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Alumni Watch: Lauryn Hovey NCAA MAC Tournament MVP

By Admin, 11/22/22, 9:15PM EST

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MAC Champs! Falcons Clinch MAC Tournament Title In Five Set Thriller

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball program captured the 2022 MAC Tournament Championship on Tuesday night (Nov. 22), topping Ball State in five sets to clinch the title. The Falcons battled through a close first set that went to the Cardinals before winning both the second and third sets. The Cardinals took the fourth set to force a fifth, but the Falcons were able to tally a 15-9 score to clinch the win. Each of the first four sets finished with a 25-23 score. 

The Falcons were led by MAC Tournament MVP Lauryn Hovey. Hovey tallied the first 20-kill match of the season for BGSU, landing 22, to highlight her third triple-double of the season with 16 assists and 11 digs. Petra Indrova added a double-double and four aces while Yelianiz Torres contributed 33 digs, both being named All-Tournament. Jaden Walz added a double-double as well to catapult the Falcons to their second MAC Tournament Championship in the last three seasons. 

How It Happened 
Set 1: Ball State 25, Bowling Green 23

  • Ball State tallied the first two points of the match, but the Falcons stormed back with a 5-0 run to move out in front 5-2 in the first set. 
  • The Cardinals responded with a 4-0 run of their own to move back in front with a 6-5 score before the Falcons knotted it up at 6-6. 
  • A 4-0 run for Ball State pushed the Cardinals out in front 12-8 to prompt a BGSU timeout. 
  • The Falcons and Cardinals continued to trade points up to the next stoppage, being a Bowling Green timeout with the score at 20-16 BSU.
  • Bowling Green worked to chip away at the Ball State lead, forcing a timeout from the Cardinals' bench with the score at 23-20 BSU. 
  • The Orange and Brown went on a 3-0 run to narrow the gap to 24-23 Ball State to force a timeout from the Cardinals.
  • The Cardinals landed the next point out of the timeout to take the first set 25-23. 


Set 2: Bowling Green 25, Ball State 23

  • The second set began with the trading of points to a 4-4 tie, but a 3-0 run for the Cardinals brought the score to 7-4 Ball State.
  • The Falcons answered with a 3-0 run of their own, bringing the score back to a 7-7 tie. 
  • The trading of points resumed before a 3-0 run pushed Ball State ahead 13-9, however the Falcons responded with a 5-0 run to take a 15-14 lead and bring the media timeout.
  • BGSU tallied the first point out of the media break before two Ball State points to bring the score back to a 16-16 tie.
  • The ties continued until a 2-0 spurt by the Cardinals to move ahead 22-20 and force a BGSU timeout.
  • The Falcons landed the next two points out of the timeout to tie it up at 22-22 and prompt a timeout from Ball State. 
  • The Falcons were able to hold the momentum for a 25-23 set win, highlighted by a block from Lauryn Hovey and Alexis Mettille


Set 3: Bowling Green 25, Ball State 23

  • The Cardinals landed the first point of the set before the Falcons put together a 5-0 run to move ahead 5-1 in the set. 
  • Ball State soon responded with a 3-0 run to close the BGSU lead to 7-5, but a 4-1 stretch for BGSU rebuilt the lead to 11-6 and forced a timeout from the Cardinals.
  • The Falcons put together another 3-0 run later in the set to move the lead to 18-13 and bring about a Ball State timeout.
  • The Orange and Brown brought the score to set point, but a 3-0 run for the Cardinals forced a BGSU timeout with the Bowling Green lead at 24-20. 
  • The run continued through the timeout for Ball State, tallying two more points before another BGSU timeout with the score at 24-22. 
  • The Cardinals added one more point, but a Lauryn Hovey kill clinched the set for the Falcons, 25-23. 


Set 4: Ball State 25, Bowling Green 23

  • The fourth set began close with the teams alternating points deep into the set, with a tie as late as 9-9. 
  • The Falcons took the first two-point lead of the set at 11-9, rolling into a 3-0 lead to force a Ball State timeout at 12-9.
  • The Cardinals chipped away at the lead, narrowing the gap to 18-17, but a pair of Kat Mandly kills pushed the BGSU advantage back to 20-17. The Falcons stretched it out to a 4-1 run to bring the core to 22-18 and force a Ball State timeout. 
  • Ball State tallied the next two points out of the timeout to bring the score to 22-20 Falcons and force a BGSU timeout. 
  • Ball State continued the run with three more points to move ahead 23-22 and force a BGSU timeout. 
  • The Cardinals tallied the next point out of the timeout to go up 24-22. A BGSU point followed before Ball State forced a fifth set 25-23. 


Set 5: Bowling Green 15, Ball State 9

  • The Falcons opened the fifth set by scoring the first three points for a quick 3-0 advantage. 
  • Ball State closed the gap to 7-6, but Mia Tyler landed a kill for the Falcons to bring the media timeout and see the teams switch sides with BGSU leading 8-6.
  • The Falcons registered two more points to push the run to 3-0 and prompt a Ball State timeout with the score at 10-6 BGSU.
  • The lead stretched to 12-7 for the Falcons before another timeout from the Cardinals. 
  • Ball State made a late push, but the Falcons held strong for a 15-9 set, match and championship win!


Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Lauryn Hovey (22)
Assists: Jaden Walz (32)
Digs: Yelianiz Torres (33)
Aces: Petra Indrova (4)
Blocks: Alexis Mettile (8)

Falcon Stat Facts

  • Lauryn Hovey was named the Tournament MVP following her third triple-double of the season. Hovey finished with a team-high 22 kills, the first 20-kill match for the Falcons this season. She added 16 assists and 11 digs to complete the triple-double. Hovey added seven blocks to her stat line as well, matching her career-high. Hovey also attempted a team-high 49 attacks, setting a new career-high.
  • Hovey is one of just 10 players in the nation with three or more triple-doubles and one of two freshmen. The other freshman to have three this season is Central Michigan's Claire Ammeraal. 
  • Petra Indrova finished the match with 14 kills and 15 digs to log her 12th double-double of the season. Indrova led the Falcons in aces with four and was named All-Tournament. 
  • With 14 kills, Indrova now has a career total of 1,336 to place her eighth in program history for career kills. Indrova also totaled 43 attacks to bring her mark to 3,590 career attacks, which is sixth all-time. 
  • Yelianiz Torres paced the Falcons with 33 digs in the match, her 13th match with 20+ digs this season. Torres added six assists and an ace to her stat line en route to being named All-Tournament. 
  • The 33 digs brought Torres' season total to 570 to move her up to eighth all-time for digs in a single season. 
  • Jaden Walz registered her 10th double-double of the season, concluding with a team-high 32 assists, matching her season-high, along with 12 digs. 
  • Alexis Mettille had a team-high and career-high eight block assists in the match. Jessica Andrews was close behind with seven. 
  • Mia Tyler and Kat Mandly both reached double-digit kills in the match with 12 and 11, respectively. In the match, the Falcons had four players reach double-digit kills.
  • With her first swing of the match, Katelyn Meyer eclipsed 5,000 career attack attempts, becoming the first player in program history to reach the milestone.
  • With the win, the Falcons advance to the program's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance with the last coming during the 2020-21 season. 


Up Next
The Falcons will continue their season in the NCAA Tournament, beginning Dec. 1. The NCAA Selection Show will be held on Sunday (Nov. 27) at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU.