.png&type=webp)
Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
EASTERN MICHIGAN
BGSU Advances Past EMU, 4-2, at MAC Championships
April 25, 2008 | Women's Tennis
April 25, 2008
BUFFALO, N.Y. (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team tied a school record and ended a lengthy streak on Friday (April 25), posting a 4-2 win over Eastern Michigan University. The match, a quarterfinal-round contest in the Mid-American Conference Championships, was held at the Ellicott Tennis Facility in Buffalo, N.Y.
Updated BGSU Stats & Records in PDF Format
MAC Tournament Central
With the win, the Falcons, seeded fifth for the nine-team tournament, improve to 16-4 on the season. BGSU advances to Saturday's (April 26) semifinal round, where top-seeded Western Michigan University awaits.
The fourth-seeded Eagles bow out of the tournament with an overall record of 9-13.
For the Falcons, the win was notable for several reasons, including the following (in no particular order):
* It avenged a 4-3 loss to the Eagles in 2007-08 regular-season play;
* The result also snapped a nine-match losing streak to EMU, dating to the 1999-2000 season;
* It was the Falcons' 16th victory of the season, tying the school single-season record for wins; and
* The win was the 200th of Penny Dean's BGSU coaching career.
Friday's win over Eastern Michigan was the 200th for Penny Dean at the BGSU helm  |
|
The Falcons and Eagles set the tone for the day during doubles action, as the teams battled right down to the wire before BGSU took the point. At the third doubles flight, sophomore Katia Babina teamed with junior Stefanie Menoff for an 8-4 win over EMU's tandem of Aditi Krishnan and Joanna Woo.
At the second flight, however, the Eagles' Flavia Micati and Aleksandra Stankovic downed BG senior co-captains Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle, winning by an 8-3 outcome.
The final doubles match on the court pitted BGSU's two All-MAC performers, junior Kelsey Jakupcin and freshman Christine Chiricosta, against Eastern's duo of Vanessa Frankowski (an all-conference performer herself) and Tina Bestehorn. The same tandems had met in the teams' regular-season meeting, with BG winning that battle by an 8-3 score. On Friday morning, the match was much closer, but the Falcon duo again emerged victorious. Chiricosta and Jakupcin picked up a narrow 8-6 win to give the Brown and Orange a 1-0 lead on the day.
In singles action, the teams split the first four matches to finish, with BG winning at the second and sixth flights, and EMU winning at flights one and four.
Chiricosta met Krishnan, who had posted a straight-sets win (6-2, 6-2) over the Falcon freshman in the teams' regular-season meeting. On Friday, the result could not have been more different. Chiricosta did not lose a single game, winning by identical 6-0 scores.
Volle also picked up a lopsided victory, losing a total of only three games in her sixth-flight win over Micati. After a 6-1 win in the first set, the senior co-captain closed out her win with a 6-2 second set.
The Eagles, however, picked up a win at the top flight, where Frankowski downed Jakupcin in a matchup of two All-MAC First-Team performers. At flight number four, Stankovic defeated Menoff in straight sets as well. With two matches remaining on the courts, the Falcons held a 3-2 lead.
Babina and Nussbaum were the BGSU competitors in those two matches. Nussbaum split her first two sets with Woo at the fifth flight, with the Falcon senior winning a 6-2 first set, but losing a tightly-contested (7-5) second set.
Meanwhile, at the third flight, Babina lost her opening set to Bestehorn by a 6-2 result. The Falcon soph battled back to win a second-set tiebreaker, and went on to a 6-4 victory in the third set, clinching the match and a trip to the semifinals.
As mentioned, BG will take on top-seeded and nationally-ranked WMU. The Broncos downed eighth-seeded Northern Illinois, 4-0, in Friday morning's other quarterfinal match.
In Saturday's other semifinal, #2 Miami will face the host school, #6 Buffalo. The RedHawks downed seventh-seeded Ball State in Friday's quarterfinal round, while the Bulls posted a come-from-behind victory over #3 Toledo.
The BGSU-WMU match will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Ellicott Tennis Facility, with the Miami-Buffalo contest scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.
FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons are now 16-4 on the season ... BGSU, as mentioned, has tied the school single-season record for wins ... Penny Dean's 1998-99 team originally set the record, going 16-7.
* The victory was the 200th of Dean's BGSU tenure ... she now has a dual-match record of 200-181 in her 18th season at the Falcon helm ... overall, Dean's record is 246-225 in her 22nd year as a collegiate head coach.
* The 2007-08 Falcons will end the season with the highest winning percentage in nearly three decades ... at worst, the Brown and Orange would finish 16-5 this year, for a .762 win rate ... that would be the highest percentage since the 1977-78 team finished 8-2 (.800) in dual matches ... the school record is .909 (10-1), by the Janet Parks-coached 1974-75 squad.
* The Falcons extended another record on Friday ... BGSU now has won 55 dual matches over the last four years, the most victories in a four-year span in school history ... prior to this season, the 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 will also be only the third class in BG women's tennis annals to post a winning dual-match record in all four seasons.
* BGSU won the doubles point for the 17th time in this season's 20 dual matches ... the Falcons have taken two of the three doubles matches seven times after doing so on Friday vs. EMU ... BG has swept all three doubles matches on 10 occasions this year.
* The Falcons still trail Eastern Michigan, 26-10, in the all-time series between the teams ... the Eagles had won nine consecutive meetings against BGSU, prior to Friday ... BG's last win over Eastern had come in the 1999-2000 season ... the Falcons' win broke a three-match losing streak to Eastern in the MAC Championships ... BG's last tourney win over EMU came in the quarterfinal round of the 1997 championships at BGSU's Keefe Courts.
* The Falcons, as mentioned, have advanced to the semifinal round of the MAC Championships for the second consecutive year ... last season, BG also met Western Michigan in the semis, with the Broncos posting a 4-0 win en route to the championship ... the Falcons and Broncos will be meeting for the second time in a week, as Western captured a 5-2 win in the final regular-season match for both teams (April 19, 2008).
* WMU holds a 33-0 series advantage over the Brown and Orange, and Saturday will mark the fifth meeting between the schools in the MAC Championships ... the Broncos have won semifinal matches over the Falcons in '97 (5-1), 2000 (4-0) and '07 (4-0), and posted a quarterfinal win over BG in 2004 (4-0).
BOWLING GREEN 4, EASTERN MICHIGAN 2
Friday., April 25 // Ellicott Tennis Facility // Buffalo, N.Y.
MAC Championships - Quarterfinal
DOUBLES
1 - Christine Chiricosta/Kelsey Jakupcin (BGSU) def. Vanessa Frankowski/Tina Bestehorn 8-6
2 - Flavia Micati/Aleksandra Stankovic (EMU) def. Jenna Nussbaum/Andrea Volle 8-3
3 - Katia Babina/Stefanie Menoff (BGSU) def. Aditi Krishnan/Joanna Woo 8-4
SINGLES
1 - Vanessa Frankowski (EMU) def. Kelsey Jakupcin 6-2, 6-4
2 - Christine Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Aditi Krishnan 6-0, 6-0
3 - Katia Babina (BGSU) def. Tina Bestehorn 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4
4 - Aleksandra Stankovic (EMU) def. Stefanie Menoff 6-3, 6-3
5 - Jenna Nussbaum (BGSU) vs. Joanna Woo (EMU) 6-2, 5-7, 0-0 DNF
6 - Andrea Volle (BGSU) def. Flavia Micati 6-1, 6-2
DNF - match did not finish
2008 MAC TOURNAMENT
Ellicott Tennis Facility - Buffalo, N.Y.
First Round - Thursday, April 24
#8 Northern Illinois 4, #9 Akron 1
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 25
#1 Western Michigan 4, #8 Northern Illinois 0
#5 Bowling Green 4, #4 Eastern Michigan 2
#6 Buffalo 4, #3 Toledo 3
#2 Miami 5, #7 Ball State 0
Semifinals - Saturday, April 26
#1 Western Michigan vs. #5 Bowling Green, 10:00 a.m.
#2 Miami vs. #6 Buffalo, 2:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, April 27
Semifinal winners, noon
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)