Falcons Fall To Central Michigan In Three Sets

Friday, October 15

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7:00 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Central Michigan

October 15, 2010 | Volleyball

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Boxscore Coming Soon

Mount Pleasant, Mich. – Freshman Lindsey Butterfield had a career high 10 kills but Bowling Green's top two hitters were bottled up as Central Michigan defeated the Falcons in Mid-American Conference volleyball action Friday night 25-12, 25-22, 25-21.

Freshmen Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan entered the match as Bowling Green's top two hitters and were on a tear lately. The duo had each finished with double-digit kills in all of the last five matches but Central Michigan held Penrod to eight kills and Tonyan to just three. The Chippewas were stalwart at the net, posting 9.5 blocks.

As a team, Bowling Green was respectable over the final two sets, hitting .233 and .222, but a horrific first set in which the Falcons hit -.040 kept the Falcons final hitting percentage at .146. Central Michigan, on the other hand, hit .423 in the first set and .302 for the match.

Bowling Green struggled to get things going in the first set and CMU trotted out to a big lead and never looked back. But the final two sets were a different story.

Although the Falcons trailed for much of the second stanza, Central Michigan was unable to pull away. The Chippewas led 19-13 but a 5-1 run sparked by a Laura Avila ace cut the deficit to two and forced Central Michigan to call timeout. The Chippewas regrouped and scored the next three points to take a 23-18 lead but a Butterfield kill followed by a Noelle Spitler block made it 23-20. After a CMU point, Butterfield had two more kills to make it 24-22 but a Chippewa block ended the frame.

Bowling Green was in an even better position in the third, scoring seven consecutive points midway through the set to take a 15-11 lead. Central Michigan eventually got back into the set and tied the score at 17-17 before back-to-back aces helped the Chippewas build a 20-17 edge. Trailing 24-19, the Falcons tried to rally on a Tonyan kill and a block from Kari Galen and Butterfield, but again, Central Michigan had just enough to put the match away.

Butterfield's 10 kills came with just one attack error as she hit .375 for the match. Ashley Dunn picked up 15 digs and added one service ace. Spitler had four blocks to lead the Falcons.

Central Michigan improves to 8-11 overall and 2-5 in MAC play with the win. The Falcons, now 6-15 overall and 1-6 in conference play, will play at Eastern Michigan Saturday night at 7 pm.