Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open MAC Play At Ohio, Akron
September 23, 2002 | Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2002
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green volleyball team will have a few days rest before opening the Mid-American Conference season this weekend at Ohio University. The Falcons will face off against OU Friday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m. The Bobcats of head coach Mike Lessinger are 10-2 on the 2002 season losing only to Florida and Rhode Island. The squad is led by junior middle hitter Laura Hageman, who averages 3.02 kills-per-game and sophomore setter Briana Adamovsky, who dishes out 9.21 assists-per-game. The Falcons lead the all-time series 40-10.
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On Saturday, September 28, the Falcons will take on the University of Akron at 7:00 p.m. at the J.A.R. Arena. Head coach Mike Sweitzer's Zips are currently 9-3 overall and hold a perfect 3-0 record at home thus far. Junior Sandy Lewis leads the Zips offensively, averaging 3.64 kills-per-game and was named the MVP of the Marist Invitaitonal last week. Senior Katie Kuzior joined her teammate on the All-Tournament squad last weekend and follows closely with 3.50 kills-per-game. BG leads the all-time series 16-9.
LAST WEEK
For the third week in a row, the Falcon volleyball team played four matches in six days. BG is currently 5-7 on the season. The squad opened last week's competition on Tuesday, Sept. 17, against IPFW. The Mastadons handed BG its sixth loss of 2002 in five games 30-26, 30-22, 24-30, 26-30, 11-15. Senior Kristin Gamby led the Orange and Brown with 26 kills and a .396 hitting percentage.
BG then headed to Big Ten powerhouse the University of Wisconsin. The squad faced off against the Badgers in the first match of the tournament, but the Falcons were defeated in three sets 10-30, 18-30, 23-30. The all-time series is now tied at two matches apiece. Junior Susie Norris led the BG attack with 9 kills while freshman Emily Manser led the team defensively with 10 digs.
The next match saw the Falcons take on the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago. BG won the contest in three games 30-22, 30-27, 30-27 and now leads the all-time series 5-4. The Orange and Brown was led by senior middle hitter Gamby who slammed down 15 kills on 29 attempts for a .448 hitting average. She was closely followed by junior right-side hitter Laura Twyman who tied a career-high in kills with 13. Redshirt sophomore Bridget Protas added 10 kills and six block assists to help BG win its fourth match of the season.
In BG's final match of the weekend, the Falcons took on Tulane University. The Falcons won the first-ever meeting of the two squads by defeating the Green Wave in five sets 27-29, 30-23, 30-25, 28-30, 15-13. Again, it was Gamby who was big at the net for the Falcons putting away 19 kills. Fellow middle hitter Protas tabbed a career-high total of 10 blocks and 16 kills. Manser again guarded the backcourt with 20 digs to lead the team.
HEAD COACH DENISE VAN DE WALLE
Denise Van De Walle, the dean of MAC mentors, is in her 20th season with the Falcons, and has an overall record of 364-234. 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, 2001 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.
Jeff Belmonte (Aquinas '89) is in his first season with the Falcon program...Belmonte was named assistant coach in March of 2002...Sean Huiet is in his third season with the BG volleyball program, and his second as an assistant coach.
