Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MIAMI (OH)
Falcons Rally Past Miami in Dramatic Fashion, 4-3
April 27, 2007 | Women's Tennis
April 27, 2007
TOLEDO, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - At 2:00 p.m. on Friday (April 27), things did not look so good for the Bowling Green State University tennis team.
Just over an hour later, however, the Falcons were singing "Ay Ziggy Zoomba" and celebrating a win.
BGSU rallied from a 3-0 deficit in dramatic fashion, recording a 4-3 victory over Miami University. The match, a quarterfinal-round contest in the Mid-American Conference Championships, was held at Laurel Hill Swim & Tennis Club in Toledo.
With the win, the Falcons improve to 13-8 on the season. More importantly, Penny Dean's team advances to the semifinal round of the conference tourney. The Brown and Orange will face Western Michigan on Saturday (April 28) at 10:00 a.m. Miami bows out of the tournament with an overall record of 10-13.
BGSU advances to the semifinals of the league tournament for the first time in seven years.
"I couldn't be happier with our performance today," said Dean. "We were under huge pressure, needing to win every match (after falling behind, 3-0), and we found a way to get it done."
The RedHawks took the early lead by winning the doubles point. All three matches were closely contested, but MU captured the first- and second-flight contests to take a 1-0 lead (the third-flight match was abandoned, as conference tournament matches are halted once the overall outcome has been decided).
When singles play got underway, Miami's Kristen McPhillips was victorious in straight sets at the fourth flight, and teammate Kelly Douple was a winner in her sixth-flight match. Those two contests ended within minutes of one another, and suddenly, MU had a 3-0 lead. With four matches still on the courts, the Falcons needed to win all four.
Slowly, the Falcons battled back. Freshman Samantha Kintzel, after winning a decisive 6-2 first set, went to a second-set tiebreaker with MU's Leda Pesatova in their second-flight match. Kintzel was a 7-1 winner in that tiebreaker, and BGSU was on the scoreboard.
Then, another freshman got the Brown and Orange a point closer to the RedHawks, as Katia Babina won in three sets over Victoria Pulido at the fifth flight. Only two matches remained, with the Falcons' fate lying in the hands (and the racquets) of a pair of siblings.
Falcon sophomore Kelsey Jakupcin battled into a third set with MU's Linda Jirouskova at the third flight, while her sister, senior tri-captain Ashley Jakupcin, played into a third set with the 'Hawks' Katrina Lomidze at the top flight.
Kelsey Jakupcin had won her opening set before seeing Jirouskova even the match. In the third set, the two battled back and forth, finding themselves in a 5-5 tie. The Falcon soph, however, then captured the next two games to take the set and the match, tying the overall match at 3-3.
Ashley Jakupcin had struggled in her opening set, falling behind by a 5-0 count en route to a 6-2 loss. The senior then posted a 6-2 win of her own over Lomidze in the second set, and Jakupcin took a 5-3 lead in the third set.
With a trip to the semifinals -- not to mention the continuation of their respective teams' seasons -- hanging in the balance, Lomidze won the next two games. The two seniors were tied, 5-5, in what was potentially the final set of their collegiate careers.
Lomidze won the next game to take a 6-5 lead, but Jakupcin fought back to knot the contest at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. The Falcon senior took leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in that tiebreaker before reeling off the final four points to give her team the win.
Was Jakupcin aware of the events transpiring on the other courts?
"I always know what is going on, and how my teammates are doing," said the senior, who was named to the All-MAC First Team on Thursday. "I was extremely nervous, though. I didn't want my career to be over.
"I've played against (Lomidze) before, and I think we have established a respect for one another. Both of us are seniors, and we both knew what was at stake.
"I did not want it to end today."
Dean, of course, was pleased with the effort put forth by both Jakupcins as well as their teammates.
"If I could have anyone out there playing for the match, it would be Ashley," said the coach. "I know she will play smart, she will grind it out and she won't give her opponent any easy points.
"Ashley and the others were all under tremendous pressure today. We had four players out there, each knowing that they had to win or our season was over.
"Give a lot of credit to Miami, though, for making us sweat. They came our fired up, played great doubles and put us behind the eight-ball from the start. They played very well today.
"But, I couldn't be more proud of my team for battling back when they could have packed it in. We lost the doubles point, lost Stef (Menoff) to illness, then lost the first two singles matches. But we gutted it out, and we live to play another day."
