Freshman Amanda Otten, sets the ball, during a Bowling Green women’s volleyball open practice for media on August 9, at the Stroh Center. (Scott W. Grau/Sentinel-Tribune)
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team broke in the new Northern Kentucky University floor at Regents Hall in style on Friday, winning the season opener over East Tennessee State, 25-16, 25-10, 26-24.
The Falcons and Buccaneers played the first of six matches, three for the Falcons, at the NKU Tournament this weekend with BGSU taking the match in straight sets to begin the campaign.
Strong defense paced the Falcons in the match, holding ETSU to a .000 hitting percentage over the course of the match, including negative marks in each of the first two sets.
On the offensive side, Kat Mandly (Perrysburg) led the way with a team-high 11 kills followed by Mia Tyler with seven. Freshman Amanda Otten burst onto the scene for the Falcons with a team-leading 18 assists to go along with seven digs, six kills, two aces and two block assists.
The season began for the Falcons with a kill from Mia Tyler. Freshman Amanda Otten tallied the assist, the first of her collegiate career.
The match began with a back-and-forth battle before a 3-0 run pushed ETSU in front, however, the Falcons responded with a pair of points to knot it back up at 9-9.
ETSU again moved in front, but a 4-0 run for the Falcons, capped by an Alex Laboy ace, granted the Falcons a 15-12 advantage at the media timeout in the first set.
Bowling Green maintained their lead, forcing a timeout from the Buccaneers with the score at 19-15 BGSU following a strong block by Otten and Jessica Andrews.
The run continued through the timeout for BGSU, adding four more points to make it a 6-0 BGSU run and 23-15 lead.
ETSU added a point before the Falcons recorded two more to take the first set 25-16, closing on an 8-1 run in the set.
The Falcons carried the first set momentum into the start of the second set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead to force an early timeout from ETSU.
Otten landed an ace before the timeout and another after the timeout, the first two of her collegiate career, to make it a 7-0 advantage to start the set before the first Buccaneer point.
ETSU closed the gap to 8-3, but a 5-0 run for BGSU increased the lead to double digits at 13-3. The Buccaneers registered a point before another 5-0 run for Bowling Green, stretching the lead to 18-4 BGSU and forcing another ETSU timeout. Going back to the first set, it spelled a 26-5 stretch for the Falcons.
East Tennessee State made a push late in the set, but the Falcons were able to withstand the surge and take the second set to move ahead 2-0 for the match.
ETSU started out in front in the third set, but a 4-0 run for the Falcons pushed BGSU in front 10-8.
The set remained a give-and-take with BGSU staying in front until the Buccaneers tied it up at 20-20 and forced a timeout from the Falcons.
The Falcons tallied four of five points late to push BGSU in front 24-23, forcing a late timeout from ETSU.
The Buccaneers forced the set into extra points, but the Falcons managed to tally back-to-back points to secure the 26-24 set win and 3-0 match victory.
BGSU coach Danijela Tomic moved a step closer to her 200th win at the helm of the Falcons. Tomic has now tallied 194 victories with BGSU.
