Bowling Green State University
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Volleyball Stops Northern Illinois In Four Games
October 14, 2000 | Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Kristin Gamby's career night paced the Bowling Green State University volleyball team to a four-game win over Northern Illinois University Saturday (Oct. 14). The Falcons topped the Huskies (15-8, 10-15, 16-14, 16-14) in Mid-American Conference action at BGSU's Anderson Arena.
The Falcons, now 11-7 overall and 4-5 in MAC play, hit .335 as a team and posted season-best -- and school-record -- totals in kills (102) and assists (93). The Falcons hit at least .265 and had at least 21 kills in each of the four games.
Gamby, a redshirt sophomore, posted a career-best in kills for the second night in a row. She had 26 kills, breaking her previous best of 15, set in Friday's (Oct. 13) Falcon win over Buffalo.
Gamby entered the weekend with a season total of 15 kills and a career total of 20. She had a combined 41 kills in the UB and NIU matches, hitting an even .500 on the weekend.
On Saturday, Gamby hit .524, with just four attack errors in 42 total attempts. She had set a career best for hitting percentage Friday, with a .458 effort vs. Buffalo.
Senior JoAnna Papageorgiou also had over 20 kills, with 23. She hit .442, while junior Caty Rommeck hit .348 and had 18 kills.
Freshman Susie Norris also had 18 kills, while junior Shyann Robinson rounded out the Falcons' double-digit killers with 15.
NIU (15-5 overall, 6-3 MAC) also had five players with double-digit kill totals, led by Tenisha Wilkins with 25. Jen VonderHaar had 22 kills and hit a team-best .362, while Jenny Bowman had 87 assists.
Falcon junior Natalie Becker shattered her career high with a school-record 82 assists in the victory. Becker's previous best was 68, set on Sept. 22 vs. Ball State.
The previous school record for assists in a match was 80, set by Linda Popovich in 1987 (five-game match). Becker obliterated the old school record for a four-game match of 66, set by Wendy Watkins in 1996.
Making Becker's assist total all the more impressive was the fact that freshman Sara Sikorski also saw time at setter. Sikorski had six assists on the night.
As a team, the Falcons set school single-match records for both kills and assists. The team's 102 kills broke the old record of 96 (vs. St. John's, Sept. 19, 1998 - four games), and the Falcons' 93-assist night easily bested the old record of 83 assists (vs. Central Michigan, Nov. 27, 1987 - five games). In fact, the Falcons shattered the record for assists in a four-game match (73, set twice, most recently on Sept. 16 of this year vs. UIC).
The Falcons had all six starters reach double digits in digs, led by Norris with 19. Becker had 16 digs, while Rommeck and junior Karen Tangeman had 14 each. Papageorgiou and Robinson had 11 and 10, respectively.
Rommeck was one block shy of a triple double, with a match-best nine on the night.
BGSU completed the victory with a game-four comeback, after the Huskies had mounted a comeback of their own. BG took a 9-2 lead in that game, only to see NIU reel off the next 11 points. The teams traded points, giving the visitors a 14-10 lead. But, the Falcons would score the final six points of the night, capped by a Rommeck kill, for the victory.
The Falcons continue a four-match homestand Wednesday (Oct. 18), hosting East Division-leading Ohio University. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
