Bowling Green State University volleyball will return home to the Stroh Center to host Central Michigan this weekend.
Friday’s match is set for a 6 p.m. first serve and will be Pride Night. Saturday’s match will begin at 4 p.m.
The Falcons are 10-7 on the season, and 4-1 inside the Stroh. BGSU is in the midst of a three-match win streak when playing at home. Bowling Green is winners in five of their last six matches as well as seven of their last nine, bringing the team’s conference record to 5-1 to lead the MAC East.
Bowling Green leads the all-time series against Central Michigan, 35-26 against the Chippewas. The Falcons have won eight of the last nine meetings, including five straight against CMU. The two teams have also commonly played three or four sets with the last five-set match between the two dating back to the 2012 season, a match that BGSU won 3-2. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in Bowling Green since 2019.
The Chippewas enter the weekend against the Falcons with an 11-6 standing on the season, 4-2 within the Mid-American Conference. CMU began conference play by sweeping Ball State at home, winning the first match in four sets and the second in five, before splitting two four-set matches with Toledo on the road. They lost to Ohio in three sets before beating Kent State in three, both at home. During non-conference play, the Chippewas topped Memphis in five sets, but lost in three to both Notre Dame and Missouri.
Senior Mallory Hernandez leads the attack for CMU and is third in the MAC, averaging 3.52 kills per set. Senior Maddie Whitfield has been strong at the net for Central Michigan with 1.20 blocks per set while sophomore Aly Gurtiza has averaged 5.38 digs per set, both coming in second in the conference for each respective stat.
So far this year, Bowling Green ranks sixth in the nation for the toughest schedule. Only Ohio State, Minnesota, Stanford, Louisville and Texas have played a tougher schedule. The Falcons moved up a few spots in the last week, now 28th in the nation. The next MAC team on the list is Toledo, which is 92nd in RPI.
Bowling Green freshman Lauryn Hovey put together a career performance against Western Michigan last weekend. In the five-set match, Hovey tallied 22 assists, 13 kills and 11 digs for the program’s first triple-double since the 2019 season. Hovey is the 26th player in the nation to reach the mark and just one of six freshmen to do so this season.
Since MAC play began, the Falcons have shown a strength at the service line, landing a conference-best 42 aces to average 1.83 per set. Yelianiz Torres is atop the MAC rankings since the beginning of conference play with 12 aces. Jaden Walz is in seventh with eight.
