Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Make Final Road Trip of Season
April 09, 2009 | Women's Tennis
April 9, 2009
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) -
BGSU at AKRON
Friday, April 10, 2009 • 1:00 p.m. • Akron, Ohio
BGSU at BUFFALO
Saturday, April 11, 2009 • 1:00 p.m. • Buffalo, N.Y.BGSU Notes and Stats (6 pages) in PDF Format
THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University tennis team, currently sitting in fourth place in the Mid-American Conference standings, plays the third- and fifth-place teams this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean conclude the road portion of the 2008-09 schedule with matches vs. the University of Akron and the University at Buffalo this weekend ... the Falcons will face UA in Friday (April 10) action, with the match being held indoors at the LaTuchie Tennis Center in Stow, Ohio ... on Saturday (April 11), the Brown and Orange will take on UB at either the University Tennis Center (outdoor) or the Village Glen Tennis Center (indoor), depending upon the weather conditions ... both matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. ... following this weekend's matches, the Falcons will return to Northwest Ohio for dual matches vs. Ball State (April 17) and Miami (April 18), followed by the MAC Championships (April 23-26) at Keefe Courts.
BGSU CLINCHES WINNING RECORD
The Falcons' 6-1 win over Northern Illinois last weekend (April 3) clinched a winning dual-match record for the Falcons 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.
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 last Friday (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).
A FEW MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the weekend with a MAC record of 3-1, good for fourth place in the nine-team standings ... BGSU is a game behind co-leaders Miami and Western Michigan, both 4-0 ... Saturday's opponent, Buffalo, is in third place with a 4-1 MAC ledger, while Friday's foe, Akron, is fifth with a 3-2 conference mark.
• The win over Northern Illinois, as mentioned earlier, clinched a winning 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.
• Freshman Jessica Easdale made her BGSU debut last weekend ... Easdale, who has been sidelined due to injury, played NIU's Stephanie Okuma in a singles match that did not count in the overall match scoring, with Okuma winning by an 8-5 outcome.
• Falcon senior Kelsey Jakupcin will see a familiar face when her team faces Akron on Friday ... Jakupcin's older sister, Ashley, is in her first season as an assistant coach for the Zips ... Ashley Jakupcin was a teammate of Kelsey's - and of five of the seven players on BGSU's current roster, in fact ... Ashley concluded her playing career at BG in 2007, having amassed a total of 131 wins in the Brown and Orange.
• Ashley Jakupcin now ranks ninth in career wins at BGSU, as her younger sister passed her on that list a few weeks ago ... Kelsey Jakupcin ranks eighth in school history with a total of 138 combined career wins.
NOTING THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the weekend with a dual-match record of 10-4, and a mark of 3-1 in MAC action ... the Falcons will put a three-match winning streak on the line at Akron Friday.
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 at NIU last weekend, with Chiricosta at the second flight.
When all six Falcon returnees have been healthy, 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.
Menoff has a singles record of 19-4, best on the team, this year ... Chiricosta has a 18-5 singles record season to date, while Harrison is 17-6 and Kintzel 16-7 ... Babina has a 12-10 mark.
In doubles action, the Chiricosta/Jakupcin duo is 9-2 at the top flight in dual-match action, including a 4-0 record in MAC play ... that tandem has an overall mark of 17-6 and a career record of 34-12 ... Babina and Kintzel are 6-7 at the second flight in dual-match action, and are 25-14 as a team in their respective careers ... Harrison and Menoff have a 13-8 overall record this year, including a 10-2 record in dual matches.
Freshman Jessica Easdale, as mentioned, made her debut last weekend at NIU.
THE OPPONENTS
Akron has an overall record of 14-5 this season, and the Zips have a MAC dual-match record of 3-2 ... UA has nearly tripled last season's overall win total ... the Zips had won eight of nine matches before losing to Miami on Saturday (April 7) ... UA has defeated Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois in league action, while falling to Toledo and MU ... Zara Harutyunyan saw a 24-match singles win streak snapped in the Miami match last weekend ... the Zips have assured themselves of a winning record for the first time since 1995-96 ... last season, UA was 5-15 overall and 0-8 in MAC action.
Buffalo is 11-4 this season to date, and the Bulls are 4-1 in MAC action, heading into a Friday home match vs. Western Michigan ... UB has picked up wins over BSU, EMU, NIU and UT, but suffered a loss at MU last weekend ... that loss snapped a nine-match winning streak, but the Bulls bounced back with a 6-1 win at BSU ... UB is 2-0 in home matches heading into the WMU match ... last year, the Bulls finished with an overall record of 12-9 and a 4-4 MAC mark ... UB, the sixth seed for the MAC Championships, proceeded to reel offf three-straight wins to capture the league tourney title.
THE SERIES
The Falcons lead Buffalo, 10-2, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU beat the eventual MAC tourney champions last year, 4-3, at Shadow Valley in Toledo (April 4, 2008) ... that win snapped a two-match UB winning streak ... prior to that time, the Falcons had won nine consecutive meetings after Buffalo joined the MAC for the 1998-99 season ... in the last meeting in New York, the Bulls pulled out a 4-3 win two years ago (March 30, 2007).
BGSU holds a 25-2 series advantage over Akron, and the Falcons have won 15 consecutive matches vs. the Zips ... the Brown and Orange captured a 6-1 win last season, in the first-ever dual match at the new Keefe Courts (April 5, 2008) ... UA's two series wins came in back-to-back seasons, 1991-92 and 1992-93.
