Bowling Green Earns First MAC Win By Defeating Kent State

Saturday, October 1

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

11-6 (1-3MAC)

Kent State

9-8 (2-2MAC)

Kent State

Bowling Green

October 01, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score

By: by James Nahikian, BGSU Athletic Communications

Coach Tomic Post-Match Interview
Photo Gallery (Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing & Communications)
Final Statistics: NCAA Box/Play-By-Play

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team earned its first Mid-American Conference victory of the season on Saturday (Oct. 1) evening by defeating Kent State University, 3-1, inside of the Stroh Center. The Falcons dropped the first set, but battled back to secure the victory by a score of 23-25; 27-25; 25-16; 25-17.

"I think the monkey is finally off our backs," said head coach Danijela Tomic. "I think this was more mental for our team, and we needed to win that second set … I told them at the end of the match that I'm very proud of them to bounce back this way. I told them before the match, let's see what we are made of.

"This is what good teams do. We are going to hit adversity, but let's learn from that adversity and be better, and that's what we did tonight. So, I am very proud of them."

Jelena Sunjic led the way for the Falcons offensively, as she had 19 kills and hit .312 (19-4-48). She also had six digs. Alyssa Maloney and Madeline Brandewie had 12 kills apiece. The 12 kills were a career-high for Brandewie, who hit .375 (12-3-24). Maloney hit .250 (12-6-24), and also had two service aces.

Isabel Kovacic chipped in with eight kills, while Jessi Holly had two. Kovacic also posted four digs.

Katie Scholten, for the second night in a row, just barely missed out on her second double-double of the season, but still had a very strong match. The Falcons' primary setter picked up 49 assists, nine digs, two service aces and two kills.

Madeline Garda had a monster match. Garda, who leads the country in digs per set, only added to her average, as she picked up 29 digs. Garda is now averaging a nation-leading 6.38 digs per set. To put that number into perspective, no other player in the country is even averaging 6.00 digs per set. The senior libero also notched five assists, and racked up one service ace.

Freshman Paulina Iacobelli had a career night for the Orange and Brown. She totaled 11 digs, and also added an assist and a service ace. She played in all four sets, and really made a difference on the defensive side of the net.
Kallie Seimet had a nice defensive match, as well, as she registered seven digs.

After playing three of its first four MAC matches in Bowling Green, the Falcons will play four-consecutive matches on the road, starting with matches at Akron (Oct. 7) and Buffalo (Oct. 8), before rounding things off with trips to Eastern Michigan (Oct. 14) and Central Michigan (Oct. 15).