WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team will continue the 2025 campaign with a trio of ranked opponents at the Stacey Clark Classic hosted by Purdue. Of the field, each of BGSU's opponents not only made the 2024 NCAA Tournament, but advanced to at least the second round. Bowling Green will begin play against No. 15 Kansas on Wednesday (Sept. 3) at 3 p.m. before taking on host No. 17 Purdue on Thursday (Sept. 4) at 7 p.m. BGSU will conclude their slate in West Lafayette on Friday (Sept. 5) against No. 23 Georgia Tech with a 1 p.m first serve. All matches will be available to stream through Big Ten Network Plus. 

Stacey Clark Classic Schedule

Bowling Green vs. No. 15 Kansas | 3 p.m.
No. 23 Georgia Tech at No. 17 Purdue | 7 p.m.

No. 15 Kansas vs. No. 23 Georgia Tech | 3 p.m.
Bowling Green at No. 17 Purdue | 7 p.m.

Bowling Green vs. No. 23 Georgia Tech | 1 p.m.
No. 15 Kansas at No. 17 Purdue | 7 p.m.

First Serve 

• The Falcons will be taking on Kansas, Purdue and Georgia Tech at the Stacey Clark Classic. All three opponents for BGSU this week are ranked in the nation's Top 25 and advanced to at least the second round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Of the three, host-Purdue advanced the farthest in the field, making it to the Round of 16.
• This will be Bowling Green's first trip to West Lafayette since 2018 when BGSU faced Purdue, Tulsa and Wofford to open the season. The lone win for the Falcons against Purdue came in 1987 with a five-set victory.
• The Falcons will be facing Kansas for the third time ever with the previous two meetings also on neutral floors. The series is tied 1-1 with both previous matches going five sets. Kansas picked up their win in 2013 while BGSU tallied a win in 1993. 
• The Orange and Brown will also be facing Georgia Tech for the third time in program history, all on neutral floors, but the Yellow Jackets have won the previous two.
• The Falcons are off to a 2-1 start for the second time in the last four seasons, doing so in 2023 as well. During that span, the best start through six matches was a 4-2 start which also came in 2023, however each of the four previous seasons started with a record of at least 3-3. 

Contemplating Kansas
Kansas has had a tough start to the season. Through four matches, the Jayhawks have played all five-set matches. They began with a win over Vanderbilt but have since come up short to No. 2 Penn State, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 12 Creighton. For Kansas, blocking has proved to be a key component. Four different Jayhawks have double-digit blocks while the team has 48 through four matches. As for the offense, two setters have been the backbone to the attack with Katie Dalton logging 94 assists over 16 sets and Cristin Cline with 73 over 11 sets. 

Pondering Purdue
Purdue is off to a strong start to the 2025 campaign, besting USF in five sets before topping Tennessee in four on the road on national TV.  For the Boilermakers, a steady attack as been the key to success. So far this year, Purdue is hitting an impressive .278. Kenna Wollard tops the kills chart with 35, but Akasha Anderson follows with 28 kills and a .319 hitting percentage on 69 attacks. Setter Taylor Anderson is averaging 9.11 assists per set on the efficient attack and also leads the team in digs with 24. Anderson has contributed to the attack with nine kills as well on 19 error-free attacks for a .474 percentage.

Gauging Georgia Tech
Like Purdue, Georgia Tech is off to an undefeated start in 2025 with wins over Wofford, Ole Miss and Arkansas State. The win over Wofford came in three sets while the other two were in four. For the Yellow Jackets, defense has been a focal point of the stat sheet, averaging 16.7 digs per set as well as 2.6 blocks per set. Sofia Velez leads the digging effort with 5.82 digs per set, totaling 64 through three matches. Lameen Mambu follows closely with 42 digs while also leading the team's offensive strategy with 40 kills and nine aces. As for the block, DeAndra Pierce tops the stat sheet with 12. 

Hovey Moves Up Record Book
Lauryn Hovey made another jump within the Bowling Green record book. During the opening weekend of the season, Hovey tallied 43 kills for the Falcons. The mark gives her 1,318 kills as a Falcon, pushing her past Kendra Halm on the program's Rally Scoring Era list for career kills. Hovey now sits in seventh on the list and needs 12 to move up to sixth and pass Jelena Sunjic. In total, Hovey is already in the top 10 for four career stats on the Rally Scoring Era lists and is nearing another with career attacks. 

A Chip Off The 2024 Block
After leading the MAC in blocks per set in 2024 and finishing second in the conference for opponent hitting percentage, the Falcons have picked up where they left off. During the first three matches, BGSU held opponents to a .124 hitting percentage while averaging 2.45 blocks per set, both ranked second in the MAC. For comparison, in 2024 the Falcons averaged a MAC-best 2.52 blocks per set and held teams to a .190 attack percentage. The strong block for Bowling Green was evident against Saint Mary's, logging 17 blocks as a team over four sets played. It marked the first time since 2012 that BGSU had 17+ blocks in four sets or less, logging a program record 23 against Buffalo in four sets on Sept. 29, 2012.

You Get An Ace! You Get An Ace!
Over the course of the first three matches of the season, Bowling Green landed 22 aces as a team with eight different Falcons landing at least one. Looking back to last season, the Orange and Brown had 10 different student-athletes with an ace over the duration of the full season. The 2024 Falcons averaged 1.74 aces per set, ranking second in the MAC. The 2025 rendition of the team is right back in the same spot, averaging 2.00 aces per set to tie for second in the conference. 

Hernandez Takes Over Libero Role
Sophomore Sydnie Hernandez took over the libero role for the Falcons, immediately making an impact. Hernandez totaled 47 digs, averaging 4.27 per set, ranking third in the MAC. She added a team-high five aces for the weekend as well. Hernandez is the first non-senior to open the season as BGSU's libero since Julia Walz in 2020 and the first sophomore to start the season as the team's libero since Walz in 2019. 

Andrews With Team Canada
Jessica Andrews will miss the start of the season for the Falcons due to the honor of being part of Team Canada at the World Championships in Thailand. Play for Andrews and Team Canada began on Aug. 23 with a 3-1 win over Bulgaria. They followed it up with another win on Aug. 25 in a 3-2 final over Spain, but fell to Turkey on Aug. 27. Finishing second in Pool E, Team Canada advanced to the Round of 16, but lost to the United States on Sept. 1. Across the various matches for Team Canada, Andrews recorded three kills on three attacks for a perfect 1.000 attack percentage as well as logging a block. 

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