Bowling Green State University Athletics
Thursday, October 1
Bowling Green, Ohio
7:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Miami (Ohio)
Falcons Look To Get Into MAC Win Column This Week
September 29, 2009 | Volleyball
Full Weekly Notes (.pdf)
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green volleyball team will play a pair of conference matches this week, hosting Miami (Ohio) Thursday night and then playing on the road for the first time since Sept. 19 when the Falcons play at Western Michigan Saturday. A young and inexperienced Bowling Green team has taken some lumps lately, losing eight of nine matches but the Falcons still have plenty of time to turn things around. The team ranks second in the MAC in attack percentage and has played well at times throughout the year.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Bowling Green is 24-36 all-time against Miami (Ohio) with a 10-14 mark at home. Last year, the Falcons swept the RedHawks 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in Anderson Arena but lost in four sets on the road. In all, Miami has not won in The House That Roars since 2005. Bowling Green is 17-32-1 all-time against Western Michigan and just 5-18 on the road. A year ago, the Falcons won in five sets at home but the team's season came to a close in a four-set loss to the Broncos in the MAC Tournament semifinals. Although the team does not play their every year, Bowling Green has not won a match at Western Michigan since 1997.
THE OPPONENTS
Miami (Ohio) has vaulted into a tie atop the MAC Eastern Division standings by defeating both Akron and Buffalo this past weekend to get to 7-7 overall and 2-0 in conference play -- the first time the RedHawks have been 2-0 in league play since 1999. The RedHawks have the reigning MAC East Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week in Andrea Atteberry and Maria Leahy. Atteberry became the third player in Miami history to record 4,000 career assists over the weekend and followed that up with 10 kills, 35 assists, and 13 digs against Akron. Leahy averaged 3.62 digs per set last week to go with her team leading 3.25 kills per set on the weekend. Head Coach Carolyn Condit is the second-highest tenured coach in the MAC (behind BGSU's Denise Van De Walle) and has a career record of 461-339 in 26 years, which sits 33 wins behind Van De Walle in one less year.
Western Michigan has also jumped out to a 2-0 start in Mid-American Conference play and is 10-7 overall. Jessica Brown is the reigning MAC West Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .556 with 31 kills and only one error in three wins last week. On the year, she is fourth in the MAC in attack percentage (.334), while Jillian Mitchell is sixth in assists (10.02 per set). Head Coach Colleen Munson won her 100th match at WMU in Saturday's win over Ball State and has a career mark of 152-149.
THE VICTORY MARCH
With a 7-9 start to the 2009 season, head coach Denise Van De Walle has compiled a career record of 494-331 in 27 years at Bowling Green, needing just six more to reach milestone win No. 500. Since 2006, the Falcons have racked up an impressive 79-34 overall record 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 494 wins are the most in Mid-American Conference history.
DEFENDING THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
In 2007 and 2008, Bowling Green went 22-3 in Anderson Arena. The Falcons held opponents to just a .198 attack percentage in 12 matches a year ago. But Bowling Green is just 1-5 in "The House That Roars" in 2009 and has allowed opponents to hit .263. The Falcons have one chance this week to improve that home record and then will not play in front of the hometown fans for almost two more weeks.
THE NEMESIS
Just as Lex Luthor was Superman's nemesis, Shari Luther has been a nemesis to opponents in the early going. 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 was named Most Valuable Player at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Tournament after 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. For those efforts, she also received the first MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week award for 2009. She followed that up by being named to the all-tournament team at the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic. On the year, she leads the MAC in attack percentage at .383 (ranking 30th in the country), leading the team in kills (2.78 per set) and blocks (0.80 per set).
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, regarding the first four 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. Saturday, against Akron, she had 10 kills and 15 digs for her most recent one. She ranks among the top four on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, 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 10.28 assists per set (which ranks fourth in the MAC), and is third on the team with 11 aces and 105 digs.
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 already climbed four spots this year to ninth place in BGSU history with 1,253 career kills and needs 12 more to match Lori Kemerer (1996-99) for eighth place.
