Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons. Rockets. Friday.
March 26, 2009 | Women's Tennis
March 26, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU vs. TOLEDO
Friday, March 27, 2009 • 1:00 p.m. • Keefe CourtsBGSU vs. EASTERN MICHIGAN
Saturday, March 28, 2009 • 1:00 p.m. • Keefe Courts
• BGSU-Toledo Match Program
• BGSU-EMU Match Program
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University tennis team begins the home portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean play a pair of matches at Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus, hosting the arch-rival University of Toledo on Friday (March 27) before meeting Eastern Michigan University on Saturday (March 28) ... both matches will begin at 1:00 p.m., with Friday's UT match slated to be televised in the Toledo area by BCSN.
A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU is 7-4 in dual-match play on the year ... the Falcons are 7-2 when fielding a complete six-player lineup, as BG was forced to forfeit the third doubles and sixth singles flights against both Michigan State (Feb. 21) and Detroit (Feb. 22).
• Those two losses came last weekend on the road, as BG suffered setbacks to UIC (5-2; March 20) and Western Michigan (6-1; March 21), with the latter match marking the MAC opener.
• Senior Stefanie Menoff posted the 77th singles win of her career in the UIC match ... Menoff is now tied for third on the BGSU career list, and is just two singles wins shy of tying for the school record.
• Menoff is tied on that list with Ashley Jakupcin (2004-07), her former teammate and the older sister of Menoff's classmate, Kelsey Jakupcin ... the school record of 79 singles wins is shared by Deidee Bissinger (1997-2000) and Julie Weisblatt (1994-97).
• Entering this weekend's matches, Menoff has a career singles mark of 77-19.
• Speaking of Kelsey Jakupcin, she and sophomore Christine Chiricosta combined for an 8-2 win vs. Western Michigan at the top doubles flight Saturday ... Jakupcin now has 68 career doubles victories, tying her for eighth on the BGSU list.
• The Falcons have won 50 dual matches since the senior class - Jakupcin, Menoff and Libby Harrison - arrived on campus in the fall of 2005 ... BGSU has a mark of 50-28 in dual-match play during that time.
• Harrison, Jakupcin and Menoff have a chance to become the winningest class in program history ... currently, that distinction is held by last year's senior class of Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle ... Nussbaum and Volle helped the Falcons to a total of 55 dual-match wins, the most victories in a four-year span in BGSU annals.
• Only 21 players in program history have picked up 100 combined career wins, and three of those 21 are on the current team ... junior Samantha Kintzel joined that group on March 15, when she won at both singles and doubles vs. IUPUI ... Kintzel now has 101 career victories at BGSU to rank 21st on that list ... heading into the Toledo match, Jakupcin ranks eighth with 133 wins, while Menoff is tied for 14th, with 121 career victories at BG.
• Kintzel teamed with fellow junior Katia Babina for a doubles win at UIC ... both players are Illinois natives, and were playing in their home state ... for Kintzel, the win was the 50th doubles victory of her career, tying her for 19th on that list.
NOTING THE FALCONS (AS IF WE WEREN'T ALREADY DOING THAT)
BGSU enters the weekend with a dual-match record of 7-4, and a mark of 0-1 in MAC action ... as mentioned, the Falcons suffered losses at UIC and WMU last weekend ... both teams are the defending regular-season champions of their respective conferences (UIC - Horizon League; WMU - MAC).
Last Friday's UIC match marked the first time this season that the Falcons had lost when fielding a complete lineup ... BG is now 7-2 in such matches.
Senior Kelsey Jakupcin and sophomore Christine Chiricosta have played at the top-two singles flights, and have teamed up for the Falcons at the top doubles flight ... Jakupcin played at the #1 singles flight in each of last weekend's matches, with Chiricosta at flight #2.
Chiricosta has a 16-4 singles record this year, tied for the best mark on the team ... senior Stefanie Menoff, who has primarily played at the fifth flight, is also 16-4 ... junior Samantha Kintzel and senior Libby Harrison each are 14-6 in overall singles action this year, with junior Katia Babina at 11-8 ... when all six players have been healthy, Kintzel has played at the third singles flight, with Babina playing at four, Menoff at five and Harrison six.
In doubles action, the Chiricosta/Jakupcin duo is 6-2 at the top flight in dual-match action, and that tandem has an overall mark of 14-6 and a career record of 31-12 ... Babina and Kintzel are 5-5 at the second flight in dual-match action, and are 24-12 as a team in their respective careers ... Harrison and Menoff have an 11-7 overall record this year, including an 8-1 record in dual-match play.
Freshman Jessica Easdale has yet to see match action this season due to injury.
THE OPPONENTS
Toledo is 10-6 this season, and the Rockets are 1-1 in MAC action after splitting two home matches last weekend ... UT defeated Akron, but lost to Buffalo, with both matches decided by 5-2 scores ... the UB loss snapped a six-match winning streak for the Rockets ... last year, UT finished with an overall record of 14-7 and a 5-3 MAC mark ... the Rockets tied for third in the league's regular-season standings, but lost to #6 Buffalo, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the MAC Championships on the Bulls' home court.
Eastern Michigan has an overall record of 3-11, and the Eagles are 0-2 in MAC play heading into the weekend ... EMU will play at Western Michigan on Friday before heading to BG for the following afternoon's match ... the Eagles are looking to snap a four-match losing streak ... last weekend, Eastern lost to UB (7-0) and UA (4-3) in Ypsilanti ... a year ago, the Eagles were 9-13 overall and tied Toledo for third in the MAC with a 5-3 record.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Toledo 21-14, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Rockets have captured the last three meetings ... UT won the teams' 2007-08 match, by a narrow 4-3 count in the Glass City (March 22, 2008), and the Rockets won the last matchup in BG, 6-1, at the 'old' Keefe Courts (April 21, 2007) ... prior to UT's three-match winning streak, the Falcons had won the previous 12 matches.
Bowling Green trails Eastern Michigan, 26-10, in that series ... the Eagles had won nine consecutive meetings against BGSU, before the Falcons picked up a 4-2 win over Eastern in the quarterfinal round of last year's MAC Championships (April 25, 2008) ... that match was the 200th victory of Falcon head coach Penny Dean's career ... the Eagles picked up a 4-3 win in last year's regular-season meeting in Michigan (March 21, 2008), and Eastern also won the teams' last meeting in Ohio, 4-3, two years ago (April 20, 2007).
SHE'S THE DEAN
Falcon head coach Penny Dean has had a great deal of success on both sides of the BGSU-UT rivalry, with her teams winning 18-of-24 matches ... Dean spent four years (1984-85 through 1987-88) at the helm of the Rockets, and had a perfect 5-0 record vs. Bowling Green during that time ... since taking the BGSU head-coaching position prior to the 1990-91 season, Dean has guided the Brown and Orange to a 13-6 record against UT.
