Bowling Green State University Athletics
Final Falcon Volleyball Facts
January 09, 2002 | Volleyball
Jan. 9, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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FALCONS END 2001 SEASON WITH 21-8 RECORD: The Bowling Green State University volleyball team, after a narrow defeat in the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament, saw the 2001 season come to an end. The Falcons finished the 2001 campaign with an overall record of 21-8 and a league ledger of 12-6.
BGSU, after tying for the East Division title in 2000, won the divisional crown outright in 2001, finishing a game ahead of second-place Akron and Miami. The Brown and Orange split a pair of heart-stopping matches in the MAC Tournament, defeating Western Michigan in the quarterfinal round (Nov. 20) before falling to Ball State in the semifinals (Nov. 23).
Bowling Green finished the season with a 10-2 record at home this year. The Falcons were 7-5 on the road and 4-1 in neutral-site matches in 2001.
ROMMECK NAMED TO ALL-REGION TEAM: BGSU senior Caty Rommeck was named to the All-Mideast Region team on Dec. 5 ... the announcement was made by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) office.
Rommeck became just the fourth Falcon player to earn all-region honors in the history of the program, and the first in a decade ... Tammy Schiller and Lisa Mika were the most recent BGSU honorees, having earned the distinction in 1991.
Rommeck was one of just two MAC players named to the team, joining Northern Illinois setter Jenny Bowman ... the rest of the 12-member team was comprised of players from the Big Ten Conference ... the Mideast Region is made up of all schools from the MAC, Big Ten and Northeast Conferences.
BGSU'S ALL-REGION HONOREES:
Lisa Mika 1990 (Third Team), 1991 (Second Team) Linda Popovich 1989 (Second Team) Caty Rommeck 2001 * Tammy Schiller 1989 (Second Team), 1990 (First Team), 1991 (First Team) * the AVCA currently names just one 12-player team for each region
HEAD COACH DENISE VAN DE WALLE: Denise Van De Walle, the dean of MAC mentors, has finished her 19th season with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 359-227 ... Van De Walle 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 completed her second season as assistant coach for the Falcons ... Sean Huiet wrapped up 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.
ROMMECK, GAMBY ON ALL-MAC TEAM: A pair of Falcons, senior Caty Rommeck and junior Kristin Gamby, were named to the All-MAC Team, the league announced on Nov. 21 ... Rommeck earned all-league first-team honors for the second year in a row ... Gamby, who received honorable mention, was honored by the conference for the first time.
Rommeck earned the honor after leading the league in kills per game (4.63) ... she ranked second in the MAC in blocks (1.41) and seventh in hitting percentage (.307) ... Gamby was sixth in the conference in kills per game (3.79), and she ranked 11th with a hitting pct. of .282.
VORST ON ALL-TOURNEY SQUAD: Senior Amber Vorst was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team ... Vorst posted a season-high 17 kills, hitting .326, in the loss to Ball State ... the kill total tied her career high ... she also had nine digs and three block assists in the match ... Vorst had recorded nine kills and 13 digs in the win over WMU.
TWYMAN NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Sophomore Laura Twyman was named to the Verizon Academic All-District IV Team, it was announced Nov. 16 ... Twyman, who earned 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 (entering the fall semester) as an accounting major ... on the court, she finished the 2001 season with a hitting percentage of .242 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: 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.
