CHICAGO, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team took on the DePaul Blue Demons on Monday (Dec. 9), capturing a 3-1 victory in the NIVC's Great 8 round. Playing their first road match in exactly one month, the Falcons came out firing, hitting .560 in the first set for a 25-14 score. Bowling Green rolled the momentum into the second set, but DePaul answered back in the third to force a fourth set. Aided by a 5-0 run in the middle of the set, the Falcons pushed ahead to claim the match, advancing to the Fab Four of the NIVC.

Bowling Green has now won 24 matches this season, the most for the program since 2008. With three NIVC wins, the Falcons are the first MAC team since 1992 to win three or more NIVC matches in the same season, joining the 1992 Falcons and the 1991 Miami (OH) team. The Falcons next opponent will be determined on Thursday (Dec. 12) when UConn and St. John's play. 

How It Happened 
Set 1: Bowling Green 25, DePaul 14

• Each team tallied a point to start the match, but DePaul was able to follow with a 3-0 run, building an early 4-1 advantage.
• Following the quick Blue Demon burst, the two teams resumed trading points with the score carrying to 6-4. 
• An ace from Sydnie Hernandez helped jump start a Bowling Green run with the Falcons rattling off a 5-0 stretch, taking an 8-6 lead.
• The back-and-forth returned for a few points, but a 5-1 stretch for the Falcons, including an Amanda Otten ace, pushed the BGSU advantage to 14-9 with a DePaul timeout.
• Coming out of the timeout, the two teams traded a few points but it only paused the Bowling Green momentum. The Falcons put together another 3-0 run, pushing the score to 18-11 with the second Blue Demon timeout of the set. 
• The sequence out of the second DePaul timeout nearly mirrored the first. The two teams began by trading points, but the Falcons were able to record another run. BGSU finished off the set with a 4-0 burst, hitting .560 in the set as a team.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, DePaul 19

• The second set began similarly to the first. Bowling Green landed the first point of the set, but a 3-0 DePaul run followed for a 3-1 early Blue Demon lead.
• The DePaul lead moved to 5-2, but a 3-0 run for the Falcons, including back-to-back kills by Edyta Waclawczyk, tied the set at 5-5.
• Back-to-back DePaul points pushed them back in front 7-5, but the Falcons soon tied it up again. An ace from Lindsey LaPinta knotted the score at 8-8 with the run stretching to 4-0 for a 10-8 BGSU advantage and a DePaul timeout.
• The Blue Demons responded out of the timeout with a 3-0 run, reclaiming the lead with an 11-10 tally before another tie, this time at 11-11.
• The Falcons pushed ahead with a 14-12 score, but a 3-0 DePaul run swung the lead back to the Blue Demons, 15-14, followed by another tie, this time at 15-15.
• A pair of points for DePaul granted them a 17-15 lead. The Falcons answered with a 3-0 run, including a Lauryn Hovey ace, to move in front 18-17 to prompt the second Blue Demon timeout of the set.
• DePaul recorded a point out of the timeout, but the Falcons tallied a 5-0 run, making it an 8-1 stretch, to move out in front 23-18.
• The Blue Demons ended the run, but Bowling Green closed out the set for a 25-19 score, ending with a LaPinta ace.

Set 3: DePaul 25, Bowling Green 17

• Bowling Green landed the first point of the set, but DePaul followed with a 4-0 run to move in front 4-1 in the set. 
• The Falcons added a point, but another 3-0 Blue Demon run pushed the DePaul lead to 7-2 with a BGSU timeout.
• Coming out of the timeout, the two teams traded points to a 9-4 score. From there, the Falcons put together a 5-1 stretch, including a 3-0 run, cutting into the DePaul lead, 10-8.
• The trading of points resumed, going to a 14-12 DePaul lead before the Blue Demons added a 3-0 run to make it 17-12 with the second BGSU timeout of the set.
• Out of the timeout, DePaul added two more to their run for a 5-0 stretch and 19-12 advantage.
• The two teams continued going back-and-forth through the end of the set with DePaul forcing a fourth set.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, DePaul 18

