Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Off to 5-1 Start, 2-1 at Spartan Invitational
September 10, 2001 | Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2001
Bowling Green, OH -
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September 10, 2001
FALCONS OFF TO 5-1 START, 2-1 AT SPARTAN INVITATIONAL The Bowling Green State University volleyball team is off to its best start since 1997 (5-1) after competing in the Coca-Cola Spartan Invitational last weekend. The Falcons will play in their home opener against the University of Dayton (Sept.11) at 7 p.m in Anderson Arena.
BG heads back on the road next weekend to play in the Pioneer Invitational in Denver, CO. The Falcons take on Siena (Sept.14) at 2 p.m. MST (4:00 p.m. EST) and host Denver (Sept.15), also at 2 p.m MST.
HEAD COACH DENISE VAN DE WALLE Denise Van De Walle, the dean of MAC mentors, begins her 19th season with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 343-222 after this weekend. Her 21 wins with BG last season enabled her to surpass Miami's Carolyn Condit as the winningest coach in MAC history. Her 157 MAC wins entering the 2001 season ranks her third all-time.
Kris Pesorda, a former BG standout, enters her second season as assistant coach for the Falcons. The 2000 season student assistant for the Brown and Orange, Sean Huiet, begins his first season as assistant coach.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons continued their success on the road, finishing second in the Coca-Cola Spartan Invitational. The Falcons 5-0 start was the best since 1997. That team also began the season 5-0 before losing to Michgan State. The best start in school history was 10-0 by the 1990 team, whose first loss was also to Michigan State. The Falcons have not beaten the Spartans since 1986. Friday afternoon (Sept. 7), BG defeated Idaho 3-0 in their opening match of the Spartan Invitational. Bowling Green went on to defeat Winthrop 3-0 that same day (6:00 p.m.). The following day, the Falcons suffered their first loss to host Michigan State (3-0) to finish runners-up in the tournament.
ROMMECK AND GAMBY NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Senior middle Caty Rommeck and junior middle Kristin Gamby were named to the Spartan Invitational All-Tournament Team. This is the first time Gamby has earned this honor in her collegiate career.
Rommeck averaged 4.1 kills, 2.8 digs and 1.4 blocks per game while hitting .333 in the three matches. Gamby averaged 3.8 kills and 1.0 blocks per game, hitting .320 in the tournament. Gamby is ranked second on the team to Rommeck in both hitting percentage and kills per game.
THE OPPONENTS
The University of Dayton opened its 2001 season with two losses against Western Michigan and Michigan State in the Michigan State Tournament before heading on a five-game winning streak, defeating Denver University and Auburn University in the Michigan State Tournament (Aug.31-Sept.1) and winning the Marriott Dayton Flyer Invitational last weekend (Sept.7-8). The Flyers defeated Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne, St.Francis-PA and University of Pennsylvania to win the tournament. The Flyers, now 5-2, finished the 2000 season 18-11 overall and finished fourth in the Atlantic Ten with a 10-6 league mark. Head coach Pete Hoyer enters his eighth season with Dayton, and welcomes back nine letterwinners, including four starters from last year.
Seina College opened its season at the Colgate Classic, finishing runners up to Fordham. Seina defeated UC-Riverside, UNC-Greeensboro, and Colgate before losing to the eventual tournament champions. This weekend, the Saints walked away with a tournament victory, winning the Stony Brook Tournament after sweeping host Stony Brook, Holy Cross and Quinnipac. Seina, now 6-1, play the University at Albany before facing Bowling Green at the Pioneer Invitational. The Saints finished the 2000 season 14-15, finishing fourth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic conference with a 6-3 record. Coach Ron Racey enters his third year at Seina and welcomes back 12 letterwinners, including four starters.
Denver opened its 2001 season with victories at the L&L/MSU Volleyball Classic, defeating Auburn and Western Michigan, before losing to Dayton and title winner Michigan State (Aug.31-Sept.1). The Pioneers also lost their home opener to Washington (Sept.4), before heading to the Montanta State Holiday Classic. Denver defeated Indiana State (Sept.7) and TCU (Sept.8) before losing to host and tournament winner Montana State (Sept.8). The Pioneers, now 4-4, finished the 2000 season 19-14, finishing first in the Sun Belt Conference, West Division, with a 12-4 record. Head coach Beth Kuwata enters her fifth season with Denver, and welcomes back eight letterwinners.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead the series against Dayton with a 12-6 record. The last meeting between these two teams was in 1995, where BG won in four games.
Bowling Green leads the series against Seina with a 1-0 record. Their last meeting was in 1993 at the National Invitational Volleyball Championship where the Falcons won in three games.
Bowling Green has never met Denver in volleyball.
RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The Falcons began the weekend with a 3-0 win over Idaho at the Spartan Invitational Friday (Sept. 7)...Caty Rommeck led the team with 15 kills and 10 digs...junior Kristin Gamby had 11 kills...Natalie Becker led the team with 31 assists and 10 digs. BG defeated Winthrop 3-0 on Friday (Sept.7)...Led by Caty Rommeck and Kristin Gamby's 13 and 11 kills, respectively...Natalie Becker had 44 assists, while teammate Susie Norris had nine kills and eight digs... BG lost their first game of the season to host and tournament winner Michigan State, 3-0...led by Susie Norris and Kristin Gamby, with 13 and 12 kills, respectively...Setter Natalie Becker posted 41 assists with classmate Caty Rommeck registering nine kills and nine digs.
LEADERS OF THE MAC
The Falcons have several players among the various category leaders in the Mid-American Conference statistics after the second week of the 2001 season...Senior Caty Rommeck is fifth in the league in hitting percentage with .403, first in the MAC in both blocks (1.38) and kills per game (4.79) and fifth in digs(2.96)...Sophomore Susie Norris is tenth in service aces with a 0.5 average per game...Senior Natalie Becker averaged 12.38 assists, good for third in the MAC... Sophomore Laura Twyman is fifth in the MAC in blocks with a 1.09 average...Junior Kristin Gamby is fourth in the MAC with a 3.88 kills per game average...As a team, the Falcons are second in the league in blocks (2.42)...BGSU ranks eighth in digs (14.33) and third in hitting pct. (.245) and assists (14.04)...The Falcons are fourth in kills (15.33) and 13th in service aces (1.29) for the 2001 season.
