Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Tabbed to Finish Fifth in MAC Race
January 20, 2009 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 20, 2009
CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Mid-American Conference office has released the 2008-09 tennis preseason poll, and Bowling Green State University has been picked to finish fifth among the nine teams. The poll is the result of voting by the league's head coaches.
Miami was a narrow choice to win the regular season with Western Michigan earning the most votes to capture the league tournament and automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The RedHawks were a scant one-point favorite over WMU in the regular season count. Four teams received at least one vote to take the tournament crown in April (Western Michigan, Miami, BGSU and Buffalo).
WMU won last year's regular-season championship, while Buffalo hosted and won the 2008 conference tournament. This year's tournament is scheduled for April 23-26 in Bowling Green.
Returning first-team All-MAC selections from last year include Falcon senior Kelsey Jakupcin, along with defending MAC Player of the Year Kerstin Pahl of Western Michigan, co-Freshman of the Year Anastasia Dracheva from Miami, and her MU teammate Brintney Larson.
Falcon sophomore Christine Chiricosta headlines the returning players from last year's All-MAC Second Team. That list also includes Denise Harijanto of Buffalo, Martina Wodzinski from Toledo and Tanyaradzwa Gombera from Akron.
In addition, co-Freshman of the Year Diana Popescu from Buffalo returns.
The Falcons finished with an overall dual-match record of 16-5 last year, tying the school record for dual victories in a season. BGSU tied for fifth place in the MAC's regular-season standings with a 4-4 league mark, then advanced to the semifinal round of the league tournament for the second consecutive year.
BGSU's first MAC match of the 2008-09 season is March 21, when the Falcons head to Western Michigan. The conference home opener is the following weekend, March 27, when the Falcons host Toledo. BG also plays MAC home duals against Eastern Michigan (March 28), Ball State (April 17) and Miami (April 18), while taking to the road to face Northern Illinois (April 3), Akron (April 10) and Buffalo (April 11).
The complete voting results, with points earned, follow ...
2009 MAC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll
1. Miami (76)
2. Western Michigan (75)
3. Buffalo (57)
4. Toledo (53)
5. Bowling Green (45)
6. Akron (37)
7. Eastern Michigan (33)
8. Northern Illinois (15)
9. Ball State (14)
(total points based on 9 for a first place vote; 8 for second place, etc.)
First-place votes: Miami 5; Western Michigan 3; Buffalo 1.
Tournament winner votes: Western Michigan 4; Miami 3; Bowling Green, Buffalo 1.
(portions of this release courtesy MAC office)
