Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head To NIU And WMU
April 10, 2000 | Women's Tennis
April 10, 2000
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
UP NEXT: The Bowling Green State University women's tennis team, after recording a Mid-American Conference road shutout win last week, completes a five-match road swing with a pair of contests this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Penny Dean, 9-6 in dual play and 4-1 in MAC action, will play at Northern Illinois Friday (April 14), with start time scheduled for 1:00 p.m. locally (2:00 p.m. EDT).
On Saturday (April 15), the Falcons face defending MAC champion and preseason favorite Western Michigan. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Next weekend (April 21-22), the Brown and Orange will host Eastern Michigan and Toledo, respectively, to complete regular-season play.
FALCONS TIE BEST-EVER MAC START: The Falcons' 4-1 start to Mid-American Conference play matches the best league start in school history. The 1982-83 team also started 4-1, and moved to 5-1 en route to a 6-2 MAC ledger and a third-place finish in the MAC Tournament. The 1980-81 team also began 4-1 vs. MAC foes. That team finished fifth at the MAC Tournament.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons recorded a 5-2 win at Ball State Thursday (April 6), the team's third consecutive MAC road win. BGSU won all three doubles flights, and took four of the six singles matches.
In doubles play, the Falcons' top duo of juniors Abby Bratton and Erika Wasilewski downed BSU's Libby Gerding and Darcy Poulos by an 8-2 score. The win moved the Bratton/Wasilewski tandem to a BG-best 16-9 on the year.
The second-flight team of senior co-captain Deidee Bissinger and junior Meghan Rhodes also won, as did the third-level tandem of sophomore Devon Bissinger and junior Tracy Howitt. Deidee Bissinger returned to the lineup after missing the previous weekend's matches (at Akron and Buffalo) due to illness.
The Brown and Orange received a straight-sets victory by Bratton at the top flight. She beat BSU's Gena Tranquada. Rhodes won a three-set match at the third flight, while Devon Bissinger and Howitt were triumphant at the fifth and sixth flights, respectively.
Howitt's doubles win was the 100th overall victory of her BGSU career. After garnering her 101st win with the singles victory, Howitt now ranks 12th on the school list for overall career wins. She has a team-best singles record of 18-8 this year.
Deidee Bissinger's doubles win gave her a career total of 147 combined wins, extending her school record. Bissinger passed Cindy Mikolajewski (143 wins from 1994-97) in BG's win over Miami on March 24.
Ball State dropped to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in the MAC after the loss to BG. In the preseason coaches poll, the Cardinals were picked to finish fifth in the MAC, while the Falcons were tabbed for sixth.
FALCON QUICK FACTS
1999-2000 RECORDS Overall: 9-6 Mid-American Conference: 4-1NEXT ACTION BGSU at Northern Illinois Friday, April 14 * 1:00 p.m. CT DeKalb, Illinois
BGSU at Western Michigan Saturday, April 15 * 1:00 p.m. Kalamazoo, Michigan
FINAL 1998-99 RECORDS Overall: 16-7 Mid-American Conference: 6-3 (Fourth) MAC Championships Finish: Sixth of 10
HEAD COACH - Penny Dean Alma Mater: Michigan, 1967 Year at BGSU: 10th Record at BGSU: 109-88 Year as a head coach: 14th Overall Career Record: 155-132
BGSU RESULTS LINE 419/372-7076, choose option 4 (same-day scores and brief summaries from all Falcon athletic teams)
