Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball Prepares For UCF Tournament
September 03, 2000 | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2000
The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, fresh off a tournament in which it competed against three 1999 NCAA Tournament teams, prepares for this weekend's trip to Florida. The Falcons (2-1) of head coach Denise Van De Walle will play in the UCF Tournament Friday and Saturday (Sept. 8-9).
The Brown and Orange will open tourney play against Western Carolina University Friday (Sept. 8), taking on the Catamounts in a noontime start. That evening, the Falcons will face the host University of Central Florida (UCF) in a match scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. After a short evening, the team will return to the court Saturday morning (Sept. 9) to meet Florida International University, with first serve at 10:00 a.m. All matches are scheduled to be held at UCF Arena (5,100).
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. She is the second-winningest coach in MAC history with 318 career victories, and her 145 MAC wins also rank 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 Western Carolina enters the week with a record of 0-3, after competing at the George Mason Tournament last weekend. The Catamounts suffered setbacks to Maryland-Baltimore Country and MAC member Central Michigan (5-15, 15-4, 2-15, 12-15) in addition to the host school. WCU plays a Tuesday (Sept. 5) match at East Tennessee State before heading to Orlando for weekend action. Last year, the team's 20-13 record included a 15-5 Southern Conference mark. Head coach Michelle Hansen is 58-49 in her fourth year at the school, and 65-104 in her sixth year as a collegiate head coach. More information on the Catamounts can be found at http://www.wcu.edu/athletics/.
UCF opened the season with a three-game loss to host Colorado at the PowerBar Invitational Tournament Friday (Sept. 1). The Golden Knights were scheduled to play Louisiana State in Sunday's (Sept. 3) consolation round. Last season's UCF squad posted a 19-12 record, including a perfect Trans America Athletic Conference slate of 9-0. Meg Colado is in her second year as a head coach, both with the Golden Knights and overall. For more information on the UCF program, consult http://athletics.ucf.edu.
Florida International is 2-1 on the young season after participating in last weekend's Georgia Southern Invitational. The Golden Panthers defeated Jacksonville and UNC-Asheville before losing the championship match to the hosts. FIU is scheduled to play five matches in a three-day span this weekend. The team is scheduled to meet Bethune-Cookman and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Thursday (Sept. 7) in Daytona Beach, Fla., before heading to Orlando for two matches Friday and a date with the Falcons Saturday morning. Last year, FIU went 7-23 overall and 1-15 in the Sun Belt Conference. Cookie Stevens, an FIU alumna, is in her second season as a head coach, both at her alma mater. Head to http://www.fiu.edu/~athletics for more information on the team.
THE SERIES The Falcons have never met any of this weekend's three opponents on the volleyball court.
LAST WEEK The Falcons are coming off a 1-2 showing at the IU Credit Union/Hoosier Invitational last weekend (Sept. 1-2), facing three teams that all participated in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The Brown and Orange lost matches to Loyola University Chicago (8-15, 15-17, 9-15) and host Indiana University (8-15, 13-15, 16-14, 14-16) before beating the University of Cincinnati (7-15, 12-15, 15-5, 15-13, 15-13).
IU won the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, while each of the other three teams went 1-2 on the weekend.
"We got better every time we went out on the court," said Van De Walle. "Against Loyola, the BGSU team that took the floor was a team that I have never seen before. We missed serves, shanked passes, hit balls out of bounds, you name it. We were a wreck.
"We started out shaky against IU, but recovered to win the third game. Then, we were up, 14-13 in game four, lost the ball and never got it back.
"We did not have much time between the end of the IU match and the Cincinnati match, and we lost the first two games to UC. Then, things started to go our way in the third game, and we started to play better and better.
"The difference was that we ran a 6-2 offense (against Indiana and Cincinnati). We needed size in the lineup, and that formation enabled us to have a pair of 6-foot-2 players in the game at the same time in Krista Davis and Laura Twyman.
"I feel like we could have won all three matches last weekend, had we not made some key mistakes. But, we improved as the weekend went on."
RED-HOT ROMMECK On the weekend, junior Caty Rommeck led the team with a .285 hitting percentage, 50 kills (4.17 kpg) and 20 blocks (1.67 bpg). She capped off a solid weekend with a triple-double against UC. In that match, the Sterling Heights, Mich., native had career-high totals of 24 kills, 11 blocks and 10 digs. Rommeck was the Falcons' lone representative to the all-tournament team at Indiana.
"Caty Rommeck rose her game each time she went out on the floor," said Van De Walle. "She played very well, and put up some big numbers against UC."
JUST TWY AND STOP HER Redshirt freshman Laura Twyman had a record-setting match against Cincinnati. Twyman, who made her collegiate debut earlier on Saturday against Indiana, had a total of 10 block assists against UC. In the process, she tied the BGSU record for block assists in a five-game match. The overall record for block assists, regardless of number of games, is 11 by Lisa Mika (vs. Michigan, Nov. 16, 1990).
"Laura did a nice job at the net," said Van De Walle, "both offensively and defensively."
NICE DEBUT FOR NORRIS True freshman Susie Norris had a solid start to her collegiate career. Norris, a native of Bascom, Ohio, led the Falcons in digs in all three matches at IU, including an impressive 30-dig performance against Cincinnati. On the weekend, she had a total of 63 digs, averaging 5.25 per game. She also paced the Falcons in service aces, with a total of five.
"I can't praise Susie's defense enough," said Van De Walle. "She was the best defender we had all weekend long."
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM As mentioned earlier, BGSU's Caty Rommeck made the all-tournament team at Indiana. Rommeck was joined on that squad by three IU players - Amanda Welter, Laurie Gardner and Hillary Toivonen - along with Loyola's Renee Nash and Cincinnati's Shauntel Miller. Welter was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
YOUTH MOVEMENT At one point during the Indiana match, the Falcons had four freshmen on the floor at the same time. Van De Walle's lineup included redshirt freshman Laura Twyman and true frosh Nadia Bedricky, Susie Norris and Sara Sikorski.
DOWN THE ROAD Following this weekend's tournament action at UCF, the Falcons will host a tourney of their own. The BGSU Invitational will be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 15-16. Evansville, Illinois at Chicago and IUPUI will join the Brown and Orange for the round-robin tourney at Anderson Arena. Friday's action will begin at 5:00 p.m., while Saturday play commences at 10:00 a.m. The complete list of matches:
Friday, Sept. 15... Illinois at Chicago vs. IUPUI, 5:00 p.m. Evansville at BGSU, 7:00 p.m.Saturday, Sept. 16 ... Evansville vs. Illinois at Chicago, 10:00 a.m. IUPUI at BGSU, 12:30 p.m. Evansville vs. IUPUI, 4:00 p.m. Illinois at Chicago at BGSU, 7:00 p.m.
