tonight," head coach Kelli Miller Phillips said. "We kept pretty consistent service pressure on them. We passed the ball better than we have in quite some time and that completely shifted the pressure. It allowed us to be in system, allowed us to set whoever we wanted in offense, and that was the difference in the match."
 
That strong passing game helped the offense finish the night with a .290 (43-14-100) attack percentage, led by eight kills and a .571 (8-0-14) rate of success for sophomore middle Marie Plitt.
 
Plitt also made a big impact on defense, racking up a match-high seven total blocks. As a team, the Cardinals registered another big night at the net with 11.0 total blocks, while also collecting 43 digs to limit the league's fourth-best offense to a .119 (35-22-109) attack percentage.
 
Going back to the offense, freshman outside Cait Snyder registered double-digit kills for the third consecutive match, leading all players with 11. Freshman middle Lauren Gilliland was right behind with nine, to go along with three blocks.
 
Rounding out a strong night on offense for the Cardinals were sophomore opposite Natalie Mitchem with eight kills and a .353 (8-2-17) hitting mark and senior outside Kia Holder with seven kills. Holder also ranked second in the match with five total blocks.
 
Sophomore Natalie Risi led the Ball State defense with nine digs in her first full match in the libero position. She also led both team's primary passers with a perfect reception percentage in 12 attempts.
 
Junior defensive specialist Cathryn Starck also made some tremendous plays to keep several rallies alive and finished the night with seven digs as did sophomore defensive specialist Maggie Huber.
 
Gaby Harper and Sarah Wojick tied for team-high honors for the RedHawks with eight kills apiece, while Abigail Huser collected a match-best 13 digs.
 
"We've said all along, we've been right there in every single match," Phillips said. "We finally committed to making sure we learned from what happed in previous matches. I hope it's a turning point to know that we are good. It's hard to remember that when things are not going your way on the scoreboard. Tonight gave us that vote of confidence that if we just play our game and don't try to do too much, good things will happen."
 
The Ball State women's volleyball team closes the home portion of its 2020-21 spring schedule this weekend with a two-match homestand versus Central Michigan. The Cardinals and Chippewas will square off at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday in Worthen Arena.

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team picked up its second straight 3-0 sweep on Tuesday night as the Bulls defeated the Akron Zips in straight sets.  It was the first time since the 2018 season that Buffalo has won consecutive matches by 3-0 scores.

The Bulls took the contest 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 as Buffalo outhit Akron, .340 to .277. The .340 hitting mark was UB's second highest of the season. Buffalo trailed 8-7 early in the first set when the Bulls scored the next five points, three of those coming on blocks at the net.  Leading 17-16, the Bulls scored another five straight, opening its advantage to 21-16.  Akron would pull within 22-20, but the Bulls scored the final three points of the set, capped off on a service ace from Monika Simkova.

UB opened the second set on fire, scoring eight of the first 10 points as a kill from freshman Milla Malik, put the Bulls ahead, 8-2. The Zips would pull back within two at 14-12, and remained within striking distance late at 20-17, but Simkova closed things out at the service line.  She had two straight aces, and then a kill from Lexi Nordmann and Malik clinched the set, giving Buffalo the 2-0 advantage.

Akron came out in the third set and staked itself to a 13-12 lead.  The Zips continued to lead at 20-18 when the Bulls made their move. A block from Emma Gielas and Courtney Okwara as well as a kill from Gielas quickly tied the set up at 20-20. With UB trialing 21-20, the Bulls scored the next three points, capped off on a block from Nordmann and Simkova, putting Buffalo ahead, 23-21. The Zips would fight off one match point, but Nordmann ended the set and the match with a kill.

All five of UB's hitting options had seven kills or more as junior Kyndal Bacon was extremely effective running the offense.  She finished with 38 assists in the three-set match, averaging just shy of 13 assists per set.

Malik led the way with 14 kills and just three errors as she hit .500, while adding a team-high 11 digs.  Nordmann finished with eight kills, while Gielas, Simkova, and Okwara all had seven kills. Okwara hit .583 for the match as she finished with zero errors. Simkova finished with four service aces.

Defensively, sophomore Jenna Sonnenberg also finished with 11 digs, tying Malik for team-high honors. The Bulls finished with 8.0 blocks in the three sets, led by seven from Nordmann and five from Simkova.

Winners of two straight, the Bulls will now hit the road for three straight beginning on Friday at Toledo.