The Bowling Green State University volleyball team hosted their first Southeast Conference opponent since 1987, falling to Texas A&M in three close sets as part of the Hampton Inn Invitational Friday night.
For the Falcons, Kat Mandly had 11 kills, Amanda Otten had 16 assists, Alex Laboy had eight digs, and Jessica Andrews, Mandly, Lindsey LaPinta, and Lauryn Hovey had one ace apiece. Andrews and Ottens had two blocks each.
Coming on in the third set for the Falcons, Andrews landed her first ace with Bowling Green. She also added her first dig of the season while landing three kills on four attacks.
Bowling Green resumed their schedule on Saturday, hosting Wright State for a 2 p.m. first serve to conclude the Hampton Inn Invitational.
In the first set, Texas A&M utilized an early 4-0 run to move ahead 7-2 and force an early timeout from the Falcons. The Aggies recorded two more points out of the timeout to stretch the run to 6-0 and their lead to 9-2.
Bowling Green responded with a 4-0 stretch of their own, closing the gap to 9-6. However, the runs swung back to Texas A&M with another 4-0 run, this time in favor of the Aggies, to make it 14-7 with BGSU using their second timeout.
The Falcons answered with yet another 4-0 run, trimming the lead to 14-11 and forcing Texas A&M to burn a timeout. The BGSU run moved to 5-0 with the score at 14-12 before the next Texas A&M point.
The Orange and Brown made another late push with a 3-0 burst, cutting the lead down to 21-19, but the Aggies were able to close out the set 25-20.
In the second set, an early 3-0 run for Texas A&M pushed the Aggies ahead 6-3 and brought on a Bowling Green timeout.
The two teams traded points until the Falcons put together a 3-0 stretch to tie the set at 11-11, but Texas A&M answered by scoring four of the next five points to move ahead 15-12 and force the second BGSU timeout to be called.
The Falcons stayed within striking distance, narrowing the deficit to just one at 22-21, but couldn’t get past the Aggies with the set ending 25-21 with a 3-0 Texas A&M run to close out the set.
The Falcons jumped out to a quick start in the third set, taking a 3-0 lead with a pair of points soon following to go up 5-2.
Texas A&M chipped away at the Bowling Green lead, tying the set up at 8-8 before BGSU moved back in front 10-8.
The lead remained for the Falcons with a 3-0 lead stretching the Falcons’ advantage to 15-11 at the media timeout.
Out of the media break, Texas A&M used a 3-0 run to trim the lead to 15-14, but the Falcons responded with a 3-0 run of their own to reclaim their advantage at 18-14 with the Aggies using a timeout.
The timeout shifted momentum with Texas A&M going on another 3-0 run to make it an 18-17 BGSU lead with the Falcons taking a timeout. A&M recorded the first point out of the break to tie the set at 18-18 before moving ahead 24-18 with the run reaching 10-0, taking the set 25-19.
