Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball Home For Two Matches This Week
October 16, 2000 | Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, after a pair of home wins last weekend, will look to continue that success with two more Mid-American Conference matches this week. The Falcons (11-7 overall, 4-5 MAC) of head coach Denise Van De Walle will host the East Division leader, Ohio University, in a Wednesday (Oct. 18) night match. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena.
Following the OU contest, the Falcons will welcome Eastern Michigan University to town for a Friday (Oct. 20) tilt. That match also will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson.
HEAD COACH DENISE VAN DE WALLE: Denise Van De Walle, the dean of Mid-American Conference mentors, is in her 18th year with the Falcons, and has a record of 328-219. She is the second-winningest coach in MAC history with her 328 career victories, and her total of 149 MAC wins ranks her third all-time. Van De Walle reached the 300-win mark for her career last Sept. 10, when BG swept Mississippi State.
James Neyhouse is in his first season as Van De Walle's assistant, while former BGSU standout Kris Pesorda also is in her first year on the Falcon staff.
THE OPPONENTS: Ohio checks into the week with a 14-6 overall record, and the Bobcats are 7-2 in MAC play. OU already has topped last year's win totals (9-21 overall, 3-13 MAC), and the team's 7-0 league start was the best in school history. After a midweek win at Marshall, though, the 'Cats lost a pair of home matches last weekend, falling in four games to both Ball State (Friday, Oct. 13) and Western Michigan (Saturday, Oct. 14). OU welcomed back eight letterwinners, including four starters, from the 1999 team. Mike Lessinger is in his first season as a collegiate head coach. More information on the team can be found at www.ohiobobcats.com.
Eastern Michigan enters the week with a 4-15 overall mark, and the Eagles are 3-5 in MAC action. EMU hosts Central Michigan in a Wednesday (Oct. 18) contest before heading to BGSU two days later. Last week, EMU went 2-1, sweeping visiting Toledo in a midweek contest before dropping a pair of four-game matches over the weekend. Eastern lost at Akron Friday (Oct. 13) and at home to Miami the following night. Head coach Kim Berrington welcomed back seven letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team that finished 20-12 overall and 10-8 in league play. Berrington, 50-85 in her fifth year in Ypsilanti, is 153-161 in her ninth year as a collegiate head coach. More information on the Eagles can be found at www.emich.edu/goeagles.
THE SERIES: The Falcons hold a 36-10 lead in the all-time series with Ohio, including a three-game win at Anderson Arena last Oct. 9 in the only 1999 meeting between the schools. Last season's BG win broke a three-match Bobcat winning streak in the series. The Falcons are 13-3 in home matches vs. OU, but the Bobcats had won the last three meetings in Bowling Green prior to the BG win last year.
BGSU holds a 23-15 series lead over Eastern Michigan, but the Eagles have won the last three meetings, including a home-and-home sweep in 1999. EMU captured a five-game win at Anderson Arena last Oct. 27, then won in three games in Ypsilanti (Nov. 13, 1999). BGSU is 10-6 vs. the Hurons/Eagles in home matches, and the Falcons had won six-straight home contests prior to last year's loss.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 2-0 at home last weekend, beginning with Friday's (Oct. 13) three-game win over Buffalo (15-4, 15-7, 15-7). The following night, the Brown and Orange captured a four-game win over Northern Illinois (15-8, 10-15, 16-14, 16-14).
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Falcon players were represented in several categories when the NCAA released the latest national statistics last Wednesday (Oct. 11). Freshman Susie Norris was ranked 16th in the nation in digs, with an average of 4.13 per game, while junior Caty Rommeck was 18th in the country in blocks, averaging 1.46 per contest. After last weekend's matches, Norris is now averaging 4.17 digs, while Rommeck is averaging 1.53 blocks.
LEADERS OF THE MAC: The Mid-American Conference office released the latest league statistics Monday (Oct. 16), and the Falcons have several players among the various category leaders. Junior Caty Rommeck is fourth in the league with a hitting percentage of .325, and she leads the MAC with 1.53 blocks. Rommeck ranks fifth in the MAC with 4.04 kills per game.
Freshman Susie Norris is the MAC digs leader, with an average of 4.17 per game. Senior JoAnna Papageorgiou is fifth in the league in blocks (1.11 bpg), 11th in hitting pct. (.273) and 13th in kills (3.35 kpg). Junior Natalie Becker is averaging 11.33 assists, good for fourth in the MAC.
