Bowling Green State University Athletics
Volleyball Back in Action on Friday
September 17, 2001 | Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2001
Bowling Green, OH -
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September 17, 2001
BG RESUMES ACTION AGAINST WESTERN MICHIGAN THIS FRIDAY The Bowling Green State University volleyball team (5-1) will play its first match since September 8 on Friday against Mid American conference team Western Michigan. This will be the first match at home for the Falcons. They play the Broncos at 7:00 p.m. in Anderson Arena.
BG heads back on the road next week to play Oakland on September 25 (7:00 p.m.) and a conference match against Northern Illinois on September 28 (7:00 p.m.).
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 343-222. 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, is in her second season as assistant coach for the Falcons. The 2000 season student assistant for the Brown and Orange, Sean Huiet, is in his first season as assistant coach.
LAST WEEK Due to the national tragedy of September 11, Bowling Green did not compete in any of their scheduled games last week. They will resume play on Friday against Western Michigan.
THE OPPONENT On September 7 and 8, Western Michigan won the Radisson Invitational, defeating James Madison, University of Kentucky and Valparaiso. The Broncos, now 5-2, open their conference schedule against the Falcons. Western finished the 2000 season 25-6 overall, finishing first in the MAC West with a 17-1 record. The Broncos also won the MAC Tournament. Coach Cathy George enters her eighth year at WMU and welcomes back five letterwinners, including five starters from her championship team.
THE SERIES Western Michigan leads the series against Bowling Green with a 22-14-1 record. Western Michigan has won the last four meetings, including a three game match last season.
RECAPPING THE LAST GAMES The Falcons began their second tournament of the season with a 3-0 win over Idaho at the Spartan Invitational (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, 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.
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 that 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, hitting .320 in the tournament. Gamby is ranked second on the team in both hitting percentage and kills per game.
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 averages 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.
