Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Head to Buffalo for MAC Championships
April 23, 2008 | Women's Tennis
April 23, 2008
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
THIS WEEK IN FALCON TENNIS
#5 BGSU vs. #4 Eastern Michigan • Fri., April 25 • 10:00 a.m.
Mid-American Conference Championships • Buffalo, N.Y.
BGSU Notes, Stats & Records in PDF Format
FIFTH-SEEDED FALCONS MEET EASTERN MICHIGAN FRIDAY
The Bowling Green State University tennis team, having won four of six matches to close the regular season, heads to New York for this weekend's Mid-American Conference Championships, hosted by the University at Buffalo ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean, the fifth seed for the nine-team tournament, will face fourth-seeded Eastern Michigan University in Friday's (April 25) quarterfinal round ... the match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Ellicott Tennis Center on the UB campus.
THREE NOTES THAT NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR FALCON TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• The Falcons, as mentioned, are the fifth seed for the nine-team MAC Championships ... BGSU finished in a tie with Buffalo for fifth place in the final regular-season standings, as both teams had identical 4-4 league records ... but, the Falcons earned the fifth seed by virtue of a victory over the Bulls in the teams' head-to-head meeting.
• BGSU gave MAC regular-season champion Western Michigan a battle on Saturday (April 19), before falling to the Broncos by a 5-2 count ... the two points amassed by the Falcons marked BG's best showing against WMU since a 5-2 setback nine years ago (April 23, 1999) ... BGSU was only the third MAC team to notch two points vs. the Broncos this season.
• Freshman Christine Chiricosta had a successful Saturday, winning at both singles and doubles vs. Western ... the Avon Lake, Ohio, native teamed with junior Kelsey Jakupcin for an 8-6 win at the top doubles flight ... then, Chiricosta downed WMU's Priyanka Parekh in straight sets at the #2 singles flight, losing a total of just six games (6-2, 6-4) ... Parekh had entered the match with seven consecutive singles wins, and was 6-1 in the MAC before Saturday's loss to Chiricosta ... Chiricosta now has a team-leading total of 44 wins on the season.
MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN THIS WEEKEND
The MAC Championships run from Thursday through Sunday (April 24-27) in Buffalo ... matches will be held at the Ellicott Tennis Center on the UB campus ... in the event of inclement weather, matches would move indoors to The Village Glen Tennis Center and/or the Miller Tennis Center ... the complete MAC Championships schedule ...
First Round - Thursday, April 24
#8 Northern Illinois vs. #9 Akron, Noon
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 25
#1 Western Michigan vs. NIU/Akron winner, 10:00 a.m.
#5 Bowling Green vs. #4 Eastern Michigan, 10:00 a.m.
#3 Toledo vs. #6 Buffalo, 2:00 p.m.
#2 Miami vs. #7 Ball State, 2:00 p.m.
Semifinals - Saturday, April 26
WMU/NIU/UA winner vs. BGSU/EMU winner, 10:00 a.m.
UT/UB winner vs. MU/BSU winner, 2:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, April 27
Semifinal winners, 12:00 p.m.
TOURNEY CENTRAL/UPDATES
The 2008 MAC Championships tourney central web page can be accessed at buffalobulls.com, or through the tennis page at BGSUFalcons.com ... the site will include periodic updates of live matches throughout the day as well.
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Falcons have a record of 8-13 since the MAC Championships went to the current format (teams advance rather than individuals) prior to the 1996-97 season ... last season, BGSU posted a come-from-behind win over Miami in the quarterfinal round, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since the 2000 season ... the Falcons have met Eastern Michigan on four prior occasions in the conference championships, with all four meetings coming in the quarterfinals ... BGSU downed Eastern, 5-3, in the 1997 championships, but the Eagles have won the last three tourney meetings ... Eastern picked up wins by scores of 5-1 in 1998, 4-2 in '99 and 4-1 in 2005.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons enter the MAC Championships with an overall dual-match record of 15-4, and BG finished with a 4-4 league ledger, good for a tie for fifth place in the nine-team race ... the Brown and Orange suffered a 5-2 loss to MAC champion Western Michigan Saturday (April 19) to end the regular season.
