Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Home For Two Weekend Matches
October 30, 2001 | Volleyball
Oct. 30, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, embroiled in a tight battle for first place in the Mid-American Conference's East Division, will host a pair of matches for the third consecutive weekend. The Falcons (14-6 overall, 7-5 MAC) will host Central Michigan University in a Friday (Nov. 2) matchup, before meeting the East Division-leading University of Akron on Saturday (Nov. 3). Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's Anderson Arena.
Following this weekend's action, the Brown and Orange will play three of the next four contests on the road, beginning with a match at Marshall University Nov. 9. The following night, the Falcons will play at Ohio University.
Bowling Green enters the CMU match with a 6-1 record at home this year, and the Falcons are 4-5 on the road and 4-0 in neutral-site matches.
HEAD COACH DENISE VAN DE WALLE: Denise Van De Walle, the dean of MAC mentors, is in her 19th season with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 352-225. Van De Walle recently became the first-ever coach to amass 350 career wins at a MAC school, reaching that plateau in the Falcons' Oct. 20 win over Marshall. The team's 21 wins last season enabled her to become the winningest coach in league history. Van De Walle's total of 164 MAC wins entering the CMU match ranks her third all-time on that list.
Former BGSU standout Kris Pesorda is in her second season as assistant coach for the Falcons. Sean Huiet is in his second season with the Falcon volleyball program, and his first as an assistant coach.
RACE IS TIGHT AT THE TOP: Entering this week's action, the top four teams in the MAC's East Division are separated by just two games ... the Falcons currently sit in third place in the division, but BGSU is just a game behind first-place Akron ... the Brown and Orange will host the Zips in Saturday action (Nov. 3) ... both BGSU and UA have six league matches remaining, while second-place Miami (7-4 in MAC play) has seven.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 2-1 in MAC action last week ... the Brown and Orange fell at Ball State in Wednesday (Oct. 24) action, losing a four-game match (30-27, 27-30, 18-30, 27-30) ... BGSU then returned home and swept a pair of weekend contests ... the Falcons posted a three-game win over Buffalo (30-26, 30-28, 30-24) in Friday (Oct. 26) action, then topped Ohio (30-26, 30-19, 30-23) the following afternoon.
THE OPPONENTS: Central Michigan checks into the week with an overall record of 6-14 ... the Chippewas will bring a MAC mark of 1-11 into Friday's match at BG ... last week, CMU won two of three home matches ... the Chippewas broke a 10-match losing streak with a Tuesday (Oct. 23) home win over Oakland, 3-0 ... Friday (Oct. 26), CMU fell to Marshall in five games ... the team rebounded for a three-game win over Buffalo, the first MAC win of the year, Saturday (Oct. 27) ... last year, the Chippewas went 15-16 overall and 9-9 in MAC play ... Elaine Piha has a head-coaching record of 38-69 in her fourth year, all in Mount Pleasant ... the school's athletic web site is www.cmuchippewas.com.
Akron begins the week with a 14-5 record, and the Zips will take an East Division-leading 8-4 MAC mark into a Wednesday (Oct. 31) match at Marshall ... UA will host Miami Friday (Nov. 2) before heading to BGSU the following night ... last week, the Zips split a pair of matches, winning at Western Michigan in four games Friday (Oct. 26) ... UA lost at Northern Illinois in a four-game match the next night ... a year ago, the Zips finished with a 16-14 overall record and a league ledger of 11-7 ... head coach Mike Sweitzer enters the week with an overall mark of 195-148 in his 11th season, all with UA ... the school's athletic web site is www.GoZips.com.
THE SERIES: BGSU holds a narrow 17-16 lead over Central Michigan in the all-time series between the teams ... the Chippewas won last year's only meeting, with a 15-13 victory in game five in Mt. Pleasant (Oct. 7, 2000) ... that contest broke a two-match BGSU win streak in the series ... the Falcons captured the last meeting in Anderson Arena, a three-game affair in 1999 ... BGSU holds a 10-6 advantage in home matches vs. CMU.
The Falcons also lead Akron in that series, 15-9, but the Zips captured this year's first meeting, a three-game contest in the Rubber City on Oct. 6 ... the Falcons hold a 7-5 lead in home matches vs. UA, but the Zips have won the last five matches in Anderson Arena ... BGSU has not captured a home contest vs. UA since 1994 ... Akron won last year's meeting in Anderson, in four games last Sept. 23 ... prior to Akron's home win this fall, the visiting team had won nine of the last 11 series meetings.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 2-1 last week ... BGSU began the week with a four-game loss at Ball State Wednesday (Oct. 24) ... sophomore Susie Norris led the team in hitting percentage (.405), kills (19) and digs (17) ... senior Caty Rommeck and sophomore Laura Twyman each had seven total blocks ... BGSU returned home and posted a three-game sweep of Buffalo Friday (Oct. 26) ... Norris led the Falcons in kills and digs once again, with 17 and nine, respectively ... she hit .342, while Twyman hit .462 (7-1-13) ... senior setter Natalie Becker and her backup, sophomore Sara Sikorski, split time in the win ... Becker had 25 assists, while Sikorski had 23 ... on Saturday (Oct. 27), the Brown and Orange won another three-game match, beating Ohio ... senior Shyann Robinson and junior Kristin Gamby each had 14 kills to lead the team ... Robinson hit a match-high .444, while three other Falcons - Twyman (.385), Gamby (.370) and Norris (.320) - hit over .300 ... as a team, the Falcons hit a MAC season-high .276 vs. the Bobcats ... Norris had a team-best 18 digs in that win.