KAUTH IS COMING ON
Sophomore Emily Kauth played in just five matches a year ago but she has taken on a much larger role in her second season with the Falcons. She exploded in New Orleans, tying for the team lead in kills at the tournament while hitting an impressive .411. Kauth added two aces (tying for the team high) and six blocks (second most on the team) in the three matches. She put together possibly the best match of her career in the team's four set win over Robert Morris at the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational, finishing with a career high 18 kills and hitting .500. She is currently second on the team in kills and attack percentage. Kauth also leads the team in aces and ranks second in blocks.
FILLING BIG SHOES
Junior Alex Zlabis had some big shoes to fill this year when she replaced Chelsey Meek, who set an NCAA record for consecutive matches with at least 10 digs, in the lineup. But Zlabis has played well, averaging 3.63 digs per set through the first 16 matches. She has increased her serve receive percentage (from .837 a year ago to .940) and already has one more ace (six) than she did a year ago.
RISING TO THE TOP
Since 2006, 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 since 2006:
Records through 9/26/09
Team Overall (Pct.) MAC (Pct.)
Ohio 88-23 (.793) 46-4 (.920)
Bowling Green 79-34 (.699) 37-13 (.740)
Western Michigan 79-41 (.658) 36-14 (.720)
Central Michigan 66-38 (.635) 30-20 (.600)
Miami 61-49 (.555) 36-14 (.720)
Northern Illinois 57-48 (.543) 30-20 (.600)
Kent State 56-52 (.519) 21-29 (.420)
Eastern Michigan 43-68 (.387) 18-32 (.360)
Toledo 39-66 (.371) 13-37 (.260)
Buffalo 40-70 (.364) 7-43 (.140)
Ball State 37-71 (.343) 19-31 (.380)
Akron 29-78 (.271) 8-42 (.160)
YOUTH IS 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. The class made an impact already as setter Allison Kearney has been named to a pair of all-tournament teams and ranks fourth in the MAC in assists. Cassie Berning ranks in the top six on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, digs, and blocks, gaining valuable early season experience. Kari Galen has played in seven sets so far and has a respectable .250 attack percentage with a pair of blocks and a dig.
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.
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green volleyball team will play a pair of conference matches this week, hosting Miami (Ohio) Thursday night and then playing on the road for the first time since Sept. 19 when the Falcons play at Western Michigan Saturday. A young and inexperienced Bowling Green team has taken some lumps lately, losing eight of nine matches but the Falcons still have plenty of time to turn things around. The team ranks second in the MAC in attack percentage and has played well at times throughout the year.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Bowling Green is 24-36 all-time against Miami (Ohio) with a 10-14 mark at home. Last year, the Falcons swept the RedHawks 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in Anderson Arena but lost in four sets on the road. In all, Miami has not won in The House That Roars since 2005. Bowling Green is 17-32-1 all-time against Western Michigan and just 5-18 on the road. A year ago, the Falcons won in five sets at home but the team's season came to a close in a four-set loss to the Broncos in the MAC Tournament semifinals. Although the team does not play their every year, Bowling Green has not won a match at Western Michigan since 1997.
THE OPPONENTS
Miami (Ohio) has vaulted into a tie atop the MAC Eastern Division standings by defeating both Akron and Buffalo this past weekend to get to 7-7 overall and 2-0 in conference play -- the first time the RedHawks have been 2-0 in league play since 1999. The RedHawks have the reigning MAC East Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week in Andrea Atteberry and Maria Leahy. Atteberry became the third player in Miami history to record 4,000 career assists over the weekend and followed that up with 10 kills, 35 assists, and 13 digs against Akron. Leahy averaged 3.62 digs per set last week to go with her team leading 3.25 kills per set on the weekend. Head Coach Carolyn Condit is the second-highest tenured coach in the MAC (behind BGSU's Denise Van De Walle) and has a career record of 461-339 in 26 years, which sits 33 wins behind Van De Walle in one less year.