BGSU, after reeling off 11 consecutive wins to begin the dual-match schedule, suffered a pair of narrow losses to start MAC play, falling at Eastern Michigan and Toledo by identical 4-3 scores ... but, the Brown and Orange bounced back to win the next three contests, downing Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Akron ... Miami snapped that streak with a 6-1 win over the Falcons, but BG bested Ball State by a 6-1 result before falling to WMU.
BGSU spent three weeks in the national rankings prior to the EMU and UT losses ... the Falcons broke into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings on March 4, debuting at 60th in the poll ... that is believed to be the first national ranking in program history ... the Falcons were 54th in the country in the March 11 rankings, and 56th in the March 18 poll.
BG has posted at least 10 dual-match victories for the sixth consecutive season, extending the school record ... prior to the current streak, the longest string of double-digit win totals was four-straight seasons, on two prior occasions (1988-92 and 1996-2000) ... the Falcons are just one win shy of matching the school single-season record of 16.
Individually, all eight Falcon competitors have posted more than 20 total wins this year to date, with seven of the eight having surpassed 30 victories ... freshman Christine Chiricosta leads the way with 44 overall wins, while sophomores Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel have 42 and 41 victories, respectively ... junior Kelsey Jakupcin has 38 wins and senior Andrea Volle 35 ... junior Stefanie Menoff has won 34 times this year, while senior Jenna Nussbaum enters the Eastern Michigan match with 33 overall wins this year.
In singles play, all eight Falcon players have winning records ... Chiricosta has a 21-7 mark, while Menoff is 20-5 and Kintzel 18-6 ... Jakupcin has a singles record of 17-10 to date, while Babina is 16-10 heading into the EMU match ... Volle is 15-8 and Nussbaum 13-9 in singles play, while junior Libby Harrison is 12-6.
In doubles action, Babina has a stellar 26-4 mark, while Kintzel is 23-4 and Chiricosta 23-7 ... Jakupcin has 21 doubles wins (21-10), while Nussbaum (20-11) and Volle (20-13) each have 20 ... in fact, all eight Falcons have winning doubles ledgers, with each of them having posted at least 14 victories heading into the EMU match.
In dual-match action, Jakupcin has a mark of 14-5 at the top singles flight, while Chiricosta is 14-5 at the second level ... Chiricosta had a team-best record of 5-3 in MAC dual-match action ... Babina has a record of 12-6 at the third flight, with Kintzel 10-3 at flight number four ... Menoff is 5-3 at flight five and 7-0 at flight six in dual-match play, with Nussbaum (1-4 at #4, 3-1 at both #5 and #6) and Volle (6-1 at flight five, 2-4 at flight six) having been in the starting lineup at multiple flights as well throughout the dual portion of the schedule ... Kintzel has missed the last four matches ... in her absence, Nussbaum has stepped up to play at the fourth flight, with Menoff seeing action at the fifth singles flight in three of those contests ... Volle has played at the sixth flight in three of the last four duals, and at the fifth flight in the other ... Menoff went 4-2 in MAC play, with both Jakupcin and Babina were 4-4 vs. conference foes.
In doubles, Chiricosta and Jakupcin have teamed up for a record of 14-5 at the #1 flight in dual-match action ... the tandem of senior co-captains Nussbaum and Volle is 14-5 at the second level in duals ... both teams went 5-3 in MAC action ... the sophomore duo of Babina and Kintzel has gone a stellar 13-1, including 4-0 in MAC play, since the dual-match season began ... in Kintzel's absence, Babina teamed with Harrison in the Miami and BSU matches, and with Menoff vs. Western Michigan ... overall, Babina went 6-1 in MAC doubles play.