BG IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT: The Falcons appeared 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 now has an all-time MAC Tournament record of 9-15 ... the Falcons hosted a league tourney quarterfinal match for the third-straight year, having lost to Kent State in four games in 2000 ... 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, 3-3 against Western Michigan, 2-3 against Miami, 0-1 vs. KSU and 0-8 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
LAST TIME(S) OUT: The Falcons split a pair of MAC Tournament contests ... BGSU won a five-game thriller over visiting Western Michigan ( 23-30, 30-19, 30-21, 28-30, 15-13) in the quarterfinal round on Nov. 20 ... BGSU had four players with double-digit kill totals, led by junior Kristin Gamby ... Gamby had 22 kills, with senior Caty Rommeck close behind ... Rommeck amassed 21 kills and a team-best 18 digs ... Laura Twyman and Susie Norris had 13 and 10 kills, respectively ... senior Amber Vorst had 13 digs, while Norris and seniors Natalie Becker and Kate Yeo each had 12 ... Gamby had eight total blocks to tie her career best ... Becker had 60 set assists ... on Nov. 23, the Falcons lost a heartbreaker to Ball State in the semifinal round (30-28, 22-30, 30-25, 35-37, 15-17) ... that match was held in DeKalb, Ill. ... Gamby and Rommeck each had 21 kills, while Vorst had 17 kills and hit a team-high .326 ... Norris had 10 kills, and paced five players in double digits in digs, with 18 ... Rommeck had six blocks, with Gamby just one behind ... Becker had 62 assists and 15 digs ... Megan Hammons had 31 kills for the Cardinals.
ROMMECK'S RECORD COLLECTION: Senior Caty Rommeck, in just three years in the Brown and Orange, left her name all over the BGSU career records lists ... Rommeck posted the third-best career hitting percentage (.307) in school annals ... she also ranks among the school's leaders on all three blocks lists ... Rommeck finished ranked sixth in both block assists (303) and total blocks (413), and tied for sixth in school history with 110 solo blocks ... she also moved onto the lists for both kills (ninth, 1,110) and attack attempts (10th, 2,582).
SETTERS MOVE UP, TOO: Both setters on the BGSU roster are on the career list for set assists ... senior Natalie Becker finished her Falcon tenure with a career total of 2,766 assists to rank fourth on the school list ... in the final few weeks of the 2001 season, she passed one of her former assistant coaches, Wendy Watkins (2,619), as well as 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 averaged 4.59 kills per game in 2001 ... that average placed her fourth on the BGSU single-season list ... Rommeck's seasonal total of 514 kills is the sixth highest in school history, while her total of 1,192 attack attempts places her eighth on that seasonal list ... Rommeck's average of 1.38 blocks per game ranks sixth, while her totals of 116 block assists and 154 total blocks place her eighth and seventh, respectively, on those school seasonal lists.
BECKER ON A SEASONAL LIST, TOO: Senior Natalie Becker recorded a total of 1,308 set assists this year ... that is the fourth-highest seasonal total in school history ... she was just eight shy of the third-place figure, amassed by Carey Amos in 1991.
NOVEMBER SUCCESS: The Falcons have experienced a great deal of success in the month of November over the past few years ... BGSU has a record of 20-6 (.769) 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 had a 7-2 November record.
GO WEST: The 2001 season marked 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.
FALCON PLAYER NOTES:
Karen Amstutz - senior from Dayton, Ohio ... played in 21 matches, making eight starts ... saw action in 54 games ... had 80 digs on the year, including three matches with double-digit totals ... had 12 digs on consecutive nights, vs. Miami and Marshall, and added 11 in the team's next match, at Ball State.
Natalie Becker - senior from Frankfort, Ill. ... started all 28 matches in which she saw action in 2001 ... had 1,308 assists, the fourth-highest seasonal total in school history ... also ranks fourth on the career assists list, with 2,766 ... had 50 or more assists on 13 occasions in 2001, including 64 in each of the season's first two matches, wins over Tennessee and Indiana ... her 228 digs included nine double-digit outings, including a season-most 21 in the Tennessee match ... hit an even .300 on the year ... had 80 kills ... had a season-high total of eight kills against Miami ... hit .500 in that match (8-0-16), and .556 (5-0-9) vs. Marshall the next night ... named to the all-tournament team at Indiana's Blimpie/Holiday Inn Classic in the season's first weekend.
Nadia Bedricky - sophomore from Rochester Hills, Mich. ... played in 28 matches, making 22 starts ... saw action in a total of 98 games ... had a season-high 10 kills in home win over Kent State ... hit .750 (6-0-8) in win over Oakland ... 176 digs on the season included six double-figure matches ... had a season-high 15 digs in win over Akron.