Western Michigan has also jumped out to a 2-0 start in Mid-American Conference play and is 10-7 overall. Jessica Brown is the reigning MAC West Offensive Player of the Week after hitting .556 with 31 kills and only one error in three wins last week. On the year, she is fourth in the MAC in attack percentage (.334), while Jillian Mitchell is sixth in assists (10.02 per set). Head Coach Colleen Munson won her 100th match at WMU in Saturday's win over Ball State and has a career mark of 152-149.
THE VICTORY MARCH
With a 7-9 start to the 2009 season, head coach Denise Van De Walle has compiled a career record of 494-331 in 27 years at Bowling Green, needing just six more to reach milestone win No. 500. Since 2006, the Falcons have racked up an impressive 79-34 overall record 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 494 wins are the most in Mid-American Conference history.
DEFENDING THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
In 2007 and 2008, Bowling Green went 22-3 in Anderson Arena. The Falcons held opponents to just a .198 attack percentage in 12 matches a year ago. But Bowling Green is just 1-5 in "The House That Roars" in 2009 and has allowed opponents to hit .263. The Falcons have one chance this week to improve that home record and then will not play in front of the hometown fans for almost two more weeks.
THE NEMESIS
Just as Lex Luthor was Superman's nemesis, Shari Luther has been a nemesis to opponents in the early going. 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 was named Most Valuable Player at the Duquesne/Robert Morris Tournament after 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. For those efforts, she also received the first MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week award for 2009. She followed that up by being named to the all-tournament team at the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic. On the year, she leads the MAC in attack percentage at .383 (ranking 30th in the country), leading the team in kills (2.78 per set) and blocks (0.80 per set).
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, regarding the first four 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. Saturday, against Akron, she had 10 kills and 15 digs for her most recent one. She ranks among the top four on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, 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 10.28 assists per set (which ranks fourth in the MAC), and is third on the team with 11 aces and 105 digs.
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 already climbed four spots this year to ninth place in BGSU history with 1,253 career kills and needs 12 more to match Lori Kemerer (1996-99) for eighth place.
KAUTH IS COMING ON
Sophomore Emily Kauth played in just five matches a year ago but she has taken on a much larger role in her second season with the Falcons. She exploded in New Orleans, tying for the team lead in kills at the tournament while hitting an impressive .411. Kauth added two aces (tying for the team high) and six blocks (second most on the team) in the three matches. She put together possibly the best match of her career in the team's four set win over Robert Morris at the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational, finishing with a career high 18 kills and hitting .500. She is currently second on the team in kills and attack percentage. Kauth also leads the team in aces and ranks second in blocks.
FILLING BIG SHOES
Junior Alex Zlabis had some big shoes to fill this year when she replaced Chelsey Meek, who set an NCAA record for consecutive matches with at least 10 digs, in the lineup. But Zlabis has played well, averaging 3.63 digs per set through the first 16 matches. She has increased her serve receive percentage (from .837 a year ago to .940) and already has one more ace (six) than she did a year ago.
RISING TO THE TOP
Since 2006, 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 since 2006:
Records through 9/26/09
Team Overall (Pct.) MAC (Pct.)
Ohio 88-23 (.793) 46-4 (.920)
Bowling Green 79-34 (.699) 37-13 (.740)
Western Michigan 79-41 (.658) 36-14 (.720)
Central Michigan 66-38 (.635) 30-20 (.600)
Miami 61-49 (.555) 36-14 (.720)
Northern Illinois 57-48 (.543) 30-20 (.600)
Kent State 56-52 (.519) 21-29 (.420)
Eastern Michigan 43-68 (.387) 18-32 (.360)
Toledo 39-66 (.371) 13-37 (.260)
Buffalo 40-70 (.364) 7-43 (.140)
Ball State 37-71 (.343) 19-31 (.380)
Akron 29-78 (.271) 8-42 (.160)
YOUTH IS 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. The class made an impact already as setter Allison Kearney has been named to a pair of all-tournament teams and ranks fourth in the MAC in assists. Cassie Berning ranks in the top six on the team in kills, attack percentage, aces, digs, and blocks, gaining valuable early season experience. Kari Galen has played in seven sets so far and has a respectable .250 attack percentage with a pair of blocks and a dig.
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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