Bowling Green State University
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WESTERN MICHIGAN
Broncos Top Falcons, 5-2, to Close Regular-Season Play
April 19, 2008 | Women's Tennis
April 19, 2008
BOWLING GREEN/TOLEDO, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - Western Michigan University clinched an outright Mid-American Conference regular-season championship with a 5-2 win over the Bowling Green State University tennis team Saturday afternoon (April 19). The match was held at multiple venues in Northwest Ohio.
With the win, the Broncos improve to 15-7 overall, and WMU finishes 8-0 in MAC play. Western, ranked #62 in the nation, has won four consecutive MAC regular-season titles, and the Broncos have won 34 consecutive conference regular-season matches. The Falcons drop to 15-4 overall and 4-4 in MAC play.
The Falcons finished the regular season in a tie for fifth place in the nine-team MAC race. BGSU will face fourth-seeded Eastern Michigan University in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Championships on Friday (April 25).
On Saturday, freshman Christine Chiricosta and junior Stefanie Menoff posted singles wins for the Brown and Orange in a closely-contested match vs. WMU. BGSU is only the third MAC team to notch two points vs. the Broncos this season.
Saturday's match began at Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus, but was moved indoors when rain moved into the area. The teams headed north, finishing the last three singles matches (flights #4, 5 and 6) at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Toledo.
In Bowling Green, the doubles point narrowly went the Broncos' way. The WMU team of Emily Dudzik and Yumi Matsuto picked up a win over junior Stefanie Menoff and sophomore Katia Babina at the third doubles flight, but BG's duo of junior Kelsey Jakupcin and freshman Christine Chiricosta posted an 8-6 win over the Pahl/Parekh team at the top flight.
After a lengthy battle at the second flight, Western's Ashley Moccia and Noriko Saruta outlasted the Falcons' senior duo of Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle, 8-5, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, Western's Kerstin Pahl completed an 8-0 MAC regular season with a win over Jakupcin at the top flight. But, Chiricosta swept Priyanka Parekh, losing only six total games in the two sets.
Saruta downed Babina in the third flight, and the other three singles matches all were still in progress when a light rain began to fall at Keefe Courts. Just after 3:30 p.m., the remaining singles matches were halted, and the teams headed to the Toledoland area. BGSU needed to win all three remaining matches to pick up the overall victory, but the Broncos captured two of the three contests indoors.
At the fourth flight, Dudzik stopped Nussbaum, winning by a narrow 7-5 score in the opening set. Menoff was a winner over Ashley Moccia in straight sets in fifth-flight action, while Amanda Moccia defeated Volle at the sixth flight, in the only match to require a third-set tiebreaker.
Up next for the Falcons, as mentioned, will be the MAC Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. BGSU will play Eastern Michigan in a quarterfinal-round match that will begin at 10:00 a.m. Friday (April 25).
WESTERN MICHIGAN 5, BOWLING GREEN 2
Sat., April 19, 2008 - Keefe Courts/Shadow Valley
SINGLES
1 - Kerstin Pahl (WMU) def. Kelsey Jakupcin 6-1, 6-3
2 - Christine Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Priyanka Parekh 6-2, 6-4
3 - Noriko Saruta (WMU) def. Katia Babina 6-1, 6-2
4 - Emily Dudzik (WMU) def. Jenna Nussbaum 7-5, 6-1
5 - Stefanie Menoff (BGSU) def. Ashley Moccia 6-1, 7-5
6 - Amanda Moccia (WMU) def. Andrea Volle 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)
DOUBLES
1 - Chiricosta/Jakupcin (BGSU) def. Pahl/Parekh 8-6
2 - Ash. Moccia/Saruta (WMU) def. Nussbaum/Volle 8-5
3 - Dudzik/Yumi Matsuto (WMU) def. Menoff/Babina 8-2
MAC STANDINGS
(through end of regular season)
Western Michigan (15-7) ... 8-0 Miami (13-6) .............. 7-1 Toledo (14-6) ............. 5-3 Eastern Michigan .(9-12)... 5-3 Bowling Green (15-4) ...... 4-4 Buffalo (9-8) ............. 4-4 Ball State (9-10) ......... 2-6 Northern Illinois (3-12) .. 1-7 Akron (5-14) .............. 0-8 teams listed in order of seeding for MAC Championships
