Bowling Green womens volleyball coach Danijela Tomic, right, gives instructions to Kat Mandly, former Perrysburg standout, left, during practice. The Falcons just brought Tomic her 200th career win as BGSU coach during a Mid-American Conference win on the road at Ohio. (Scott W. Grau/Sentinel-Tribune)
The Bowling Green State University volleyball team topped Ohio in four sets, 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 25-13, in a 3-1 final on Saturday in Athens, Ohio to earn coach Danijela Tomic her 200th win at the helm of the Falcons.
For Tomic, 130 of those 200 wins have come in conference play. At the Division I level, Tomic now has 359 career wins.
Bowling Green was dominant in the fourth set, registering a .321 hitting percentage. Jaden Walz paced the Falcons with her fifth double-double of the season, recording 41 assists and 10 digs for the Falcons.
Lauryn Hovey led the attack with 19 kills followed closely by Mia Tyler (12) and Kat Mandly (11) with Mandly adding a team-high four aces. Mandly, from Perrysburg, also had a team high four aces.
On the defensive side, Helen Wilford registered a career-high eight block assists and Alex Laboy had 13 digs for the Falcons.
The second set was close as Ohio drew within one, chipping away to a 17-16 score, but a 3-0 run pushed the Falcons’ lead back to 20-16. The Bobcats narrowed the lead once again, bringing the score to 22-21 BGSU with a Bowling Green timeout.
Out of the timeout, Hovey landed her 12th kill of the match to force Ohio to take a timeout after just one point with BGSU leading 23-21. The Falcons were able to hold off the Bobcats push to take the second set and move in front 2-0 for the match.
Ohio landed the first point of the fourth set, but the Falcons responded with a 6-0 run to move out in front 6-1 and force an Ohio timeout, but the rout was on.
The win marks the first four-set win for the Falcons on the road this season. With the win, the Falcons have now won 10 of the last 12 meetings against Ohio and hold a record of 31-23 when playing in Athens.
The win also marks the first in the month of October this year for the Falcons. BGSU is 8-11 overall and 2-6 in the MAC, while Ohio is 10-11 and 5-4.
BGSU will stay on the road for their next contest facing Miami on Tuesday (Oct. 17) at 7 p.m. The Falcons will then return home to host Kent State next weekend.
