KENT, Ohio — Bowling Green State University volleyball will begin conference play within the MAC for the 2022 season on the road with two matches against Kent State.
The Falcons and Golden Flashes will play two matches inside the M.A.C. Center. The first will be tonight with a 6 p.m. first serve before beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The Falcons are coming off a difficult non-conference schedule, facing three teams ranked in the Top 25 and three more that were receiving votes at the time of the match.
BGSU was able to tally victories against both Tennessee and Mississippi State, who were receiving votes, as well as Northern Kentucky, DePaul and American to round out conference play with a 5-6 standing.
For BGSU, 5-foot-2 defensive specialist Julia Walz has landed at least one service ace in five of the last six matches for the Falcons with a total of six over that span.
With eight aces this season, Walz has brought her career total to 98 and is knocking on the door of the Top 10 all-time.
Walz enters the weekend needing four more aces to reach 102 and pass Maggie Karges (2004-07) for 10th in program history for career service aces. The last Falcon to enter the Top 10 for the stat was Paige Penrod in 2013. Penrod is currently ninth with 114.
A 6-0 freshman outside hitter, Lauryn Hovey has taken on an expanded role for the Falcons. In addition to being an outside hitter, Hovey has joined the setter cycle for Bowling Green.
Playing both positions over the course of the last few matches, Hovey tallied her first double-double of her collegiate career with 15 kills and 15 assists in the five-set victory over Mississippi State
Kent State concluded their non-conference schedule with a 9-2 record with the only losses coming in five sets to James Madison and four sets to Cornell.
The Golden Flashes are in the midst of a six-match winning streak that includes a 3-0 sweep over Cleveland State. The other non-conference sweep for Kent State came against Southern Indiana in their home opener.
As for matches played at home, the Golden Flashes enter with a 3-1 standing in the M.A.C. Center, being 13-6 in sets played. Both of Kent State’s sweeps this season have come on their home court.
The Golden Flashes are coming off a sweep of the MAC East Player of the Week awards with Savannah Matthews (offensive), Erin Gardner (defensive) and Alex Haffner (setter) being named.
Kent State is also paced by Danie Tyson on the attack. With a .396 hitting percentage, Tyson currently leads the conference and is 30th in the nation.
