Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Hosts MAC Tennis Championships This Weekend
April 21, 2009 | Women's Tennis
April 21, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
#4 BGSU vs. #5 TOLEDO
Friday, April 24, 2009 • 10:00 a.m. • Keefe CourtsMAC Championships • Quarterfinal Round
>>>>> BGSU Notes, Stats & Records (8 pages) in PDF Format
>>>>> MAC TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University tennis team, having won five of seven matches to close the regular season, remains at home for postseason play ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will welcome the other eight conference schools to Keefe Courts for the 2009 Mid-American Conference Championships ... the four-day, nine-team tournament begins with one match on Thursday (April 23) ... the Falcons, the fourth seed for the tourney, will face the fifth-seeded University of Toledo in Friday's (April 24) quarterfinal round ... the match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ... the BGSU-UT match is one of two that will be played at the Keefe Auxiliary Courts (the 'old' Keefe Courts), located behind the BGSU Ice Arena ... six of the eight matches are scheduled to be played at the 'new' Keefe Courts, located across Stadium Drive, between Steller (baseball) Field and Meserve (softball) Field ... in the event of inclement weather, matches would move indoors to the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
(Keefe Courts • Bowling Green, Ohio)
(Perrysburg Tennis Center if inclement weather)
First Round - Thursday, April 23
#8 Northern Illinois vs. #9 Ball State, Noon
Quarterfinals - Friday, April 24
#1 Miami vs. NIU/BSU winner, 10:00 a.m.
#4 Bowling Green vs. #5 Toledo, 10:00 a.m. %
#2 Buffalo vs. #7 Eastern Michigan, 2:00 p.m.
#3 Western Michigan vs. #6 Akron, 2:00 p.m. %
Semifinals - Saturday, April 25
Miami/NIU/BSU winner vs. BGSU/UT winner, 10:00 a.m.
UB/EMU wiinner vs. WMU/UA winner, 2:00 p.m.
Championship - Sunday, April 26
Semifinal winners, 1:00 p.m.
% at Keefe Auxiliary Courts
THREE NOTES THAT NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR FALCON TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• The Falcons, as mentioned, are the fourth seed for the nine-team MAC Championships ... BGSU finished with a 5-3 conference record, marking the Falcons' first winning mark in MAC play since the 2002-03 season.
• BGSU split a pair of matches last weekend, sweeping Ball State, 7-0, on Friday (April 17) before losing a narrow 4-3 decision to regular-season champion Miami on Saturday (April 18) ... in the latter match, the Falcons became the first MAC team this year to win the doubles point against MU ... the RedHawks had not lost the doubles point since a Feb. 8 match vs. Minnesota.
• The win over Ball State was BGSU's 55th dual-match victory since the current senior class arrived on campus, tying the school record for wins in a four-year span.
THE FALCONS IN THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Falcons will enter Friday's Toledo match with a record of 9-14 since the MAC Championships went to the current format (teams advance rather than individuals) prior to the 1996-97 season ... last season, BGSU posted a 4-2 win over Eastern Michigan in the quarterfinal round, before falling to Western Michigan in the semifinals for the second-straight year ... BGSU has advanced to the semifinal round in each of the last two seasons after going six consecutive years without doing so ... the Falcons have met Toledo on only one prior occasion in the MAC Championships, picking up a 4-0 win in the back draw of the 1999 event in Muncie, Ind. ... that marked the final year of a back draw as well as consolation matches in the league tourney.
TOURNEY CENTRAL/UPDATES
The 2009 MAC Championships tourney central web page can be accessed at BGSUFalcons.com, through the main page or the tennis page ... the site includes links to rosters and statistics for all nine women's tennis-playing institutions in the conference, as well as periodic updates of live matches throughout the day as well.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE ...
BGSU has not hosted the conference championships since the 1996-97 season ... that marked the first season under the current format, with teams advancing rather than individuals ... that season, the Falcons won a quarterfinal match on April 24, a dozen years to the day prior to Friday's Toledo contest.
SENIORS ARE (TIED FOR) WINNINGEST CLASS IN BGSU HISTORY
The Falcons have won 55 dual matches since the senior class - Libby Harrison, Kelsey Jakupcin and Stefanie Menoff - arrived on campus in the fall of 2005 ... BGSU has a mark of 55-30 in dual-match play n that time, having tied the school record for victories in a four-year period ... Harrison, Jakupcin and Menoff have matched the record set by last year's seniors, Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle.
