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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Face EMU to Open MAC Championship Play
April 26, 2005 | Women's Tennis
April 26, 2005
MAC Championships Bracket (1 page) in PDF Format
BGSU Individual & Team Stats & Results (1 page) in PDF Format
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team heads to Muncie, Ind., for the 2005 Mid-American Conference Championships ... BGSU, seeded fifth for the 10-team tournament, will face fourth-seeded Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinal round on Friday morning (April 29) ... the match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. locally (11:00 a.m. Eastern Time) at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center on the Ball State University campus ... BSU is the tourney host ... in the event of inclement weather, matches will be held at Muncie YMCA.
The winner of the BGSU-Eastern Michigan match will return to the courts for Saturday's (April 30) semifinal round ... the Falcons-Eagles survivor will meet either top-seeded Western Michigan, #8 seed Ball State or #9 Toledo ... that semifinal match is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Falcons of head coach Penny Dean are 12-9 overall, and BGSU finished the regular season in a tie for fifth place in the final MAC standings, with a league record of 4-5 ... Buffalo also finished 4-5 in conference play, but the Falcons earned the fifth seed by virtue of a 6-1 win in the teams' head-to-head meeting in the regular season, on April 1 in Bowling Green.
Thu.-Sun., April 28-May 1 (all times local to site)First Round - Thursday, April 28 #7 Northern Illinois vs. #10 Akron, Noon #9 Toledo at #8 Ball State, Noon
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 29 #4 Eastern Michigan vs. #5 Bowling Green, 10:00 a.m. #3 Miami vs. #6 Buffalo, 10:00 a.m. NIU/UA winner vs. #2 Marshall, 2:00 p.m. UT/BSU winner vs. #1 Western Michigan, 2:00 p.m.
Semifinals - Saturday, April 30 EMU/BGSU vs. WMU/BSU/UT, 1:00 p.m. Mia./UB vs. Mar./NIU/UA, 1:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, May 1 Semifinal winners, 1:00 p.m.
HEAD COACH Penny Dean
Penny Dean (Michigan, '67) is in her 15th season as head coach of the BGSU tennis team and her 19th year as a collegiate head coach ... she has a record of 157-157 with the Falcons, and is 203-201 overall ... Dean has led the Brown and Orange to double-digit win totals in 11 of her 15 seasons, including each of the last three ... prior to joining the Falcons, Dean spent four years as head coach at the University of Toledo ... she also spent eight years as the tennis director at the Toledo Country Club, while also serving as tennis professional at Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Maumee.
THE FALCONS
The Falcons check into the MAC Championships with an overall dual-match record of 12-9 on the season, and BGSU has clinched a winning record for the first time in five years ... the Falcons already have surpassed last season's win total by two, having gone 10-14 in 2003-04 ... in MAC play, BGSU finished the regular season with a 4-5 mark, a game ahead of last year's 3-6 record ... the 2004-05 Falcons, as mentioned, tied for fifth place in the regular-season standings and have earned the fifth seed for the league championships.
 Senior Laura Kokinda (photo by Jonathan Willey)  |
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One-half of BGSU's singles lineup went unchanged in MAC play, as Schoenberger held down the top flight, with Jakupcin at the number-two position and Volle at the third flight for all nine MAC matches ... Romer played at the fourth singles spot for eight of the nine league duals, while Meister (seven matches at #5) and Benjamin (eight matches at #6) also spent the bulk of the MAC campaign in the singles lineup ... Jakupcin had a team-best 6-3 singles record in league matches, while Benjamin was 5-3.
In doubles, Schoenberger played all nine matches at the top flight, teaming with Romer for five and Jakupcin for the other four ... at the second flight, the Meister/Volle team went 3-2, while Jakupcin and Nussbaum played at that flight for three matches ... five different tandems saw action at the third doubles level in MAC contests, with Meister/Volle and Benjamin/Romer teaming there for three matches each.
Overall this season, Jakupcin has 39 total wins, including a 22-8 singles record ... she leads the Falcons in both singles wins and overall victories ... Benjamin is 16-11 in singles play, while Romer and Schoenberger are 16-13 and 15-14, respectively ... Meister is second on the team with 31 victories, including a team-best 19 doubles wins ... the Meister/Volle duo has gone 12-7 this year, the best of any BG duo ... Romer and Schoenberger each have 29 total wins in 2004-05, while Volle has 28 in her initial college campaign ... Benjamin (25) and Nussbaum (21) each have topped the 20-win plateau this season.
 Senior Cameron Benjamin (photo by Jonathan Willey) |
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Jakupcin's total of 22 singles wins this season places her in a tie for eighth place on the school's single-season list ... she is one win away from moving into a tie for 11th on the single-season combined wins list ... on the career chart, Romer has 50 singles wins to tie for 13th in school history, while Benjamin is 15th with 48 career singles victories ... Schoenberger ranks 14th in BG annals with 90 career combined wins, while Romer is 17th on that chart with 86 victories ... Benjamin (74), Jakupcin (72) and Meister (70) all have at least 70 total career wins.
THE OPPONENT
Eastern Michigan enters the MAC Championships with an overall record of 8-10 ... the Eagles went 6-3 in MAC dual-match play to finish fourth ... Eastern's top player is Victoria Domina, last season's MAC Player of the Year ... Domina, also the reigning MAC Player of the Week after earning that honor Tuesday (April 26), is ranked 62nd in the nation in singles, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ... she has a 13-3 dual mark at the number-one singles flight, and finished 8-1 in MAC play ... in doubles, she has teamed with freshman Vanessa Frankowski for a 10-2 record at the top flight, including an 8-1 slate in conference duals.
WHEN LAST THEY MET
In the teams' regular-season meeting, the Eagles defeated BGSU, 6-1, on April 8 at BGSU's Keefe Courts ... the match was closer than the final score indicated, as each doubles contest was decided by a score of 8-5 or 8-6 ... in singles, Benjamin picked up BG's lone win, at the sixth flight against Flavia Micati ... of EMU's five singles wins, three required a third set.
A LITTLE HISTORY ON THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Western Michigan won the MAC's regular-season title with a 9-0 record this season, but Marshall will be looking to win a fourth consecutive championship crown before leaving the conference at the end of the 2004-05 academic year ... the Thundering Herd defeated Eastern Michigan in last year's championship match ... Hiami leads all MAC schools with 14 MAC Championship crowns, all garnered during the first 16 seasons ... during that Miami run, WMU was the only team to break the Redskins'/RedHawks' stranglehold ... WMU tied Miami for the tema title in 1984, and won the 1990 and 1995 crowns outright ... Western has a total of six titles, while Marshall has won three and EMU two ... Akron, Ball State, BGSU, Buffalo, Northern Illinois and Toledo all are looking for a first-ever title at the league championships.
MAC STANDINGS
(Final league dual-match records)
Western Michigan 9-0; Marshall 8-1; Miami 7-2; Eastern Michigan 6-3; Bowling Green 4-5; Buffalo 4-5; Northern Illinois 3-6; Ball State 3-6; Toledo 1-8; Akron 0-9.