ROMMECK MOVES UP: Senior Caty Rommeck, in just two-plus years in the Brown and Orange, continues to move up several BGSU career records lists ... Rommeck ranks among the school's leaders on all three blocks lists ... she is eighth in school history with 104 solo blocks, needing just four to catch seventh-place Kelly Ellett, and just nine to tie for fourth place ... Rommeck has 272 block assists, good for eighth on that list ... she is seventh overall with 376 total blocks ... she has moved onto the lists for both kills (10th, 945) and attack attempts (2,191, 12th) ... the list of former Falcons that Rommeck is chasing follows:
ROMMECK ON THE CAREER LISTS:
Category Total, Rank Next on the list
Solo Blocks 104, 7th Kelly Ellett (108)
Block Assists 272, 8th Nicky Mudrak (279)
Total Blocks 376, 7th Nicky Mudrak (392)
Kills 945, 10th Heather Murphy (1,015)
Attack Attempts 2,191, 12th Jessica Andrasko (2,224)
Hitting Pct. .305, 3rd Carey Amos (.315)
(945-277-2191)
SETTERS MOVING UP, TOO: Both setters on the BGSU roster are on the career list for set assists ... senior Natalie Becker has a career total of 2,331 assists to rank sixth ... her next target is Wendy Watkins (2,619) ... sophomore Sara Sikorski has a career total of 302 assists, good for 10th place in BG annals ... she passed her current assistant coach, Kris Pesorda, in the BGSU win over Buffalo (Oct. 26) ... Pesorda remains the highest ranking non-setter on the assists list.
ROMMECK ON SEASONAL LISTS: Senior Caty Rommeck currently averages 4.59 kills per game ... that average would place her fourth on the BGSU single-season list ... Tammy Schiller (1991) holds the record with 5.37 kpg ... Rommeck's average of 1.54 blocks per game this year, if she could maintain it, would place her fourth on that career list ... Lisa Mika (1990) set the BG record in that category, with 1.73 bpg.
NOTING THE FALCONS: The Falcons have a total of 56 victories since the start of the 1999 season ... BGSU is 56-27 (.675) overall and 31-17 (.646) in MAC action in that time ... the Falcons are 8-3 in three-game matches and 6-1 in five-game contests this year ... BGSU has played just two matches that lasted four games, losing both ... a total of 11 different Falcons have started at least one match this year ... senior Caty Rommeck is the only player to have started all 20 contests ... junior Kristin Gamby had a career-high five solo blocks in the BSU match ... she also set a career standard with six total blocks ... senior Kate Yeo tied her career high with three service aces in the win over Ohio ... sophomore Susie Norris hit double digits in kills just twice in her first 15 matches of the season, but has turned the trick in each of the last four matches ... on defense, she had just two double-digit dig totals in her first 12 matches, but has had at least 10 digs in six of the last seven contests ... Rommeck was held to just three kills in the win over Ohio Saturday (Oct. 27), her lowest total since the 1999 season ... that broke a string of 13 consecutive matches in which she had at least 10 kills ... Rommeck has had 10 or more kills in 18 of this year's 20 contests, including eight matches of 20 kills or more ... she has had at least five blocks on 14 occasions this year ... Norris hit .360 with 4.70 kills and 4.40 digs per game in last week's action, leading the team in all three categories ... Gamby averaged 3.89 kills and a team-high 1.56 blocks per game last week ... half of her 14 blocks were of the solo variety.
LEADERS OF THE MAC: The Falcons have several players among the MAC leaders in the latest conference statistics, released Monday (Oct. 29) ... senior Caty Rommeck leads the MAC in kills per game (4.59) and is second in blocks (1.54 bpg) ... she is ninth in hitting percentage .296 ... classmate Natalie Becker averages 12.12 assists, good for third in the league ... junior Kristin Gamby is seventh in the league with a kills-per-game average of 3.57 ... Gamby ranks 14th with a .273 hitting pct. ... sophomore Laura Twyman has 1.10 blocks per game, good for eighth in the league ... soph Susie Norris is tied for 13th with 2.76 digs per game ... as a team, the Falcons are third in both blocks (2.67 bpg) and assists (13.84 apg), fourth in both hitting pct. (.217) and kills (15.37 kpg), eighth in digs (15.12 dpg) and 12th in service aces (1.25 per game).
mjc