ANOTHER WINNING RECORD
The Falcons' 6-1 win over Northern Illinois earlier this month (April 3) clinched a winning dual-match record for the Falcons again this season ... BG will finish with a winning mark for the fifth consecutive year, setting a new school record ... the Falcons had four-straight winning seasons from 1974-75 through 1977-78, and again from 1996-97 through 1999-2000, prior to the current streak.
HOME SWEET HOME
Saturday's (April 18) 4-3 setback vs. Miami marked the Falcons' first-ever loss at the 'new' Keefe Courts ... BGSU now has an all-time record of 3-1 in dual matches at the facility ... last season, BG played only one complete match at the site, a win over Akron (April 5, 2008) ... the Falcons' match vs. UT Thursday will be played at the former Keefe Courts, behind the BGSU Ice Arena.
HOME-AWAY-FROM-HOME SWEET HOME-AWAY-FROM-HOME
Due to inclement weather on March 28, BG moved indoors, posting a 6-1 win over Eastern Michigan at the Perrysburg Tennis Center that afternoon ... the Falcons are now a perfect 6-0 at the team's new indoor home.
HOMES SWEET HOMES
The win over EMU was the Falcons' 22nd consecutive home indoor win ... BGSU went 8-0 in matches played in their entirety at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club in both 2006-07 and '07-08, and the Falcons are 6-0 at the Perrysburg Tennis Center this season ... the words 'played in their entirety' are used above because last year's match vs. Western Michigan, a 5-2 WMU win (April 19, 2008), began at Keefe Courts and was completed at Shadow Valley after rain moved into the area.
LAST WEEK
The Falcons split a pair of matches at Keefe Courts last weekend, sweeping Ball State, 7-0, before falling to Miami by a 4-3 score ... BGSU won the doubles point in both matches, becoming the first MAC team to take the initial point against MU, the league regular-season champions, this year ... the Falcons went on to win all six singles matches on Friday (April 17) for a sweep of BSU ... on Saturday (April 18), however, Miami took four of the six singles matches to capture the victory ... Falcon junior Katia Babina was a combined 4-0 in the two matches, with seniors Libby Harrison and Kelsey Jakupcin, junior Samantha Kintzel and sophomore Christine Chiricosta all going 3-1 over the two matches.
MENOFF SETS BGSU SINGLES RECORD
Falcon senior Stefanie Menoff set a school record during a match in her home state ... Menoff, a native of Naperville, Ill. (Neuqua Valley H.S.), defeated Brooke Forsberg of Northern Illinois on April 3, for the school-record 80th singles win of her career ... Menoff broke the BGSU record originally set by Julie Weisblatt (1994-97) and matched by Deidee Bissinger (1997-2000) ... she now has 81 career singles wins.
NOTING THE FALCONS
• BGSU enters the MAC Championships with an overall dual-match record of 12-6 ... the Falcons finished MAC action with a 5-3 record, good for fourth place in the nine-team league ... BGSU has won five of the last seven 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, for the most part ... Jakupcin has played at the #1 singles flight in five-straight matches and in eight of the last nine duals, with Chiricosta at the second flight during that time ... Chiricosta played at the top flight vs. Eastern Michigan (March 28).
• The rest of the singles lineup has generally consisted of juniors Samantha Kintzel and Katia Babina at flights three and four, respectively, with senior Stefanie Menoff playing at the fifth flight and senior Libby Harrison at the sixth ... Kintzel played at the third flight for the first six matches of the MAC schedule, but played at the fourth spot last weekend vs. Ball State and Miami ... Babina moved up from the fourth to the third flight for those matches.
• For seven of the eight conference matches, head coach Penny Dean's doubles lineup has consisted of Jakupcin and Chiricosta at the top flight ... the Babina/Kintzel tandem has remained intact for all eight MAC matches, with that duo playing at the second flight in six of those contests ... Harrison and Menoff have combined to play in seven MAC matches, including at the third flight in six.
• Chiricosta, Harrison and Menoff all have singles records of 20-7, tied for best on the team, this year ... Kintzel is 18-9, while Babina has gone 16-10 to date.
