2008 Woodie Awards
Best Western, bad finish
BG netters start out strong, but fade in home tourney
By: Sean Shapiro
Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: Sports
Despite opening the Best Western Invitational with a convincing win, BG's performance on Saturday left much to be desired.
"I knew coming in this was going to be the toughest tournament we're going to play this year, I still had pretty high expectations that we would play well," said head coach Denise Van De Walle.
BG opened tournament play with a strong three-set win against the Binghamton Bearcats (25-18, 25-22, 25-19). Against the Bearcats BG was lead by seniors Meghan Mohr and Kendra Halm who both recorded double-digit kills while the team hit .293 for the match.
"I thought everybody did a great job, Corey Domek had some great swings from the left side, and Kendra Halm, Shari Luther, everybody did really well tonight," said Mohr.
Despite the strong offensive effort, the Falcons struggled blocking and receiving serves. Binghamton out-blocked BG and recorded six service aces while BG committed six return errors.
BG's blocking and serve receive problems continued in their second match against the Rice Owls. BG only blocked two balls and was aced eight times in a four set loss to the Owls (21-25,25-20,21-25,18-25).
BG seemed to fix their errors in the second set which they were able to win on a dig by senior Chelsey Meek's right foot prior to an Owl hitting error. After the break the Falcons problems returned as they only blocked one ball in the last two sets.
"We just didn't make a lot of errors, I think Bowling Green did a great job as well. I think they made less errors than we did, we just put the ball away better today," said Rice head coach Genny Volpe.
Against Rice BG only had two players with double-digit kills while the Owls dominated both of their left side hitters.
The Falcons closed out their tournament with a disappointing three set loss to the Hofstra Pride. Against the Pride, BG held leads in all three sets and wasn't able to win a set despite having set point in the second set, losing 28-26.
"I think we ran into a very good Hofstra team, I thought if we had bounced back from this afternoon's match we wouldn't have trouble. However, this was the best that Hofstra played the entire weekend, tonight was definitely their night," said Van De Walle.
While BG's blocking did improve against the Pride their middle hitters who had been playing well all weekend were limited to a combined nine kills on 23 attempts. Defensively BG was led by Meek who was the only Falcon named to the all-tournament team.
Meek recorded 66 digs during the weekend including a tournament high 28 digs against Rice. Meek's play was even more important this weekend when the Falcons team blocking was struggling and BG played against three hard-hitting teams.
BG heads back to the court this Thursday when the open MAC play by heading to Miami for a meeting with the Redhawks.
"I knew coming in this was going to be the toughest tournament we're going to play this year, I still had pretty high expectations that we would play well," said head coach Denise Van De Walle.
BG opened tournament play with a strong three-set win against the Binghamton Bearcats (25-18, 25-22, 25-19). Against the Bearcats BG was lead by seniors Meghan Mohr and Kendra Halm who both recorded double-digit kills while the team hit .293 for the match.
"I thought everybody did a great job, Corey Domek had some great swings from the left side, and Kendra Halm, Shari Luther, everybody did really well tonight," said Mohr.
Despite the strong offensive effort, the Falcons struggled blocking and receiving serves. Binghamton out-blocked BG and recorded six service aces while BG committed six return errors.
BG's blocking and serve receive problems continued in their second match against the Rice Owls. BG only blocked two balls and was aced eight times in a four set loss to the Owls (21-25,25-20,21-25,18-25).
BG seemed to fix their errors in the second set which they were able to win on a dig by senior Chelsey Meek's right foot prior to an Owl hitting error. After the break the Falcons problems returned as they only blocked one ball in the last two sets.
"We just didn't make a lot of errors, I think Bowling Green did a great job as well. I think they made less errors than we did, we just put the ball away better today," said Rice head coach Genny Volpe.
Against Rice BG only had two players with double-digit kills while the Owls dominated both of their left side hitters.
The Falcons closed out their tournament with a disappointing three set loss to the Hofstra Pride. Against the Pride, BG held leads in all three sets and wasn't able to win a set despite having set point in the second set, losing 28-26.
"I think we ran into a very good Hofstra team, I thought if we had bounced back from this afternoon's match we wouldn't have trouble. However, this was the best that Hofstra played the entire weekend, tonight was definitely their night," said Van De Walle.
While BG's blocking did improve against the Pride their middle hitters who had been playing well all weekend were limited to a combined nine kills on 23 attempts. Defensively BG was led by Meek who was the only Falcon named to the all-tournament team.
Meek recorded 66 digs during the weekend including a tournament high 28 digs against Rice. Meek's play was even more important this weekend when the Falcons team blocking was struggling and BG played against three hard-hitting teams.
BG heads back to the court this Thursday when the open MAC play by heading to Miami for a meeting with the Redhawks.
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