Bowling Green State University Athletics
Tuesday, November 17
Toledo, Ohio
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Toledo
Falcons Headed North To Face Rockets In MAC Tournament
November 15, 2009 | Volleyball
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
FALCONS FACE RIVAL IN MAC TOURNEY
Rivals Bowling Green and Toledo will meet in the MAC Tournament Tuesday for the first time since the 2006 season. After losing six conference games to open Mid-American Conference play, Bowling Green went 5-5 the rest of the way, splitting each of the final five weekends of conference play. The Falcons climbed into a three-way tie for ninth in the final league standings but lost out on tiebreakers to finish as the No. 11 seed for the MAC Tournament. Toledo also bounced back from a slow start, losing four of its first five MAC matches, to finish in a three-way tie for fourth at 8-8. But the Rockets also lost out on tiebreakers and finished as the No. 6 seed.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Toledo beat Bowling Green in four sets at Savage Arena earlier this year but the Falcons have historically dominated their rival, holding a 48-13 all-time record against the Rockets. Eleven of those 13 Toledo wins have come on the Rockets' home court however. That 2006 MAC Tournament contest, a 3-0 Bowling Green sweep, is the only time these two teams have met in the conference tournament.
SCOUTING TOLEDO
Toledo has had one of its best seasons in program history, finishing in a tie for second in the MAC West Division, the best finish for the Rockets since the conference moved to the divisional format in 1997. At 17-11 overall, Toledo has won more matches just two times in program history. The Rockets rely on their defense and they lead the conference with 16.20 digs per set, but they don't have a single player ranked among the top 10 in the MAC in that category, instead relying on the entire team to keep their opponents off-balance. Kassie Kadera directs the offensive attack and is second in the MAC with 10.92 assists per set.
THE VICTORY MARCH
With 12 wins in 2009, head coach Denise Van De Walle has compiled a career record of 499-341 in 27 years at Bowling Green, needing just one more to reach milestone win No. 500. Despite an earlier losing streak, the Falcons have racked up an impressive 84-44 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 499 wins are the most in Mid-American Conference history.
QUEENS OF THE FIVE-SET MATCH
Bowling Green has won four five-set matches in the past five weeks and is now 5-2 in matches that go the distance this year. The Falcons beat Duquesne early in the year and then lost five-setters to Cleveland State and Akron. Since then, Bowling Green has beaten Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Northern Illinois, and Kent State in five sets. In fact, in two of those matches, the Falcons came back from two sets down. A year ago, Bowling Green was even better, going 9-1 in five-set matches and the Falcons were 5-1 in 2007. The Falcons have not had a losing record in five-set matches since 2004.
Bowling Green's Record In Five-Set Matches Since 2005
2009 5-2
2008 9-1
2007 5-1
2006 2-2
2005 2-2
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 went just 4-9 in "The House That Roars" in 2009 and allowed opponents to hit .255. The Falcons finished with a losing record in Anderson Arena for the first time since 2002.
THE MAC TOURNAMENT
A year ago, Bowling Green defeated Buffalo and Central Michigan on the way to the MAC Tournament semifinals. The Falcons have won at least one match in the conference tournament in four of the past five seasons but has won just one tournament title (1991). In all, Bowling Green is 13-17 in MAC Tournaments in program history.
THE NEMESIS DOES IT AGAIN
Just as Lex Luthor was Superman's nemesis, Shari Luther has been a nemesis to opponents this year. 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 received her second MAC East Offensive Player of the Week after posting 29 kills and nine blocks in matches against Ball State and Toledo. She received her first Player of the Week award after being named Most Valuable Player at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Tournament, 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. On the year, she leads the MAC in attack percentage at .374 (ranking 25th 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, recording the first seven 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 and then posted 10 kills and 15 digs against Akron. In back-to-back matches, she totaled a combined 33 kills and 34 digs to rack up double-doubles against Eastern and Central Michigan. Her most recent double-double came in a five-set victory over Kent State this past weekend when she set a career-high with 24 kills and added 11 digs. She ranks among the top four on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, serve 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 10.32 assists per set (which ranks fourth in the MAC), ranks eighth in the league in aces at 0.28 per set and is third on the team at 2.31 digs per set. Earlier this year, she set a career high with 60 assists in a win over Kent State.
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 climbed nine spots this year to fourth place in BGSU history with 1,393 career kills. She needs six more this year to post 300 kills in four consecutive seasons and would be the first player in program history to do that.
THE COMEBACK
Bowling Green's dramatic win over Northern Illinois a week ago was one of the most improbable turn-arounds in program history with a script unlike any match Head Coach Denise Van De Walle could remember in her 27 years. BG lost the opening set and was then defeated 25-5 in the second set. The Falcons came back and dominated the final three sets to win the match. Since the NCAA adopted 25-point sets in 2007, Bowling Green had never won a match in which it lost a set worse than 25-13. The NCAA used 30-point rally scoring from 2001-07 and the Falcons only played two sets during that time frame in which the losing team did not reach double figures. In both of those matches, the team that won those lopsided sets (Bowling Green on both occasions) won the match. Prior to that time, the most comparable match may have come in 1999 when the Falcons lost the first two sets to Kent State (including 15-4 in the second) before rebounding to win in five.
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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