Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts WMU Tuesday
November 19, 2001 | Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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FALCONS WIN MAC'S EAST DIVISION, HOST WMU TO OPEN TOURNEY
The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, after winning the Mid-American Conference's East Division championship, now prepares for conference tournament play. The Falcons (20-7 overall, 12-6 Mid-American Conference), who earned the second seed for the eight-team tourney, will host seventh-seeded Western Michigan University in quarterfinal action Tuesday (Nov. 20). Start time for that contest is 7:00 p.m. at BGSU's Anderson Arena.
The winner of the BGSU-WMU match will advance to the semifinal round of the MAC Tournament, which will be held Friday (Nov. 23). The semifinal matches, as well as Saturday's (Nov. 24) championship contest, will be held at the site of the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinal round.
Northern Illinois, the West Division winner, earned the top seed for the tournament. The complete MAC Tournament schedule follows:
2001 Mid-American Conference Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals - Tue., Nov. 20 (at campus sites) #8 Toledo at #1 Northern Illinois, 7:00 #7 Western Michigan at #2 Bowling Green, 7:00 #6 Eastern Michigan at #3 Ball State, 7:00 #5 Akron at #4 Miami, 7:00Semifinals - Fri., Nov. 23 (at highest remaining seed) BGSU-WMU winner vs. BSU-EMU winner UT-NIU winner vs. UA-Miami winner
Championship - Sat., Nov. 24 (at semifinal site) Semifinal winners
all times p.m. and local to site
Bowling Green enters the WMU match with a 9-2 record at home this year. The Falcons are 7-5 on the road and 4-0 in neutral-site matches in 2001.
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 358-226. 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 169 MAC wins through the 2001 season 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.
ANOTHER TITLE FOR THE FALCONS: BGSU, as mentioned earlier, won the MAC's East Division title ... the Falcons finished with a 12-6 MAC record, a game ahead of both Akron and Miami ... the outright title is BGSU's first since the 1992 team went 17-1 to capture the regular-season crown ... last year's squad tied for the East Division title ... BGSU also won regular-season crowns in 1989 and 1991, and the Falcons won the league tournament in 1991.
BG IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT: The Falcons will be appearing in the MAC Tournament for the third consecutive year and the 13th time in the 18-year history of the event (1980-82, 87-present) ... in fact, since the tournament was reinstituted prior to the 1987 season, the Falcons' total of 12 appearances in the tourney is the most of any league school ... BGSU has an all-time MAC Tournament record of 8-14 ... the Falcons are hosting a league tourney quarterfinal match for the third-straight year, having lost to Kent State in four games last year ... BGSU defeated Miami in a five-game contest in 1999 ... following that win, BGSU lost to top-seeded and eventual tourney champion Ball State in a semifinal match ... in MAC Tournament action down through the years, the Falcons are 3-0 vs. Central Michigan, 1-0 vs. Toledo, 2-3 against both Miami and Western Michigan, 0-1 vs. KSU and 0-7 against BSU.
MAC TOURNEY APPEARANCES (since 1987)
Bowling Green...................... 12 Ball State, Miami, Western Mich. .. 11 Central Michigan................... 8 Akron, Eastern Michigan............ 5 Kent (State), Northern Illinois.... 4 Marshall, Toledo................... 3 Ohio............................... 2
BGSU SEEDED SECOND: The Falcons are seeded second for the 2000 MAC Tournament, marking BG's highest seed since the 1993 team was also seeded second ... that '93 squad was the last Falcon team to advance to the championship match ... BG has advanced to the league tourney final on five occasions (1987, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993), with the 1991 team capturing the school's lone MAC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth ... last year, the Falcons were seeded third, but suffered a quarterfinal-round upset to #6 Kent State.
TWYMAN NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Sophomore Laura Twyman has been named to the Verizon Academic All-District IV Team, it was announced Friday (Nov. 16) ... Twyman, who earns academic all-district honors for the first time in her career, was named to the third team ... she carries a perfect 4.00 grade point average as an accounting major ... on the court, she enters the week with a hitting percentage of .243 and an average of 1.01 blocks per game ... the 2001 Verizon Academic All-District IV Team is made up of student-athletes from Division I schools in the states of Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee ... to be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve, and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or higher ... team members are selected by a vote of members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) within the district.
