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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball Home For Two Matches This Weekend
October 09, 2000 | Volleyball
Oct. 9, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, looking to return to winning ways, will return home for a pair of Mid-American Conference matches this weekend. The Falcons (9-7 overall, 2-5 MAC) of head coach Denise Van De Walle will host the University at Buffalo in a Friday (Oct. 13) match. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's venerable Anderson Arena.
Following the UB contest, the Falcons will welcome Northern Illinois University to town for a Saturday (Oct. 14) 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 326-219. She is the second-winningest coach in MAC history with her 326 career victories, and her total of 147 MAC wins also ranks her second all-time. Van De Walle reached the 300-win mark for her career last Sept. 10, when the Falcons 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: Buffalo is 4-13 on the year, and the Bulls are 0-6 in MAC action heading into Friday's BGSU contest. Last weekend, UB lost a pair of road contests, falling at Miami in four games Friday (Oct. 6) and to Ball State in a three-game match Saturday (Oct. 7). UB has six letterwinners, including four starters, back from last year's team. That squad went 11-19 overall and finished 4-14 in league play. Head coach Nadine Lilavois, 15-32 in her second season at Buffalo, is 112-205 in her 10th year as a collegiate head coach. More information on the team can be found at www.buffalobulls.com.
Northern Illinois enters the week with a 14-4 overall record, and the Huskies will take a 5-2 MAC mark into a Friday match at Kent State. Last week, NIU went 2-1, dropping a three-game match at Ball State Wednesday (Oct. 4) before sweeping two home matches over the weekend. Northern beat Toledo Friday and Eastern Michigan Saturday, both in three games. NIU welcomed back eight letterwinners, including five starters, from last year's team that went 10-15 overall and 7-11 in MAC play. Todd Kress, 24-19 in his second year at NIU, has a record of 118-64 in his sixth year as a collegiate head coach. More information on the team can be found at www.niu.edu/athletics.
THE SERIES: The Falcons lead Buffalo, 3-0-0, in the all-time series which began in 1998. The Falcons have won three-game matches at Anderson Arena in each of the last two years, including last Nov. 5, and the Brown and Orange won a four-game set in Buffalo to close the 1999 regular season (Nov. 20).
BGSU trails Northern Illinois by a 14-2 margin, and the Falcons are 1-6 in home matches vs. the Huskies. That lone home win, however, came last year in three games (Nov. 6), and broke a five-match overall losing streak dating to 1989.
LAST WEEK: The Brown and Orange lost three matches, all on the road. BGSU fell to Toledo in three games (9-15, 10-15, 8-15) on Wednesday (Oct. 4), before losing a three-game match at Western Michigan (11-15, 9-15, 14-16) two days later. On Saturday (Oct. 7), the Falcons lost to Central Michigan in five games (1-15, 7-15, 15-12, 15-9, 13-15).
NATIONALLY SPEAKING: The Falcons were represented in several categories when the NCAA released the latest national statistics last Wednesday (Oct. 4). Susie Norris was ranked fourth in the nation in digs, with an average of 4.71 per game, while Caty Rommeck was 11th in the country in blocks, averaging 1.60 per contest. As a team, the Falcons were seventh in the nation in digs (19.90 dpg). After last week's matches, Norris is now averaging 4.13 digs, while Rommeck is averaging 1.46 blocks. The team is averaging 18.38 digs per game.
FALCONS SWEEP MAC AWARDS: Bowling Green student-athletes swept last week's MAC awards after defeating Kent State and Marshall the previous weekend. Last Monday (Oct. 2), junior Caty Rommeck was named the MAC's Offensive Player of the Week, while freshman Susie Norris was the league's Defensive Player of the Week. It marked the fourth time in five weeks that the Falcons had at least one P-O-W award.
For Rommeck, the award marked the third time on the year that she earned a league honor, and the first time on the offensive side. Norris earned the defensive award for the second time in her brief Falcon career.
On Tuesday (Oct. 3), junior Amber Vorst was named the MAC's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the first time in her Falcon career. That award is given to just one male and one female each week, regardless of sport. Vorst maintains a 3.73 cumulative grade point average as a communication disorders major.
LEADERS OF THE MAC: The Mid-American Conference office released the latest league statistics Monday (Oct. 9), and the Falcons have several players among the various category leaders. Junior Caty Rommeck is fifth in the league with a hitting percentage of .313, and she leads the MAC with 1.46 blocks. Rommeck ranks seventh in the MAC with 4.02 kills per game.
Freshman Susie Norris is the MAC digs leader, with an average of 4.13 per game, while senior JoAnna Papageorgiou ranks seventh in the league with 1.03 blocks per game. Junior Natalie Becker is averaging 10.43 assists, good for sixth in the MAC.
As a team, the Falcons lead the league in digs (18.38), and BGSU ranks second in blocks (2.67), fifth in both kills (15.05) and assists (13.77), sixth in hitting percentage (.212) and 13th in service aces (1.07).
NOTING THE FALCONS: The Falcons have lost three consecutive MAC matches for the first time since the end of the 1998 season ... freshman Susie Norris is on pace to break the BGSU single-season record for digs per game ... Norris is averaging 4.13 digs per contest through 13 matches ... the school record is 3.80, by Jo Lynn Williamson in 1987 ... Norris has a total of 248 digs to date this season ... the school record is 455, by Holli Costein in 1992 ... Norris has had 10 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 10 matches this year ... Rommeck has a chance to break into the BGSU single-season top 10 in several blocking categories ... Rommeck has 29 solo blocks and 89 total rejections this year ... Keisha Wilkins (1997) is 10th all-time with 42 solo blocks, while Lori Hilton (1996) has the 10th-best seasonal mark with 136 total blocks ... Rommeck's 1.46 blocks-per-game average puts her on a pace to finish fourth on that BG seasonal list ... BGSU has 13 regular-season matches remaining, including six at Anderson Arena.
DOWN THE ROAD: Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will remain home for a pair of matches next week. BGSU will host Ohio in a Wednesday (Oct. 18) tilt, before facing Eastern Michigan on Friday, Oct. 20. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at venerable Anderson Arena.
2000 MAC STANDINGS:
as of Monday morning, Oct. 9
East Division Ohio (13-4) 6-0 Akron (8-9) 3-3 Kent State (5-11) 2-4 Bowling Green (9-7) 2-5 Miami (5-11) 1-4 Marshall (2-15) 0-5 Buffalo (4-13) 0-6West Division Ball State (13-3) 6-0 Western Michigan (10-5) 5-1 Northern Illinois (14-4) 5-2 Central Michigan (9-8) 4-2 Toledo (5-9) 2-3 Eastern Michigan (3-13) 2-3
