Bowling Green State University Athletics
Tuesday, October 13
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Cleveland State
Falcons Return To House That Roars For Three Matches This Week
October 12, 2009 | Volleyball
Weekly Volleyball Notes (.pdf)
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green volleyball team will look to snap a 10-match losing streak this week with three home matches, including a midweek non-conference tilt with Cleveland State. The Falcons lost to Cleveland State in five sets earlier this year and will try to avenge that defeat. As well, Bowling Green will host a pair of Mid-American Conference West Division foes in Eastern Michigan and central Michigan.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Bowling Green and Cleveland State played earlier this year with the Vikings coming away with a five-set victory (15-10 in the fifth). In all, the Falcons hold a 17-15 edge in 32 meetings with Cleveland State. Bowling Green is 28-21 all-time against Eastern Michigan, with a 12-8 mark at home in Anderson Arena. A year ago, the Falcons won in three sets and have won three consecutive matches over the Eagles. BG is 25-20 all-time against Central Michigan with a 13-8 record at home. The Falcons ended Central's season a year ago with a four-set win in the MAC Tournament but lost to the Chippewas in the regular season.
THE OPPONENTS
Cleveland State has won six straight matches heading into a Sunday contest with Green Bay to improve to 17-5 overall and 6-1 in Horizon League play. The Vikings have been successful by hitting efficiently (.245 attack percentage) and racking up a high number of kills (13.56 per set which ranks in the top 50 nationally). Four players are averaging at least 2.4 kills per set, led by Liz Fazio at 3.40. Jordan Goad is handing out 10.53 assists per set. Head Coach Chuck Voss is in his 10th season at Cleveland State and 12th as a head coach with a career record of 192-166.
Eastern Michigan struggled through a competitive early-season non-conference schedule, losing its first eight matches. But the Eagles are 2-3 in their last five to improve to 3-19 on the season and 2-4 in the MAC. When EMU has been successful, it has been by digging the ball well as the team averages 15.43 per set. Haley Stein's 4.39 digs per set tops the team. Head Coach Kim Berrington is in her 14th season leading the Eagles and she has a 204-214 career mark.
Central Michigan is 10-6 overall and 3-3 in MAC play and has one of the best service games in the country, averaging 1.79 aces per set. Kaitlyn Hurt and Lauren Krupsky both have at least 20 aces on the season. Head Coach Erik Olson is in his sixth year at Central Michigan with a career record of 78-87, but is 68-40 in the last four years.
THE VICTORY MARCH
With seven wins in 2009, head coach Denise Van De Walle has compiled a career record of 494-335 in 27 years at Bowling Green, needing just six more to reach milestone win No. 500. Despite a recent losing streak, the Falcons have racked up an impressive 79-38 overall record since 2006 and have won 20 or more matches in each of the last three campaigns. Van De Walle is one of the 30 active winningest coaches in NCAA Division I and her 494 wins are the most in Mid-American Conference history.
DEFENDING THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
In 2007 and 2008, Bowling Green went 22-3 in Anderson Arena and the Falcons held opponents to just a .198 attack percentage in 12 matches a year ago. But Bowling Green is just 1-6 in "The House That Roars" in 2009 and has allowed opponents to hit .266. The Falcons return home to start a three-match homestand this week against Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.
THE NEMESIS
Just as Lex Luthor was Superman's nemesis, Shari Luther has been a nemesis to opponents in the early going. Even if they aren't related (OK, we realize the last names aren't even spelled the same and Lex Luthor is fictional), Luther is causing headaches for opponents the way Luthor and his cryptonite must have caused for Superman. She was named Most Valuable Player at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Tournament after averaging 2.8 kills per set and a team-best .430 attack percentage on the weekend. She also had a team-high 13 blocks and served up three aces. For those efforts, she also received the first MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week award for 2009. She followed that up by being named to the all-tournament team at the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic. On the year, she leads the MAC in attack percentage at .373 (ranking 37th in the country) and leads the team in kills, blocks, and points.