Kristin Gamby - redshirt junior from Mount Victory, Ohio ... earned All-MAC Honorable Mention ... played in all 29 matches, making two starts ... had 407 kills and an average of 3.84 kills per game to rank second on the team in both categories ... also ranked second with 28 solo blocks, and was third with 92 total blocks ... had 21 matches with double-digit kill totals, including nine of the season's final 10 contests ... was the MAC Player of the Week after recording 21 kills on back-to-back nights, in wins over CMU and Akron ... had a season-high 29 kills in win at Indiana, one of six matches with 20-plus kills ... hit .400 or better four times, including a .441 effort (21-6-34) vs. CMU ... had a career-high five solo blocks at Ball State ... had career-best totals of six block assists and eight total blocks twice, at Buffalo and in the MAC Tournament win over WMU ... season-high nine digs came against Eastern Michigan ... named to the All-Tournament Team at Michigan State's Coca-Cola Spartan Invitational.
Melissa Mohr - freshman from Millersburg, Ohio ... saw action in 14 matches on the season, making one start ... played in a total of 19 games ... had five kills on the year, including two in home win over Buffalo ... had 13 digs, including a season-high six vs. Cleveland State ... also had two block assists and three total blocks in that CSU match, both season highs ... had four digs vs. IPFW.
Susie Norris - sophomore from Bascom, Ohio ... saw action in 28 matches, starting 25 ... had a team-high average of 2.84 digs per game ... her total of 287 digs placed her second on the squad ... had 14 matches with double-digit dig totals, including a season-high 19 vs. Maryland ... had 18 on two occasions, including the MAC Tournament semifinal ... her 234 kills on the year included 11 double-digit efforts ... had a season-high 19 kills vs. Ball State in the regular-season meeting ... that was part of a stretch of five consecutive double-digit kill totals ... hit a season-best .529 (9-0-17) vs. Winthrop ... had a career-best six service aces in season-opening win over Tennessee ... the MAC Player of the Week on Oct. 29 after hitting at least .320 with double-digit kill figures in the previous week's three matches.
Bridget Protas - redshirt freshman from Holly, Mich. ... played in 11 matches off the bench ... saw action in a total of 13 games ... had 15 blocks, an average of 1.15 per game, in her limited action ... hit .556 with a season-best five kills (5-0-9) vs. Oakland ... had four kills in home win over Marshall ... had a season-best four total blocks in that Oakland match.
Shyann Robinson - senior from Portage, Mich. ... played in 25 matches, making 16 starts ... had 161 kills on the year, and added 143 digs ... nine matches with double-digit kill totals included a career-high 17 in the home win over KSU ... hit double figures in digs six times ... had a career-high 16 digs against Ohio ... her 14 blocks included a season-high three at Eastern Michigan.
Caty Rommeck - senior from Sterling Heights, Mich. ... BGSU's first All-Mideast Region Team selection in a decade ... an All-MAC First-Team pick for the second consecutive year ... led the league by a wide margin in kills per game, with 4.59 (the second-place person had 4.05) ... finished second in the league in blocks per game (1.38) ... also was among the MAC leaders in hitting pct. (.304, eighth) ... led the team in all three of those categories, and was second on the squad in digs (2.66 per game) ... in just three years at BGSU, etched her name on a number of school career records lists (see note on page 3 of release) ... earned MAC Player-of-the-Week awards on two occasions in 2001, and a school-record eight times in her illustrious BG career ... also was named a MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week once this season ... BGSU played in five in-season tournaments over the last two years, four of which named an all-tournament team ... was named to the all-tourney squad in all four of those tournaments, and earned tourney MVP honors twice (including at this year's Indiana Blimpie/Holiday Inn Classic) ... hit double digits in kills in 27 of this year's 29 matches, including a season-high 30 in a win over Maryland ... had 20-or-more kills 12 times in 2001 ... had at least five blocks on 17 occasions this year, and hit double figures in digs 16 times ... season high of 20 digs came at Eastern Michigan.
