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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Finally Return Home; Face Western, Northern
April 01, 2004 | Women's Tennis
April 1, 2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University tennis team, after 48 days without playing at home, begins a four-match homestand with a Friday (April 2) match vs. Western Michigan University. The Falcons' weekend action continues with a Saturday (April 3) contest vs. Northern Illinois University. Both Mid-American Conference matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Keefe Courts, weather permitting.
The Western Michigan match is scheduled to be televised on a tape-delay basis in the Toledo area, on the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN). The channel is available only to Buckeye CableSystem subscribers in the Toledo area. Tentative plans call for the match to be aired later Friday night (actually Saturday morning), at 12:30 a.m., and again at 11:30 a.m. Saturday
The Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will enter the WMU match with an overall dual-match record of 9-7, and BGSU is 3-1 in MAC play after splitting a pair of contests last weekend. The Falcons lost at Eastern Michigan, 7-0, on Friday (March 26), before bouncing back for a 4-3 win at arch-rival Toledo the next day.
BGSU has played eight matches away from home since a Feb. 13 win over UIC at Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Maumee, and the Falcons have not played at Keefe Courts since blanking Western Ontario on Oct. 24, 2003.
The bottom of BGSU's lineup has been strong throughout MAC play to date, as the Falcons' combined record is 9-3 at the fourth through sixth flights in the four league matches. In fact, BGSU players have a combined record of 18-30 at the top-three singles flights through this year's first 16 dual matches, but the Falcons are an aggregate 34-14 at flights four through six, including a 12-4 mark at both the fifth and sixth flights.
Dean will count on that success at the bottom of the lineup this weekend, as she will be without the services of a player at the top of the lineup. Junior Susie Schoenberger, who has played at the top singles flight for each of the last 15 matches, is in Washington, D.C., this weekend, representing the state of Ohio at the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Schoenberger also has played at the top doubles flight in 15 of the 16 dual matches, including each of the last 14. Senior co-captain Lisa Maloney, who has played at the second singles flight for most of the season, is the likely candidate to assume the top spot for the WMU and NIU matches.
Maloney has an overall singles record of 10-9 this year, including a 6-7 mark in dual-match play. Freshman Ashley Jakupcin, sophomore Heidi Romer and junior Cameron Benjamin are other Falcons likely to be in the upper spots of the singles lineup.
Jakupcin leads all Falcons with 18 singles wins to date. Her 18-5 record includes a 10-3 mark in dual-match play. Romer, 16-11 in singles, has 30 overall (singles and doubles) wins, the most on the team. Jakupcin has 29 total wins this year, while Benjamin's 18 total victories include 12 singles wins.
Senior Jessica Johnson and sophomore Andrea Meister have each enjoyed some success in singles play as well. Johnson has a 10-3 record, including a 5-1 mark at the sixth flight in dual-match action, while Meister's 10-8 singles record includes a perfect 2-0 mark in MAC play to date.
Western Michigan enters the weekend with a 10-7 dual-match record, and the Broncos are 3-0 in MAC action. WMU comes to Ohio riding a five-match winning streak and captured four home matches last weekend, including league contests vs. Akron (6-1) and Buffalo (7-0). Senior Frederika Girsang has a 9-6 record for head coach Betsy Kuhle at the top singles flight, and leads the team with 92 career singles wins. Girsang has teamed with classmate Valeria Stoilova for a 9-3 record at the top doubles flight in dual-match play.
Northern Illinois is 6-5 overall, and the Huskies will take a 2-1 MAC record into a Friday contest at Ball State. The Huskies, like Western Michigan, picked up wins over Buffalo (4-3) and Akron (5-2) last weekend. Senior Branka Savic (11-12 in singles play) and junior Cassie Drake (17-6) played at the top-two singles flights for head coach Laura Scott in last weekend's wins. Northern's lone league loss came to Western, 6-1 on Feb. 26.
Next weekend, BG concludes the home portion of the schedule with matches vs. Miami (April 9) and Marshall (April 10). Then, the Falcons step out of MAC play for an April 13 match at Xavier, before heading to Muncie to face Ball State on April 17. The MAC Championships are scheduled for April 22-25 in DeKalb, Ill.
