WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

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BUFFALO, NY - The visiting Falcons put forth a strong hitting performance while the Bulls could not generate much offense of their own, resulting in a 3-0 Bowling Green win in Mid-American Conference volleyball action Saturday night in Alumni Arena. Game scores were 30-22, 30-18, 30-17. With the win, Bowling Green improves to 9-8 overall and 3-3 in the MAC while Buffalo falls to 8-11 overall and 0-6 in the conference.

Lauren Burd

The Falcons jumped out to early leads in all three games, forcing the Bulls to play catch-up for the entire match. Bowling Green started game one on a 5-0 run and maintained its five-point lead for most of the game. Back-to-back blocks by the Falcons completed a 7-1 run that put them up 25-17. The Bulls then put together a 4-0 run of their own to close the gap to 25-21, but that was as close as they would get. Bowling Green hit .409 in game one compared to the Bulls' .184 hitting percentage.

BGSU took an early 7-3 lead in game two to keep its momentum going. Three straight kills by Ashlei Nofzinger and a Buffalo attack error made up a 4-0 run that later gave the Falcons a commanding 21-10 lead. Nofzinger had six of her match-high 17 kills in game two to lead the Falcons. Bowling Green hit .389 in the game while the Bulls hit .000.

The Falcons continued their dominance in game three, taking a 6-0 lead and then extending it to 15-6 en route to the easy 30-17 final. Bowling Green hit .304 in game three while Buffalo hit .082.

The Bulls were led offensively by junior Nikki Morzenti (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater) with 12 kills. Senior Amy Brown (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) posted a double-double with 26 assists and a team-high 14 digs. Juniors Lauren Burd (York, PA/Central York) and Brandie Clark (Medicine Hat, Alberta/Medicine Hat) and sophomore Sarah Streib (Baldwinsville, NY/Baker) finished with seven kills apiece, and libero Lizaiha Garcia (Dayton, OH/Beavercreek) had 13 digs.

In addition to Nofzinger's 17 kills, Emily Manser reached double digits with 11 kills while also adding 16 digs. Libero Chelsey Meek had a match-high 20 digs, and Chrissy Gothke had a strong all-around performance with 41 assists, five kills, five digs and three blocks. The Falcons hit .365 in the match compared to the Bulls' .094, and they had seven blocks compared to the Bulls' four.

Buffalo is next in action on Tuesday, October 11 for its final non-conference match of the season at Syracuse at 4 pm. The Bulls then return home to host Ohio (Friday, October 14) and Kent State (Saturday, October 15) next weekend. Both home matches begin at 6 pm.