THE OPPONENT
Eastern Michigan is 9-12 in dual-match play this year, and the Eagles finished conference play with a 5-3 record, the program's best since the 2004-05 season ... Eastern tied for third place in the MAC regular-season standings, and the Eagles will be the fourth seed for the league championships ... last weekend, EMU posted a pair of road wins, downing Akron (6-1) and Buffalo (4-3) ... Eastern will enter the BGSU match on a three-match winning streak, and the Eagles have won four of the last five matches since beginning MAC action with a 1-2 mark ... last year's edition of the Eagles went 12-11 overall and 4-4 in the MAC.
The Falcons trail Eastern Michigan, 26-9, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Eagles have won nine consecutive meetings since BGSU's last win in the 1999-2000 season ... each of Eastern's last two victories have come by narrow 4-3 scores ... last year, the Eagles picked up a win at BG's former home venue, Keefe Courts (April 20, 2007) ... this season, the Eagles captured a victory in Michigan, handing the Falcons their first loss of the season (March 21, 2008) ... as mentioned earlier, Eastern holds a 3-1 lead in the teams' meetings at the MAC Championships.
ANOTHER WINNING RECORD
BGSU clinched a winning dual-match record several weeks ago ... the Falcons will finish with a winning mark for the fourth consecutive year, tying the school record ... BG also had four-straight winning seasons from 1974-75 through 1977-78, as well as from 1996-97 through 1999-2000.
SHE'S THE DEAN
The Falcons' win over Ball State (April 12) put head coach Penny Dean now is just one victory shy of 200 wins with the Brown and Orange ... Dean currently has a dual-match record of 199-181 in her 18th season at the BGSU helm ... she is 245-225 in her 22nd year as a collegiate head coach.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
(a few more interesting tidbits about the BGSU tennis program, in no particular order)
• The win at Ball State was the Falcons' 15th of the season ... for BGSU, now 15-4, ,the current win total is tied for the second highest in school history ... coach Penny Dean's 1998-99 team holds the record, having gone 16-7 ... the 1989-90 team also had 15 victories, going 15-7 ... that team was coached by Sheila Chiricosta, the mother of current Falcon freshman Christine Chiricosta.
• Even if BGSU were to lose Friday's match vs. Eastern Michigan, the Falcons will end the 2007-08 season with the highest winning percentage in nearly three decades ... at worst, the Brown and Orange would finish 15-5 this year, for a .750 win rate ... that would be the highest percentage since the 1980-81 team finished 9-3 (.750) in dual matches ... the school record is .909 (10-1), by the Janet Parks-coached 1974-75 squad.
• This year's edition of the Falcons already has broken one record ... BGSU now has won 54 dual matches over the last four years, the most victories in a four-year span in school history ... the old record was 51 wins, amassed from the 1996-97 to 1999-2000 seasons ... obviously, the senior class of Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle is the winningest class in program history ... they also will be only the third class in BG women's tennis annals to post a winning dual-match record in all four seasons.
• The Falcons have had a tremendous amount of success in doubles play this season ... after a lengthy struggle, BGSU dropped the doubles point against Western Michigan ... but, the Falcons have captured the doubles point in 16 of this season's 18 duals, and BG has swept all three doubles matches on 10 of those occasions.
• BG doubles teams now have an aggregate record of 81-31 this year to date ... Falcon singles competitors have a combined record of 132-61 on the season.
• BGSU's home winning streak(s) came to an end last weekend vs. Western Michigan, sort of ... the Broncos downed the Falcons in a match that began at Keefe Courts but wrapped up at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club ... with three singles matches still ongoing, the match was moved indoors due to rain.
• It only takes a four-word disclaimer (in italics below) to keep this note alive ... the Falcons' April 4 win over Buffalo came at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Toledo, and continued the Falcons' recent run of success at the team's 'home away from home' ... BG has won 16 consecutive dual matches played in their entirety at Shadow Valley, and the team is an impressive 30-1 at the facility in such matches over the last four years ... the Falcons went 6-0 at the venue in the 2004-05 season, 8-1 in '05-06 and a perfect 8-0 last year, and BG was 8-0 at the site this year ... obviously, the Western Michigan match was completed at Shadow Valley, but that's kind of a gray area, and we'll just talk around it.