Sara Sikorski - sophomore from Sterling Heights, Mich. ... played in 12 matches, starting one ... saw action in 15 games on the season ... had a season-high five kills and 38 set assists in the win at Oakland ... also set career standards in all three blocking categories in that match (1 solo blocks, 4 block assists, 5 total blocks) ... had a career-high two service aces vs. the Golden Grizzlies ... also saw extended action in the home win over Buffalo, with 23 assists ... had double-digit assist totals vs. both Central Michigan (14) and Cleveland State (10) ... had three digs in both the Oakland and CMU matches ... averaged 6.80 assists per game on the year.
Laura Twyman - redshirt sophomore from Sugar Land, Texas ... named to the Verizon Academic All-District Third Team ... played in 28 matches, starting seven ... saw action in 105 of BG's 112 games ... was second on the team with 1.01 blocks per game ... hit .242 on the year, with 176 kills ... had three matches with double-digit kill totals ... had a career-high 13 kills in wins over Akron and Western Michigan, with the latter coming in the MAC Tournament ... had 11 kills and hit a career-best .579 (11-0-19) in season-opening win over Tennessee ... had at least five blocks on 11 occasions, including a season-high seven at Ball State ... had four set assists on two occasions ... career-high four digs came at Northern Illinois.
Amber Vorst - senior from Kalida, Ohio ... saw action in 28 matches, making 15 starts ... played in a total of 85 games ... named to the MAC All-Tournament team ... hit .326 and tied her career best with 17 kills in league tourney match vs. Ball State ... that was her lone match of the year with double-digit kills ... had at least 10 digs on eight occasions, including a season-high 14 vs. Kent State ... had 185 digs on the year ... hit .545 vs. CMU, with eight kills and two errors in 11 attempts ... tied her career bests for solo blocks (two) and total blocks (five) in win at Buffalo.
Kate Yeo - senior from Singapore ... played in 28 matches, making 21 starts ... saw action in 98 games ... had 237 digs on the year to rank third on the team ... also was third with 2.42 digs per game ... had 11 matches with double-digit dig totals, and had at least eight digs on 18 occasions ... had a season-best 17 digs in win at Indiana ... had 16 digs at Ball State ... first block of her career, a solo block, came in MAC Tournament win over WMU ... had 18 service aces on the year, including three vs. both Ohio and Marshall.
NOTING THE FALCONS: The Falcons have a total of 63 victories since the start of the 1999 season ... BGSU is 63-29 (.685) overall and 36-18 (.667) in MAC action in that time ... the Falcons went 10-4 in three-game matches and 8-2 in five-game contests this year ... a total of 12 different Falcons started at least one match this year ... senior Caty Rommeck was the only player to have started all 29 contests ... Rommeck had 10 or more kills in 22 of the last 23 matches, and in 27 of this year's 29 contests, including 12 matches of 20 kills or more ... she had at least five blocks on 17 occasions this year ... junior Kristin Gamby had 21 matches with double-digit kill totals, including nine of the season's final 10 contests ... she had over 20 kills six times, including three times in the last four matches of the year ... the Falcons were seeded second for the 2001 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 ... BGSU's late-season loss to Toledo in Anderson Arena marked the first-ever home loss to the Rockets ... the Falcons had been a perfect 21-0 in home matches vs. UT.
LEADERS OF THE MAC: The Falcons had several players among the MAC leaders in the final conference statistics ... senior Caty Rommeck led the MAC in kills per game (4.59) and was second in blocks per game (1.38) ... she was eighth in hitting percentage (.304) ... classmate Natalie Becker averaged 12.34 assists, good for second in the league ... junior Kristin Gamby was sixth in the league with a kills-per-game average of 3.84 ... Gamby ranked 12th with a .280 hitting pct. ... sophomore Susie Norris was 10th with 2.84 digs per game ... soph Laura Twyman had 1.01 blocks per game, good for 11th in the league ... as a team, the Falcons were third in kills (15.71 kpg) and assists (14.09 apg), fourth in hitting pct. (.225), fifth in blocks (2.54 bpg), seventh in digs (15.48 dpg) and 12th in service aces (1.21 per game).