TWENTY, AGAIN: The Falcons' win at Kent State Friday (Nov. 16) was the team's 20th victory of the season ... BGSU has won 20 or more matches in each of the last three seasons, just the second time that has happened in school history ... the Falcons won 20-plus matches in five-straight campaigns from 1989-93 ... the Falcons went 21-12 in 1999 before posting a record of 21-9 last year ... BGSU has now won 20 or more matches 10 times, all during Denise Van De Walle's 19-year tenure.
LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 2-1 in the final week of the regular season ... BGSU downed Cleveland State (30-15, 33-31, 30-24) in non-conference action at Anderson Arena Tuesday (Nov. 13), then went to Kent State and captured an important win in five games Friday (31-29, 26-30, 30-11, 20-30, 15-9, Nov. 16) ... on Saturday (Nov. 17), the Falcons saw a pair of streaks come to an end ... BG lost to Toledo in three games (23-30, 27-30, 28-30), snapping an eight-match win streak as well as a 21-match home winning streak vs. the Rockets ... the Falcons had never lost to Toledo in the city of Bowling Green, prior to Saturday.
THE OPPONENT: Western Michigan checks into the week with an overall record of 15-10, and the Broncos finished MAC action with a 10-8 record, good for a fourth-place tie in the West Division ... the Broncos won a pair of matches against two of the top teams in the league over the weekend ... on Friday (Nov. 16), WMU defeated Ball State in five games ... then, the next night (Nov. 17), the Broncos defeated Northern Illinois in four games, ending the Huskies' school-record 18-match winning streak ... the Broncos are 3-7 on the road this season, and went 3-6 in MAC matches away from home ... last season, Western Michigan posted an overall record of 25-6, and the Broncos went 17-1 in MAC play ... WMU won the MAC's West Division, then captured the 2000 MAC Tournament and advanced to NCAA Tournament play ... head coach Cathy George has a record of 135-95 in her eighth year in Kalamazoo ... she has an overall record of 315-180 in her 15th season as a collegiate head coach ... the school's athletic web site is www.wmubroncos.com.
THE SERIES: BGSU trails Western Michigan by a 22-15-1 count in the all-time series between the teams ... but, the Falcons won this year's lone regular-season meeting, a three-game decision at Anderson Arena (Sept. 21) ... that win broke a four-match winning streak for the Broncos in the series ... the teams are deadlocked, 8-8, in meetings in Bowling Green ... WMU holds a 3-2 edge in meetings in the MAC Tournament, but the teams have not met in league tourney play since a BGSU win in 1991.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK: The Falcons went 2-1 last week ... the Brown and Orange swept Cleveland State in Tuesday (Nov. 13) non-conference action ... senior Caty Rommeck had 18 kills and hit .405 to top all players in each category ... two other Falcons joined Rommeck in double digits in kills, as junior Kristin Gamby had 15 off the bench, and sophomore Susie Norris had 11 ... freshman Melissa Mohr, making her first collegiate start, had three total blocks to tie Gamby for team honors ... Norris had a match-best 15 digs ... Friday (Nov. 16), the Falcons went to Kent State and came away with a five-game win ... Gamby had 24 kills, while Rommeck had 20 kills and 19 digs ... Rommeck hit a team-high .302 on the night ... senior Natalie Becker had 46 set assists, and classmates Shyann Robinson and Kate Yeo hit double digits in digs, with 12 and 11, respectively ... the win clinched a homecourt berth for the MAC Tournament quarterfinals for the Brown and Orange ... Saturday night (Nov. 17), Toledo posted a three-game win over the Falcons, winning for the first time ever in BG ... the Falcons had been a perfect 21-0 in home matches vs. the Rockets ... Rommeck was the sole Falcon to reach double digits in kills, with 16 ... senior Amber Vorst led the Falcons with 10 digs, while Norris hit a team-high .357.
