Women's Volleyball

Falcons Reverse Sweep Their Way to the NIVC Championship

QUEENS, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team will play for the 2024 NIVC Championship title on Tuesday night. The Falcons were down in the match 2-0 and fought back to defeat St. John's 3-2 and secure the final spot in the 2024 NIVC Championship. The Falcons will face Arizona Tucson on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
 

Recap courtesy of Bowling Green's Athletic Communications Department

QUEENS, N.Y. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team overcame a 2-0 deficit to capture a 3-2 win on Saturday (Dec. 14) over St. John's in the NIVC Fab Four. The Falcons are the first MAC team in conference history to log a reverse sweep in the postseason and it marks the third for Bowling Green this season. The Falcons recorded 18 blocks as a team, matching the season-high, and 12 aces in the win. Bowling Green will now advance to the NIVC Championship for the second time in program history, remaining the only team in the MAC to do so. The Falcons will take on Arizona in the championship on Tuesday (Dec. 17) with an 8 pm. EST start. 

Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (17)
Assists: Amanda Otten (39)
Digs: Lindsey LaPinta (24)
Aces: Amanda Otten (5)
Blocks: Alexis Mettille (10)

Falcon Stat Facts
  • For the second time in program history, the Falcons will advance to the NIVC Championship, joining the ranks of the 1992 BGSU squad as the only MAC teams to make it to a postseason championship.
  • Overcoming the 2-0 deficit, it marks the first time in MAC postseason history that a team has won in reverse sweep fashion.
  • As a team, the Falcons logged 18 total blocks, matching the most for the team this season. Bowling Green logged 18 in the five set match against Western Michigan on Nov. 23 as well.
  • For the second straight match, Bowling Green logged 12 aces. The Falcons have now recorded 10 or more aces in three of their four NIVC matches. The 12 aces are also the most in a five set match for BGSU this year. 
  • Jessica Andrews registered five blocks for the Falcons, breaking the program's Rally Scoring Era record for blocks in a season with 155. She's also now seventh on the all-time list. 
  • Of Andrews' five blocks, four were block assists, giving her 132 this season. That moves her up to four all-time on the single-season block assists list. 
  • Andrews added 10 kills for the Falcons while maintaining a .474 hitting percentage on 19 attacks with just one error. 
  • Lauryn Hovey landed two aces for the Falcons, giving her 55 this season and 141 for her BGSU career. Hovey is now tied with Linda Popovich's 1986 season for third on the all-time single-season list. As for career aces, Hovey is now up to fourth on the all-time list. 
  • Hovey led the team with 17 kills for the Falcons, giving her 432 this season. That pushes Hovey up to eighth on the program's Rally Scoring list for kills in a single season. 
  • Hovey narrowly missed a double-double as well with a season-high nine block assists in the match, matching her career-high. She now has 252 career block assists, moving up to ninth on the Rally Scoring list. Additionally, she has 265 career total blocks, putting her inside the top 10 on the all-time list at ninth. 
  • Alexis Mettille recorded a team-high and career-high 10 block assists in the match, giving her 126 this season. That pushed her up to a tie for fourth during the Rally Scoring Era for single-season block assists. It also moves Mettille into the top 10 all-time for single-season blocks, now tied for ninth. As for total blocks, Mettille is up to 144 this season, jumping up to fifth on the Rally Scoring list.
  • Sydnie Hernandez tallied three aces for the Falcons, giving her 39 this season. Not only does that put Hernandez inside the top 10 during the Rally Scoring Era, but moves her up to a tie for sixth on the list. 
  • Amanda Otten filled the stat sheet for the Falcons with 39 assists, five aces, five blocks, four digs and four kills. Her assist total gives her 1,136 assists this year, moving up to ninth on the Rally Scoring list for single-season assists. The four kills for Otten also give her 114 this season, marking a new career-high.
  • As for aces, Otten's career-high five marks the first time a Falcon has had five or more aces in a match since Hovey had five against Brown on Sept. 13, 2024.
  • Lindsey LaPinta led the Falcons in digs with 24, coming one shy of her career-high. The outing marks her eighth 20-dig match of the season. She added seven assists as well, matching her career-high.
  • Jordan Newblatt added 10 kills for the BGSU attack, finishing with a .364 hitting percentage. She filled out her stat line with two digs, an assist and a block. 
  • Avery Anders finished second on the team in digs with 11 while recording two assists and an ace for the Falcons. 
  • After walking at graduation Friday night, Mia Tyler landed six kills for the Falcons while adding four digs and a season-high four block assists. 
  • This marks the first ever win for Bowling Green over St. John's, now holding a 1-1 record against the Red Storm all-time.
  • Bowling Green now has 25 wins this season, the most since winning 25 during the 2008 campaign. 
  • This is the third time this season BGSU has overcome a 2-0 deficit and the second it has happened on the road. 

Up Next
The Falcons will advance to the NIVC Championship, taking on the University of Arizona. BGSU and Arizona are scheduled to face off on Tuesday (Dec. 17) with an 8 p.m. EST start. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.