• In doubles action, the Chiricosta/Jakupcin duo is 11-3 at the top flight in dual-match action, including a 6-1 record in MAC play ... that tandem has an overall season mark of 19-7 and a career record of 36-13 ... Babina and Kintzel are 8-7 at the second flight in dual-match action, and are 28-15 as a team in their respective careers ... Harrison and Menoff have a 14-10 record this year, including an 11-4 record in dual matches.
• Freshman Jessica Easdale has played exhibition singles matches in four of BG's last five duals, after missing the bulk of the season due to injury.
• Overall, Falcon competitors went 27-21 in singles in MAC matches, and BGSU doubles teams combined to go 13-11 during the conference schedule.
THE OPPONENT
Toledo has an overall record of 13-9 this season, and the Rockets finished the regular-season schedule with a MAC record of 4-4 ... UT tied with Akron for fifth place in the final standings, but earned the fifth seed by virtue of a 5-2 win over the Zips in head-to-head competition ... the Rockets have won three of the last four matches heading into the MAC Championships, including a 6-1 victory over Northern Illinois in last weekend's lone match ... a year ago, UT finished with an overall record of 14-7 and a 5-3 MAC mark.
THE SERIES
BGSU leads Toledo, 22-14, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons captured this year's regular-season meeting ... BG came from behind to post a 4-3 win at Keefe Courts just under a month ago (March 27), snapping a three-match series winning streak for the Rockets ... prior to that UT streak, the Falcons had won the previous 12 matches in the series.
THE LAST MEETING
The Falcons spotted visiting Toledo an early lead at nearly every singles flight, but battled back to capture just enough of those matches ... the result was a 4-3 BG win on March 27 at Keefe Courts ... after opening the match by taking the doubles point, BGSU entered singles play needing to win three of the six matches ... things did not start well for the Falcons in singles action, however ... UT won the first set in five of the six singles matches ... for the Falcons, only senior Libby Harrision won her first set ... and the first two matches to finish saw the Rockets pick up victories ... but, junior Samantha Kintzel and senior Stefanie Menoff each rallied after first-set losses for three-set wins ... when Harrison finished off her opponent in a lengthy two-set match, the Falcons had the requisite four points and the overall victory in the 'Battle of I-75.'
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 having won 19-of-25 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 14-6 record against UT.
FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
(a few more things you should know about BGSU tennis)
• The 7-0 victory against Ball State on Friday (April 17), as mentioned earlier, gave the Falcons a winning record in MAC regular-season matches for the first time since the 2002-03 season ... BGSU's total of five MAC wins is the team's highest since that '02-03 season ... BG went 5-4 in MAC regular-season action that year.
• The 2008-09 Falcons have posted just the seventh MAC winning record in program history, and only the fourth in the last quarter-century of play.
• The win over Northern Illinois, as mentioned earlier, clinched a winning overall dual-match record for the Falcons this season ... it also gave BGSU a double-digit win total for the seventh-straight season, extending that school record ... prior to the current streak, the record for consecutive years with double-digit victory totals was four.
• Senior co-captain Kelsey Jakupcin has a career total of 141 combined wins ... she has moved into a tie for sixth place in school history on that list ... Jakupcin is tied for 11th in BGSU annals with 68 singles victories, and she is now deadlocked for fourth with 73 doubles wins.
• 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 is the most recent addition to that group ... Kintzel now has 109 career victories at BGSU to rank 17th on that list.
• Senior Stefanie Menoff is on that list as well, and has moved into the top 10 ... Menoff now has 128 career wins at BGSU to place 10th on that list.
• Menoff, as mentioned earlier, is the winningest singles player in Falcon history, with 81 career wins ... Kintzel has moved up to 17th on that list, with 55 singles victories in her junior year.
• Junior Katia Babina and senior Libby Harrison each have moved into the top 25 on the singles list ... both players now have 46 wins to deadlock for 21st.
• On the doubles list, Kintzel has 54 victories to tie for 15th ... Babina (48) and Menoff (47) are each very close to joining that list as well.
UP NEXT
The BGSU-UT winner will advance to Saturday's (April 25) semifinal round of the MAC Championships ... the Falcons or Rockets would face either Buffalo or Eastern Michigan in a match that will begin at 10:00 a.m. at Keefe Courts ... the semifinal winners will advance to the championship match on Sunday (April 26).