ROMMECK MOVES UP: Senior Caty Rommeck, in just under three 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 tied for seventh in school history with 108 solo blocks, needing just five to tie for fourth place ... Rommeck has 295 block assists, and now holds down the sixth spot on that list ... she has moved into sixth overall in total blocks as well, and has 403 ... she has moved onto the lists for both kills (ninth, 1,068) and attack attempts (10th, 2,476) ... her .309 career hitting percentage would rank her third on that school list ... the list of former Falcons that Rommeck is chasing follows:
ROMMECK ON THE CAREER LISTS:
Category Total, Rank Next on the list
Solo Blocks 108, T-7th Lori Kemerer (110)
Currently tied with Kelly Ellett (108)
Block Assists 295, 6th Lisa Berardinelli (321)
Total Blocks 403, 6th Lori Hilton (442)
Kills 1,068, 9th Lori Hilton (1,130)
Attack Attempts 2,476, 10th Lori Hilton (2,783)
Hitting Pct. .309, 3rd Carey Amos (.315)
(1068-304-2476)
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 2,644 assists to rank fifth ... she has passed one of her former assistant coaches, Wendy Watkins (2,619), and needs just three more assists to pass her former teammate, Heather Greig (2,646) ... sophomore Sara Sikorski has a career total of 330 assists, good for 10th place in BG annals ... she passed her 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 4.63 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 ... her total of 472 kills is the eighth-most in school history ... Rommeck's average of 1.41 blocks per game this year, if she could maintain it, would place her fifth on that career list ... Lisa Mika (1990) set the BG record in that category, with 1.73 bpg ... Rommeck's totals of 108 block assists and 144 total blocks place her 10th and tied for ninth, respectively, on those school seasonal lists.
BECKER ON A SEASONAL LIST, TOO: Senior Natalie Becker now has a total of 1,186 assists this year ... that is the 10th-highest seasonal total in school history ... she needs 22 more to tie for ninth, 36 to deadlock for eighth and 53 to tie for seventh place on that list.
NOVEMBER SUCCESS: The Falcons have experienced some success in the month of November over the past few years ... despite the loss to Toledo, BGSU has a record of 19-5 (.792) in November matches over the last three years ... the Falcons were 6-3 in that month in 1999 and 7-1 last year ... this season, the Falcons have a 6-1 November record.
GO WEST: The 2001 season marks the final campaign for the Falcons as a member of the MAC's East Division ... in October, the MAC welcomed the University of Central Florida as a member for the sport of football only, and placed UCF in the East ... BGSU is being moved to the West Division for all sports, beginning in the 2002-03 academic year.
NOTING THE FALCONS: The Falcons have a total of 62 victories since the start of the 1999 season ... BGSU is 62-28 (.689) overall and 36-18 (.667) in MAC action in that time ... the Falcons are 10-4 in three-game matches and 7-1 in five-game contests this year ... a total of 12 different Falcons have started at least one match this year ... senior Caty Rommeck is the only player to have started all 27 contests ... Rommeck has had 10 or more kills in 20 of the last 21 matches, and in 25 of this year's 27 contests, including 10 matches of 20 kills or more ... she has had at least five blocks on 16 occasions this year.
LEADERS OF THE MAC: The Falcons have several players among the MAC leaders in the latest conference statistics, released Monday (Nov. 19) ... senior Caty Rommeck leads the MAC in kills per game (4.63) and is second in blocks per game (1.41) ... she is seventh in hitting percentage (.307) ... classmate Natalie Becker averages 12.35 assists, good for second in the league ... junior Kristin Gamby is sixth in the league with a kills-per-game average of 3.79 ... Gamby ranks 11th with a .282 hitting pct. ... sophomore Susie Norris is 10th with 2.82 digs per game ... soph Laura Twyman has 1.01 blocks per game, good for 12th in the league ... as a team, the Falcons are third in kills (15.73 kpg) and assists (14.16 apg), fourth in hitting pct. (.227), fifth in blocks (2.54 bpg), seventh in digs (15.50 dpg) and 12th in service aces (1.27 per game).
