Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball To Host Tournament This Weekend
September 11, 2000 | Volleyball
Sept. 11, 2000
The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, after winning a tournament last weekend, returns home to host a tourney this Friday and Saturday (Sept. 15-16). The Falcons (4-2) of head coach Denise Van De Walle will welcome three schools to Anderson Arena (5,000) for the BGSU Invitational.
The Brown and Orange will be joined by the University of Evansville, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and IUPUI (formerly Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis) for this weekend's festivities. The complete schedule is as follows (all times Eastern):
BGSU INVITATIONAL
Friday, Sept. 15:
Saturday, Sept. 16:
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 321-214. She is the second-winningest coach in MAC history with her 321 career victories, and her total of 145 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 Evansville enters the week with a 4-3 record after winning two of three matches at the Iowa Invitational over the weekend. The Purple Aces defeated Chicago State and Oakland, but lost to the host Hawkeyes. UE will open Missouri Valley Conference play with a Tuesday (Sept. 12) home match vs. Southern Illinois prior to heading to BG. Last year, the team went 10-20 overall and tied for seventh in the MVC with a 5-13 league mark. Head coach Mark Hardaway is 67-100 in his sixth year with the Purple Aces. Hardaway, a former Van De Walle assistant at BGSU (1991 and 1992), is 141-165 in his 10th year as a collegiate head coach. More information on the team can be found at http://www.gopurpleaces.com.
IUPUI is 3-5 heading into the week, and the Jaguars will host Ball State Thursday (Sept. 14) before venturing to Bowling Green. Last weekend, the team dropped four matches at the Southwest Texas Invitational, losing to Cal State Sacramento, Arizona State and Saint Louis along with the host school. IUPUI started the year with a 3-0 record, but will be looking to break a five-match losing streak vs. BSU. Last year's team went 11-20 overall and 6-8 in the Mid-Continent Conference. Head coach Steve Payne has a 44-60 record in his fourth year, all with the Jaguars. More information on the team can be accessed at http://www.iupui.edu/~jagsport/.
Illinois at Chicago is 6-1 heading into a Tuesday (Sept. 12) home tilt vs. Eastern Illinois. The Flames won the first six matches of the season, capturing their own tournament to open the year. Last weekend, UIC downed host Hofstra and Massachusetts before losing to Cal State Northridge in tourney action. Last year's squad went 17-15 overall and 7-5 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Head coach Don August has a record of 363-330 in his 20th season, all in the Windy City. For more information on the team, consult http://www.uicflames.com.
THE SERIES The Falcons trail UIC by a 4-3 margin in the all-time series between the schools, and the teams will be meeting for the first time since the 1990 season. That year, the host Falcons posted a three-game victory over the Flames. That meeting was the only time the teams have met in Bowling Green.
The Falcons have never met Evansville or IUPUI in volleyball.
LAST WEEK The Falcons are coming off a 3-0 weekend and a tournament title at the UCF Fall Invitational in Orlando, Fla. (Sept. 8-9). BGSU downed Western Carolina (16-14, 15-9, 15-3), host UCF (8-15, 15-13, 8-15, 15-7, 16-14) and Florida International (15-12, 15-10, 15-11) en route to the tourney title. No all-tournament team was named.
RED-HOT ROMMECK Junior Caty Rommeck continued her solid play, hitting a stellar .402 at the UCF Fall Invitational. Rommeck had 48 kills and just seven errors in 102 total attack attempts. She averaged 4.36 kills per game. On defense, she averaged a whopping two blocks per game along with 2.82 digs. She had a total of 13 solo blocks, including six against both UCF and Florida International. On the season, Rommeck leads the Falcons in hitting percentage (.338), kills (4.26 kpg) and blocks ( 1.83).
LEADERS OF THE MAC The Mid-American Conference office released the latest league statistics Monday, and the Falcons have several players among the various category leaders. Junior Caty Rommeck is third in the league with a hitting percentage of .338, and she leads the league with 1.83 blocks. Rommeck ranks fourth in the MAC with 4.26 kills per game.
Freshman Susie Norris is the MAC digs leader, with an average of 4.39 per game, while senior JoAnna Papageorgiou is seventh with 3.04 digs per game. Papageorgiou is tied for 13th in the MAC with 0.83 blocks per game. Freshman Sara Sikorski ranks 12th in the conference with 7.15 assists per game.
As a team, the Falcons lead the league in digs (19.00), and are second in blocks (2.85), 10th in hitting percentage (.144), ninth in kills (13.26), ninth in assists (11.26) and 13th in service aces (1.04).
TOURNEY TIDBITS The Falcons are hosting a tournament for the first time since the 1992 season. That year, the Brown and Orange finished second in a four-team gathering (Sept. 4-5), downing Temple and Kent before falling to Northern Illinois.
Last weekend's title at the UCF Fall Invitational marked the Falcons' first tourney crown since the first weekend of the 1997 season. The Falcons opened the '97 campaign by defeating Marquette, Valparaiso and host Western Michigan to win the WMU Invitational.
DOWN THE ROAD Following this weekend's tournament action, the Falcons will remain at home to open the MAC schedule. BGSU will host defending league champion Ball State on Friday, Sept. 22, and the Falcons will face defending East Division winner Akron the following night. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Anderson Arena.