The Falcons and WMU, the tournament's top seed, will meet in semifinal-round action on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. That match is scheduled to be held at Varsity Courts on the Toledo campus, weather permitting.
FALCON TENNIS NOTES
* The Falcons now have a record of 8-12 in the MAC Championships since the league went to the current format prior to the 1996-97 season ... BGSU's win over Miami was the team's first league tourney victory since a first-round triumph over Akron in the 2004 season.
* BGSU trails the all-time series with Miami by a 29-5 count ... two of those five Falcon wins, however, have come this season ... the Brown and Orange posted a 5-2 win earlier this month, also indoors and also in the Glass City ... the teams' April 6 meeting was held at Shadow Valley Tennis Club.
* BGSU and Miami are now deadlocked, 1-1, in MAC Championships meetings ... in the only tourney matchup prior to Friday, MU had won a 4-0 decision over the Falcons in the quarterfinals exactly six years ago (April 27, 2001) in Huntington, W.Va.
* Friday's win, as mentioned, gives the Falcons their first trip to the semifinals in seven years ... BGSU's last MAC tourney quarterfinal win came against Ball State on April 28, 2000, and was also a 4-3 triumph.
* Saturday will mark the Falcons' third semifinal-round appearance in the last 11 years, and also will be the third time BG has faced Western Michigan in that semifinal round ... the Broncos posted a 5-1 win in 1997 (each doubles match counted as one point) and a 4-0 triumph over the Falcons in 2000.
* Saturday's match will be the first time the Falcons have met the Broncos in a neutral-site semifinal round match ... the '97 semifinal meeting took place in Bowling Green, while the 2000 match was held in Kalamazoo, Mich.
* Friday's win was the Falcons' 13th of the season, tying the 2006-07 team for the third-highest total in school history ... the 1998-99 team won a school-record 16 matches, going 16-6 ... last year's squad went 14-10, while the 1997-98 club was 13-9.
* BGSU has won 49 dual matches over the last four years, tying for the second-most victories in a four-year span in school history ... the record is 51 wins, amassed from the 1996-97 to 1999-2000 seasons ... BG also won 49 duals from 1997-98 to 2000-01.
* Senior Ashley Jakupcin's dramatic win on Friday was the 77th singles win of her BGSU career ... that victory moves Jakupcin into sole possession of third place on the BG career list ... she is just two shy of the school record of 79 singles wins, set by Julie Weisblatt (1994-97) and matched by Deidee Bissinger (1997-2000).
* Jakupcin now has a total of 131 overall career victories ... she is ranked eighth in school history in that category.
* Sophomore Stefanie Menoff played in the doubles portion of Friday's match, but became ill and was a late scratch from the Falcons' singles lineup ... Menoff is 23-2 in singles play this season, including a perfect 7-0 in MAC singles matches during the regular season.
BOWLING GREEN 4, MIAMI 3
Friday, April 27, 2007 // Laurel Hill Swim & Tennis Club // Toledo, Ohio
MAC Championships - Quarterfinal Round
SINGLES
1 - Ashley Jakupcin (BGSU) def. Katrina Lomidze 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2)
2 - Samantha Kintzel (BGSU) def. Leda Pesatova 6-2, 7-6 (1)
3 - Kelsey Jakupcin (BGSU) def. Linda Jirouskova 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
4 - Kristen McPhillips (MU) def. Jenna Nussbaum 6-1, 6-1
5 - Katia Babina (BGSU) def. Victoria Pulido 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
6 - Kelly Douple (MU) def. Libby Harrison 6-0, 6-2
DOUBLES
1 - Lomidze/Jirouskova (MU) def. Nussbaum/K. Jakupcin 8-5
2 - Pestova/Pulido (MU) def. Andrea Volle/Stefanie Menoff 8-5
3 - McPhillips/Douple (MU) led Kintzel/A. Jakupcin 7-6 DNF
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 2,1 (3 DNF)
Singles: 4,6,2,5,3,1
DNF - match did not finish
2007 MAC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
First Round - Thursday, April 26
#8 Northern Illinois 4, #9 Akron 0
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 27
#1 Western Michigan 4, #8 Northern Illinois 0
#4 Bowling Green 4, #5 Miami 3
#3 Toledo 4, #6 Eastern Michigan 2
#2 Buffalo 4, #7 Ball State 0
Semifinals - Saturday, April 28
#1 Western Michigan vs. #4 Bowling Green, 10:00 a.m.
#2 Buffalo at #3 Toledo, 2:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, April 29
Semifinal winners, 1:00 p.m.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)