• DePaul landed the first point, but the Falcons answered with a pair, including an Avery Anders ace, before the Blue Demons tied it early at 2-2. However, the Falcons added a 3-0 run to move in front 5-2 in the set.
• Each team logged a pair of points, but a 3-0 DePaul run tied the score at 7-7 to force a Bowling Green timeout.
• The Falcons responded out of the timeout with a 4-0 run of their own, reclaiming the lead with a 11-7 score, resulting in a DePaul timeout. Hernandez added an ace after the timeout to extend the run to 5-0 and the lead to 12-7.
• DePaul utilized a 4-1 stretch to chip away at the lead, cutting it down to 13-11. However, back-to-back points for the Falcons with kills from Mia Tyler and Alexis Mettille made it a 15-11 lead, seeing DePaul call timeout. Otten added an ace after the timeout for a 16-11 advantage.
• The Blue Demons answered with a 4-1 stretch of their own, trimming the BGSU lead down to 17-15.
• The Falcons quickly put together a run of their own to rebuild the lead, going on a 5-0 stretch to push their advantage back to 22-15.
• DePaul logged back-to-back points, but the Falcons answered with two of their own, taking the score to 24-17. The Blue Demons challenged with a point, but a kill from Jessica Andrews sealed the match.

Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (17)
Assists: Amanda Otten (42)
Digs: Lindsey LaPitna (12)
Aces: Sydnie Hernandez, Amanda Otten (3)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (6)

Falcon Stat Facts

• Bowling Green is the first MAC team to win three or more NIVC matches since the 1992 Falcons won four and were the runner-up. The only other team in the MAC to win three or more NIVC matches in the same season was the 1991 Miami (OH) squad. The Falcons are now 10-6 all-time in the NIVC.
• The Falcons have now won 24 matches this season, the most since winning 25 during the 2008 season. 
• As a team, the Falcons hit .339 in the match, the best hitting percentage by BGSU in a four-set match this season. 
• Bowling Green landed 12 aces as a team, the second-most this year trailing on the 14 against UMBC. It also marks the third time this season BGSU has had double-digit aces with the third time being 10 against Binghamton in the first round of the NIVC. 
• Jessica Andrews registered five block assists in the match, increasing her season total to 128. The mark moves Andrews up to third on the Rally Scoring single-season list and into the top 10 all-time for single-season block assists, now tied for seventh. 
• As for total blocks, Andrews logged a team-high six to push her season total to 150. Andrews is now up to third on the Rally Scoring single-season list for total blocks, sitting five away from breaking the Rally Scoring record. 
• On the attack, Andrews landed eight kills for the Falcons on 12 attacks with just one error, hitting a season-best .583 in the match. 
• Lauryn Hovey led the Falcons in kills with 17 in the match, landing them on 30 attacks with just two errors for a team-best .500 hitting percentage. The 17 kills for Hovey pushed her into the top 10 for single-season kills during the Rally Scoring Era. Now with 415 kills this season, Hovey is 10th on the list and trails ninth by one kill and eighth by two. 
• Hovey added an ace in the match, moving her up a few of the all-time lists. Hovey now has 139 career aces, tied for fifth all-time, while her 54 aces this season are tied for fourth all-time. 
• Mia Tyler landed 14 kills for the Falcons for the third-straight match, landing 14 in all three of BGSU's NIVC matches. Tyler hit her mark on 33 attacks with four errors, hitting .303 in the match.
• Edyta Waclawczyk added to the BGSU attack by matching her season-high for kills with nine. Waclawczyk hit .353 in the match for the Falcons, a new career-best. 
• Alexis Mettille tallied three blocks and two aces for the Falcons. All three of her blocks were block assists, giving her 116 this season. That ties Mettille for 10th on the single-season block assists list during the Rally Scoring Era. As for her two aces, Mettille now has 94 in her BGSU career. moving her up to a tie for seventh on the career Rally Scoring list. 
• Mettille added six digs to her stat line in the match, giving her 82 this season to mark a new career-high for her BGSU tenure. 
• Amanda Otten set the BGSU attack while logging 42 assists in the match. She added three aces, tying for the team lead, to go along with six digs, four blocks and two kills for a full stat line.
• Sydnie Hernandez matched Otten's ace total with three to lead the Falcons while contributing six digs and two assists.
• Lindsey LaPinta topped the digs column with 12 for BGSU to go along with three assists and two aces. Avery Anders added five digs, two assists and an ace to the Bowling Green effort. 
• With the win, Bowling Green has recorded a win on every day of the week this season. Monday was the last day missing from the list entering the match. 

Up Next
The Falcons will advance to the Fab Four of the NIVC for the second time in program history. Bowling Green will play the winner of the UConn-St. John's match scheduled for Dec. 12. The date, location and time of the next BGSU match will be determined once the opponent is known.

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