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Saturday, September 17
Lewisburg, Pa.
3:00 p.m.
Bowling Green State University
3
vs
0
Coppin State
Falcons Win Bucknell Invitational, Remain Undefeated At 12-0
September 17, 2011 | Volleyball
Boxscore vs. Coppin State
Boxscore vs. Bucknell
Lewisburg, Pa. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team won their fourth tournament of the year, sweeping through the Bucknell Invitational with two victories Saturday. The Falcons beat Coppin State 25-17, 25-21, 25-14 and then defeated host Bucknell 25-12, 28-26, 25-20 to improve to 12-0, the best start in program history.
“This was a good tournament for us,” Head Coach Denise Van De Walle said. “We got to play everyone at some point and the team was on a mission to set the school record for most wins to start a season. It was a total team effort this weekend and I'm so proud of this team.”
Kari Galen and Laura Avila were named to the all-tournament team. It was the second time this year Galen was named all-tournament as she was named MVP of the South Florida Invitational. For Avila, it is the first time she earned all-tournament honors in her career. Galen had 26 kills and hit .676 for the weekend, while Avila had 76 assists and a team-high seven aces, adding 14 digs.
Van De Walle played 13 players in the win over Coppin State and 10 in the victory over Bucknell. The Falcons won all three matches in the tournament in straight sets and have won four consecutive matches overall without losing a set.
Bowling Green hit over .300 in each set against Coppin State and were never really challenged. The Falcons never trailed and Coppin State was never even tied in any frame of the match.
Kari Galen, who had a tremendous day offensively, had five kills in six swings in the first set and Danielle Tonyan added four kills as the Falcons took control quickly. Tonyan finished the match with a team-high 13 kills and hit .476, while Paige Penrod added 10. Galen ended with eight kills and hit .583. Laura Avila handed out 28 assists, added five digs, and had three of the team's seven aces. Bowling Green dominated in digs with a 39-20 edge behind 11 from Ashley Dunn and nine from Penrod.
In the second match, Galen was almost unstoppable at the net, posting 14 kills on just 17 swings, a remarkable .824 attack percentage. She had five of those kills in a critical second-set when Bucknell had an opportunity to gain momentum and even up the match. The Bison led 21-15 before the Falcons rallied to tie the score at 22-22. Bucknell still had three set points at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25 but were unable to capitalize. A Penrod kill tied the score at 26-26 and the Bison came apart with back-to-back attack errors to drop the set 28-26.
“Our determination tonight against Bucknell was impressive,” Van De Walle said. “Although we were down 21-15 in the second set, we found a way to win. Kari Galen was unstoppable in the middle and Laura Avila set a great match and was hard to beat with her serve. We had a scrappy Bucknell team out of system a lot.”
In the third set, Galen added seven more kills during a stanza that was back-and-forth until a 7-3 spurt put the Falcons on top 21-17.
Galen's 14 kills led the way but Kauth and Penrod added 11 and 10 kills respectively in a balanced effort. Tonyan also had nine kills as the Falcons hit .380 for the match, including .556 in the first set. Bowling Green again controlled in digs with a 39-28 advantage and had five service aces, four more than Bucknell.
At 12-0, Bowling Green now has the third-longest winning streak in program history (behind a 17-match streak in 2006 and a 16-match run in 2007). The Falcons will take the best start in program history into a Mid-American Conference play this weekend. Bowling Green will open play at MAC East favorite Ohio Friday at 7 p.m. and at Kent State Saturday at 7 p.m.
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