Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Home For Two This Weekend
January 05, 2000 | Volleyball
Oct. 11, 1999
TOP STORIES:
* - Senior Lori Kemerer has joined an elite group at BGSU ... with 22 digs in a win at Wright State Tuesday (Oct. 5), she became only the third BGSU player ever to amass 1,000 career kills, 1,000 career digs and 1,000 career blocks ... Kemerer, who now has 1,081 kills, 1,031 digs and 457 total blocks, joins Lisa Mika (1988-91) and BGSU Hall-of-Famer Tammy Schiller (1988-91) in that group.
* - Senior Melissa Lewis became just the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,000-kill mark for a career ... Lewis, who hammered her 1,000th kill in Friday's (Oct. 8) win at Kent, now ranks eighth all-time with 1,019 kills in her career to date.
* - BGSU tied a school record with 17 service aces in Saturday's (Oct. 9) win over Ohio ... the Falcons broke the school mark for aces in a three-game match.
UP NEXT: The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, riding a three-match winning streak, is home for a pair of conference matches this weekend. The Falcons will conclude a six-match Mid-American Conference homestand with a Friday (Oct. 15) contest vs. arch-rival Toledo and a Saturday (Oct. 16) match against Central Michigan. First serve for each match is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
DENISE VAN DE WALLE: Denise Van De Walle, the dean of MAC mentors, is in her 17th year with the Falcons. She is the second-winningest coach in MAC history with 305 career victories, and her 136 MAC wins also rank her second all-time. Van De Walle reached the 300-win mark for her career Sept. 10, when the Falcons swept Mississippi State at the Marquette Challenge.
Tom Hanna is in his fourth season as Van De Walle's assistant, while former Falcon setter Wendy (Watkins) Teaman is in her first year on the BG coaching staff.
ABOUT THE FALCONS: Bowling Green enters the UT match with a 9-8 overall record and a 3-3 MAC slate. The Falcons went 3-0 last week, winning a Tuesday (Oct. 5) road match against Wright State before returning home for weekend wins over Kent (3-2, Friday) and Ohio (3-0, Saturday).
Senior Melissa Lewis, who has led the Falcons in kills in 14 of the first 17 matches, has 269 kills (4.56 per game) on the season. Classmate Heather Greig has dished out 634 assists, an average of 10.75 per game. Another senior, Lori Kemerer, leads BG in blocks per game (1.46) and digs per game (3.04). Lewis (2.97 dpg) is a close second in the latter category.
Last season, the Falcons finished with an overall record of 11-21. BG finished in sixth place in the seven-team East Division of the Mid-American Conference with a 4-14 league record.
MAC STANDINGS:
Team (Overall)_____________MAC East Division Miami (10-5)_______________5-0 Marshall (11-6)____________5-1 Akron (9-8)________________4-1 Bowling Green (9-8)________3-3 Kent (5-11)________________2-3 Buffalo (8-9)______________2-4 Ohio (6-12)________________0-6West Division Western Michigan (14-3)____6-0 Ball State (13-5)__________5-1 Eastern Michigan (10-7)____3-4 Central Michigan (5-11)____2-4 Toledo (4-13)______________1-6 Northern Illinois (3-9)____0-5
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Toledo will bring a 4-13 overall record into Friday's match, and the Rockets are 1-6 in MAC action. UT snapped a six-match losing streak with Friday's five-game win at Northern Illinois, but lost a three-game match at Western Michigan the following night. Last year, Toledo finished 3-27 overall and had a 1-17 MAC record. Coach Kent Miller is 24-55 in his third season, both at the school and overall.
Central Michigan is 5-11 overall, and the Chippewas will take a 2-4 MAC record into a Wednesday (Oct. 13) home match vs. Western Michigan. Last weekend, CMU dropped a pair of road matches, falling to Ball State in three games Friday before losing a four-game set at Miami the following night. Last year, the Chippewas went 11-16 overall, placing fourth in the MAC's West Division with an 8-10 league ledger. Elaine Piha is 16-27 in her second year as a head coach, both at CMU and overall.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead the all-time series with each of this week's opponents. BGSU holds advantages of 36-7 over Toledo and 16-15 vs. Central Michigan.
The Falcons have won the last two meetings vs. UT, sweeping the Rockets in 1998's home-and-home set. The Brown and Orange split the season series with Toledo in each of the prior three years. The Falcons will be looking to extend a perfect home record vs. UT, boasting a 19-0 all-time mark in matches played in BG against the Rockets.
BGSU took a series lead over CMU with a three-game win in Mount Pleasant just a few weeks ago (16-14, 15-10, 15-6, Sept. 24). The Falcons are 9-6 in home matches vs. CMU, but the Chippewas broke a nine-match BG home winning streak with last year's three-game sweep in Anderson Arena.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 3-0 last week, downing Wright State, Kent and Ohio ... on Tuesday (Oct. 5), the Brown and Orange recorded a five-game win at Wright State (15-8, 7-15, 15-9, 13-15,
