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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team stormed back for a 3-1 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies Thursday night (Oct. 9). After falling in the first set, the Falcons flipped the script on the attack to rattle off three-straight set wins to secure the match. In the process, the Falcons hit .392 as a team, breaking the program's Rally Scoring Era record for hitting percentage in a four-set match, a record that had stood for just shy of 17 years. Additionally, Bowling Green landed 13 aces as a team, matching the program record for aces in a four-set match during the Rally Scoring Era. BGSU and NIU will be back in action Friday night (Oct. 10) at the Stroh Center with a 6 p.m. first serve. 

How It Happened 
Set 1: Northern Illinois 25, Bowling Green 19

• The Falcons and Huskies played out to a 6-6 tie in the match, but a 6-0 run for NIU created an 11-6 lead with Bowling Green taking a timeout.
• The teams resumed going back-and-forth after the break, but aces from Sydnie Hernandez and Avery Anders helped trim the lead to 15-13 with an NIU timeout.
• A 3-0 Bowling Green burst soon after the timeout tied the set at 16-16, but the Huskies answered back with a 3-0 run of their own, taking a 19-16 advantage with the second BGSU timeout of the set.
• The Falcons battled back with a pair of points to draw within one, 19-18, but NIU closed out the set with a 6-1 stretch for a 25-19 score.

Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 11

• Bowling Green opened the second set with a 4-0 run, including two aces by Anna Sitek, quickly prompting a timeout from the NIU bench.
• Northern Illinois tallied the first point after the timeout, but another 5-1 stretch for the Falcons followed, including aces by Avery Hobson and Hernandez, to take a 9-2 lead with another NIU timeout called.
• The Falcons kept it going with a 4-0 run after the timeout, making it a 9-1 span. Hernandez added two more aces during the run for a 13-2 advantage.
• The lead for Bowling Green expanded with a 4-1 stretch, taking the score to 17-4. From there, the two teams traded points to the end of the set, with the exception of a 3-0 BGSU run, wrapping up with a 25-11 score. 

Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 16

• The Falcons started the third set similarly to the second, jumping out to a 6-1 advantage with NIU taking a timeout in the early going.
• The teams traded points before a 4-1 stretch for the Huskies trimmed the lead down to 11-9. The Falcons were able to respond soon after with a 3-0 run to rebuild the lead to 15-10 with the second NIU timeout of the set.
• A 5-1 stretch, including a 4-0 run, for Bowling Green followed the timeout. Isabelle Laube spearheaded the run with a pair of aces, pushing the BGSU advantage to 20-11.
• The two teams again traded points before the Orange and Brown closed out the set with a 3-1 span to take the set, 25-16.

Set 4: Bowling Green 25, Northern Illinois 10

• The Falcons worked for a 4-0 run early in the set to jump out to a 9-4 lead with Northern Illinois calling a timeout for the first stoppage. 
• After the break, Bowling Green kept it going with a 3-1 stretch to make it a 7-1 span and 12-5 with the second NIU timeout of the set.
• The back-and-forth after the timeout carried the score to 13-6, but a 5-1 burst for the Falcons stretched the lead to 18-7. 
• Northern Illinois stopped the stretch, but a 4-0 Bowling Green run followed, extending the score to 22-8. BGSU and NIU traded points through the end of the set for a 25-10 tally. 

Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Jessica Andrews (12
Assists: Anna Sitek (27)
Digs: Sydnie Hernandez (13)
Aces: Sydnie Hernandez (5)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews (6)

Falcon Stat Facts

• As a team, the Falcons landed a season-high 13 aces. The mark ties the Rally Scoring Era record for aces in a four-set match, doing so previously against Eastern Michigan during the 2021 season.
• After hitting .194 in the first set, the Falcons went on to hit .485 over the second, third and fourth sets combined. The increase improved the team's hitting percentage in the match to an impressive .392, the highest hitting percentage for the team this season. 
• The .392 hitting percentage for BGSU sets a new Rally Scoring Era record for the program for a four-set match, previously at .357 against Buffalo in 2008. The mark came just shy of the all-time record, set at .402 against Northern Illinois in 1989. 
• On the flip side, NIU hit .351 in the first set before the Falcons changed the tone. From the second set on, the Falcons held the Huskies to a -.015, resulting in a .114 hitting percentage for the match.
• Sydnie Hernandez led the Falcons in the aces category, landing a career-high five, the most by a Falcon this season. Additionally, Hernandez paced the team in digs with 13. She now has 252 digs this season, surpassing her previous career-high of 245 from last year. 
• Jessica Andrews led Bowling Green in both kills and blocks. For kills, she landed 12 to become the fifth different Falcon to lead the team in the stat this season. Additionally, her 12 kills came on 17 error-free attacks for a .706 hitting percentage. As for blocks, she registered six, including the team's lone solo block.
• Anna Sitek made her first start of the season for Bowling Green and nearly posted a double-double. She finished with a team-high 27 assists while adding eight digs, three aces and a block assist with both the digs and aces totals setting new career highs.
• Isabelle Laube joined Sitek in the setter role over the course of the match. Entering with a previous career-high of two assists in a match, Laube tallied 13 for the Falcons while adding a pair of aces that matched her career-high as well. 
• Avery Hobson added 10 kills for the Falcons while Edyta Waclawczyk landed nine. Waclawczyk maintained a .304 hitting percentage as well, landing the nine kills on 23 attempts with just two errors. 
• Marija Tabak landed her first six kills of the season and added her first three block assists as well. The three block assists also set a new career-high for her.
• With the win, the Falcons remain undefeated at home this season with a 4-0 record. Going back to last season, BGSU has now won nine consecutive regular season matches at home. 

Up Next
Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will continue their series on Friday (Oct. 10) with a 6 p.m. first serve. Friday night will be Alumni Night for the Falcons at the Stroh Center. 

Follow the Falcons
Be sure to follow the Falcons volleyball team on social media
Twitter - @BGSU_Athletics and @BGSUVolleyball
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