As a team, the Falcons are second in the league in both digs (18.59) and blocks (2.75), and BGSU ranks fourth in kills (15.85), hitting pct. (.229) and assists (14.47) and 13th in service aces (1.06).
GREAT GOING, GAMBY! To say that Kristin Gamby had a successful weekend would be quite an understatement. The redshirt sophomore set career bests for kills (15) and hitting percentage (.458) in the Buffalo match, then topped both figures in the NIU contest. Gamby had 26 kills and hit .524 in the win over the Huskies.
Gamby had entered the weekend with a season total of 15 kills and a career total of 20. She more than doubled that total in the two weekend matches. Gamby hit a combined .500 in the two wins, with 41 kills.
RECORDS GALORE: The Falcons set a number of individual and team records in the win over Northern Illinois Saturday. BGSU set school marks for kills and assists in a match. BG's total of 102 kills snapped the old record of 96, set vs. St. Johns (Sept. 19, 1998 - four games). The Falcons' 93 assists topped the old record by 10 (83 vs. Central Michigan, Nov. 27, 1987 - five games), and the team shattered the record for assists in a four-game match (73, twice).
Individually, junior Natalie Becker broke the single-match record for assists, with 82. The old record of 80 was set by Linda Popovich in a five-game contest in 1987. Becker obliterated the old record of 66 assists in a four-game match (set by Wendy Watkins in 1998). Making Becker's accomplishment all the more impressive is the fact that freshman Sara Sikorski also saw time at setter vs. NIU, posting six assists.
NOTING THE FALCONS: Freshman Susie Norris is on pace to break the BGSU single-season record for digs per game ... Norris is averaging 4.17 digs per contest through 18 matches ... the school record is 3.80, by Jo Lynn Williamson in 1987 ... Norris has a total of 275 digs to date this season ... the school record is 455, by Holli Costein in 1992 ... Norris has had 11 matches with double-digit dig totals this season, including six contests with 20 or more ... junior Caty Rommeck has had a hitting percentage of .300 or better in 12 matches this year, including in each of last weekend's contests ... Rommeck has a chance to break into the BGSU single-season top 10 in several blocking categories ... Rommeck has 31 solo blocks and 104 total rejections this year ... Keisha Wilkins (1997) is 10th on both lists, with 42 solo blocks and 137 total blocks ... Rommeck's 1.53 blocks-per-game average puts her on a pace to finish third on that BG seasonal list ... the Falcons hit at least .265 and had 21 kills or more in each of the four games vs. Northern Illinois ... Rommeck just missed a triple-double in that match, with 18 kills, 14 digs and nine blocks ... BG hit .345 as a team last weekend, while the opponents hit .223 ... senior JoAnna Papageorgiou hit .478 with 5.14 kills per game on the weekend ... she hit .542 with 13 kills vs. UB, then hit .442 and had a BG career-best 23 kills vs. NIU ... junior Shyann Robinson also had her highest kill total as a Falcon, with 15 vs. the Huskies ... in addition to her successful weekend on offense, sophomore Kristin Gamby also set career bests in two defensive categories ... she had five digs and four blocks vs. NIU ... she entered that match with career totals of four digs and seven blocks ... BGSU has 11 regular-season matches remaining, four at Anderson Arena.
DOWN THE ROAD: Following this week's action, the Falcons will head to northeast Ohio for a pair of matches next weekend. BGSU will play at Kent State on Friday, Oct. 27, before playing an afternoon contest at Akron the next day. The KSU contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at the M.A.C. Center, while the UA match will start at 3:00 p.m. at Rhodes Arena.
2000 MAC STANDINGS (as of Monday morning, Oct. 16)
East Division Ohio (14-6) 7-2 Akron (9-10) 4-4 Bowling Green (11-7) 4-5 Miami (7-12) 3-5 Kent State (5-12) 2-5 Buffalo (4-15) 0-8 Marshall (2-18) 0-8West Division Ball State (16-3) 9-0 Western Michigan (12-5) 7-1 Central Michigan (10-8) 5-2 Northern Illinois (15-5) 6-3 Eastern Michigan (4-15) 3-5 Toledo (6-11) 3-5