• For the first time in months, Katia Babina lost a match in doubles action ... Babina and junior Stefanie Menoff lost their third-flight contest vs. Western Michigan, ending a streak of 16-straight doubles wins for the sophomore ... Babina's last loss in doubles action came on Jan. 20 at Butler ... she teamed with classmate Samantha Kintzel for 13 of those doubles contests, played two matches with Menoff (Wright State on Jan. 27 and WMU) and partnered with junior Libby Harrison for wins against Miami and Ball State (April 11-12).
• Despite the loss vs. WMU, Babina still has an eye-popping doubles record of 26-4 on the year ... she went 6-1 in MAC doubles, having teamed with Kintzel for four of those conference matches, Harrison for two and Menoff for one.
• Babina's doubles win total is the third-highest in school history ... Devon Bissinger and Tracy Howitt share the record, with 32 doubles wins in the 1998-99 season.
• Babina and Harrison's doubles match at Miami (April 11) marked the first time the duo had ever played together ... the Babina/Harrison tandem posted 8-6 wins at both MU and Ball State.
• Freshman Christine Chiricosta closed the regular-season portion of her initial collegiate campaign in style ... Chiricosta posted wins in both singles and doubles vs. Western Michigan ... she now has a team-leading total of 44 overall wins this season to date ... that total ties her for sixth on the BGSU single-season list ... Chiricosta has a team-leading 21 singles wins this year, and her 23 doubles victories places her in a tie for second on the team this season ... she is tied for sixth all-time on that BGSU seasonal list.
• Babina has 42 overall wins this year ... that total deadlocks her for ninth place on the school's single-season list ... Kintzel is 13th with 41 wins this year to date, and is tied witih Chiricosta (and two others) for sixth on the seasonal doubles chart as well.
• Of the eight members of the 2007-08 Falcon squad, four are on the BGSU top-20 list for combined career wins ... Menoff became the latest Falcon to crack the list, doing so in the Akron match ... she ranks 20th with a career total of 93 victories.
• Junior Kelsey Jakupcin is the Falcons' active career leader in overall wins ... she now has 109 career victories, ranking 15th in BGSU annals ... senior co-captains Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle are on that list as well ... Nussbaum has 106 career wins, ranking her 16th in school history ... Volle currently ranks 19th with 102 victories as a Falcon.
• Volle, BGSU's active career leader in doubles wins, now has 60, and has moved into 10th place on that BGSU list ... Nussbaum is right behind, with 59 career doubles victories to tie for 11th in Falcon history.
• Jakupcin now has 53 career doubles wins, and is tied for 16th in BG annals.
• Menoff has 61 career singles wins, tops among active Falcons ... she ranks 13th in BG history ... Menoff is a stellar 61-15 in career singles play, including a 15-3 mark in MAC dual-match action.
• Jakupcin has 56 career singles wins to tie for 15th in BG history, while Nussbaum is 19th with 47 such wins.
• Jakupcin has earned three conference weekly awards this year ... the junior has picked up a MAC Player-of-the-Week honor twice this spring, being recognized on both January 23 and February 13 ... additionally, Jakupcin was named a MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week on April 3 ... the award is presented to one male and one female each week, who has a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better and performs well during the previous week's competition ... Jakupcin has a 3.69 cumulative GPA as a communication disorders major.
UP NEXT
The BGSU-EMU winner will advance to Saturday's (April 26) semifinal round of the MAC Championships ... the Falcons or Eagles would face either Western Michigan, Northern Illinois or Akron in a match that will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Ellicott Tennis Center in Buffalo, N.Y. ... the semifinal winners will advance to the championship match on Sunday, April 27.