ACTION JACKSON
Senior Kaitlin Jackson has been a versatile player throughout her career with the Falcons. In 2009, she has become an even more dynamic piece of the BGSU puzzle, regarding the first four double-doubles of her career. She picked up the first two at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Tournament and continued to produce in New Orleans, coming up one kill short of another double-double against Texas Tech. At the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic, she had 12 kills and 10 digs against Cleveland State for her third double-double of the season. Against Akron, she had 10 kills and 15 digs for her most recent one. She ranks among the top four on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, server percentage, digs, blocks, and points.
WHO'S THAT KID?
Freshman setter Allison Kearney is one member of a highly touted class at Bowling Green. In her first collegiate weekend, she lived up to the billing. Kearney averaged 11.5 assists per set, led the team with nine aces and added 2.5 digs per set. She has been named to all-tournament teams at both the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational and the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational. On the year, she is averaging 10.09 assists per set (which ranks fourth in the MAC), leads the team with 16 aces and is second at 2.45 digs per set.
THE DOMEK SHOW
For Mid-American Conference opponents, it may seem like Corey Domek has been around forever. The senior left side hitter has received MAC postseason honors in each of her first three years with Falcons. She was named to the conference's all-freshman team in 2006 and has followed that up with back-to-back second team all-conference honors. She has already climbed five spots this year to eighth place in BGSU history with 1,268 career kills and needs just 18 more this weekend to climb into the top five.
KAUTH IS COMING ON
Sophomore Emily Kauth played in just five matches a year ago but she has taken on a much larger role in her second season with the Falcons. She exploded in New Orleans, tying for the team lead in kills at the tournament while hitting an impressive .411. Kauth added two aces (tying for the team high) and six blocks (second most on the team) in the three matches. She put together possibly the best match of her career in the team's four set win over Robert Morris at the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational, finishing with a career high 18 kills and hitting .500. She is currently second on the team in kills and attack percentage, ranking ninth in the MAC in that category. Kauth also ranks second on the team in aces and blocks.
RISING TO THE TOP
Since 2006, the Bowling Green volleyball program has been one of the best and most consistent teams in the Mid-American Conference. The Falcons have the second best overall record and fourth-best MAC record in the conference during that time frame. Here are the combined records for each MAC team since 2006:
Records through 10/10/09
Team Overall (Pct.) MAC (Pct.)
Ohio 92-23 (.800) 50-4 (.926)
Bowling Green 79-38 (.675) 37-17 (.685)
Western Michigan 84-41 (.672) 40-14 (.741)
Central Michigan 68-40 (.630) 32-22 (.593)
Northern Illinois 61-49 (.555) 33-21 (.611)
Miami 63-51 (.553) 38-16 (.704)
Kent State 58-52 (.527) 23-31 (.426)
Eastern Michigan 45-72 (.385) 20-34 (.370)
Buffalo 42-72 (.368) 9-45 (.167)
Toledo 40-69 (.367) 14-40 (.259)
Ball State 39-73 (.348) 21-33 (.389)
Akron 29-82 (.261) 8-46 (.148)
YOUTH IS SERVED
The Bowling Green coaching staff had a stellar offseason, putting together a recruiting class ranked among the best in the Mid-American Conference. In fact, PrepVolleyball.com named the freshman class as a high honorable mention group -- one of only two MAC classes to achieve that honor. The class made an impact already as setter Allison Kearney has been named to a pair of all-tournament teams and ranks fourth in the MAC in assists. Cassie Berning ranks in the top six on the team in kills, aces, serve receive percentage, digs, and blocks, gaining valuable early season experience. Kari Galen has seen increased playing time lately and has eight kills and a respectable .227 attack percentage.
HITTING THE BOOKS
Bowling Green has always stressed academics and Falcon volleyball has been a model of that philosophy. The 2008 BGSU volleyball team received the AVCA Academic Team Award for the ninth consecutive season, compiling a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or better. The Falcons have the second longest streak in all of NCAA Division I and has received the award 10 times overall.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Fans and media can keep up-to-date on the Bowling Green volleyball team at the official site of Bowling Green athletics, BGSUFalcons.com. Match recaps, previews, statistics, bios and much more can be found on the website.
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