Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Loyola University Maryland
March Towards 500 Begins Friday
August 26, 2009 | Volleyball
Weekly Notes (.pdf)
FALCONS OPEN 2009 SEASON FRIDAY
The Bowling Green volleyball team begins its trek for a fourth consecutive 20-win season by opening the 2009 campaign Friday in the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational. The Falcons play Loyola and Robert Morris Friday in Moon Twp, Pa. at Robert Morris before playing Howard and Duquesne Saturday at Duquesne. All of the teams at the event will be opening their seasons this weekend.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Bowling Green has never played Howard but the Falcons have had prior meeting with each of their other three opponents this weekend. BGSU won the only meeting in school history against both Loyola and Robert Morris. The Falcons are 3-1 all-time against Duquesne.
SEASON OPENERS
Bowling Green won last year's season opener against Stetson and took 2-of-3 matches at the Florida State Invitational on opening weekend. That victory actually snapped a string of five consecutive season opening losses since a 2002 victory over Oakland. In all, the Falcons are an even 13-13 in season openers under head coach Denise Van De Walle.
THE VICTORY MARCH
Head coach Denise Van De Walle opens the 2009 season with a record of 487-322 in 26 years at Bowling Green, needing just 13 to reach milestone win No. 500. Over the past three seasons, the Falcons have racked up an impressive 72-21 overall record and has won 20 or more matches in each of those campaigns. Van De Walle is one of the 30 active winningest coaches in NCAA Division I and her 487 wins are easily the most in Mid-American Conference history.
DEFENDING THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
Bowling Green's first seven matches of the 2009 season will be away or on a neutral court but when the Falcons open the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational Sept. 11, the team will set foot on one of the best home courts in the country -- Anderson Arena. BGSU is 22-3 at home over the past two seasons and has an active nine-match winning streak in Anderson Arena. Opponents hit just .198 in 12 matches a year ago in "The House That Roars".
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 enters the 2009 season with 1,099 kills, ranking 13th in school history. At her current pace, she could reach the top five by season's end.
YOUTH SHALL BE 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.
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.
RISING TO THE TOP
Over the past three years, 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 MAC record in the conference during that time frame. Here are the combined records for each MAC team from 2006-08:
Team Overall (Pct.) MAC (Pct.)
Ohio 78-19 (.804) 44-4 (.917)
Bowling Green 72-25 (.742) 37-11 (.771)
Western Michigan 70-34 (.673) 34-14 (.708)
Central Michigan 58-34 (.630) 29-19 (.604)
Miami 54-42 (.563) 34-14 (.708)
Northern Illinois 51-40 (.560) 30-18 (.625)
Kent State 48-44 (.522) 20-28 (.417)
Eastern Michigan 42-53 (.442) 18-30 (.375)
Toledo 29-62 (.319) 12-36 (.250)
Buffalo 30-65 (.316) 6-42 (.125)
Ball State 29-64 (.312) 18-30 (.375)
Akron 20-71 (.220) 7-41 (.146)
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.
