Central and Eastern Michigan Next Up For Falcons

Weekly Game Notes (.pdf)

Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green heads on the road for the first time since late September to play a pair of Mid-American Conference Western Division schools. The Falcons will play at Central Michigan, 7-11 overall and 1-5 in league play, Friday night at 7 p.m. before playing at Eastern Michigan, 17-5 overall and 4-2 in league action, Saturday night at 7 p.m.

THE OPPONENTS
• Central Michigan enters the weekend at just 1-5 in MAC play but the Chippewas have lost three five-setters and could very easily be above .500. However, CMU is 0-3 at home this year, including a five-set loss to Northern Illinois and a four-set defeat to Western Michigan this past weekend. Senior Lauren Krupsy ranks ninth in the conference with 3.73 points per set in league play and is 10th with 3.23 kills per set in conference matches. Head coach Erik Olson is 92-99 in his tenure with the Chippewas
• Eastern Michigan comes into the weekend with a gaudy 17-5 record overall and is 4-2 in league action. Sophomore Rachel Iaquaniello is a kill machine, averaging 5.17 per set in league action and she is coming off of a 33-kill match this past weekend against Western Michigan. Junior Haley Stein is averaging a conference-high 7.50 digs per set in MAC play as the Eagles lead the conference with 22.08 digs per set as a team. Stein's 55 digs against Western Michigan this past weekend tie for the fourth most in NCAA Division I history for a five-set match. EMU's 13.88 kills per set and 12.96 assists per set both rank second in the league. Head coach Kim Berrington is 216-226 as the leader of the Eagles.

THREE'S COMPANY
For three consecutive weeks, a Bowling Green freshman was awarded one of the Mid-American Conference's Player of the Week awards. Last week, Danielle Tonyan won the MAC East Division Offensive Player of the Week award after posting 17 kills against Miami and then a career-high 23 against Western Michigan. The week before, Paige Penrod was named MAC East Division Defensive Player of the Week and Ashley Dunn received the same award the week prior to that.

DISHING OUT THE ASSISTS
Freshman setter Laura Avila had an eye-popping 54 assists in the Falcons' three-set loss to Western Michigan. That total is the most for any BGSU player in a three-set match in the rally scoring era of collegiate volleyball (since 2001). The all-time school record for assists in a three set match is 63, achieved by Carey Amos in 1991, ironically also against Western Michigan.

STRINGING THEM ALONG
Freshmen Danielle Tonyan and Paige Penrod each have active five-match streaks with at least 10 kills. The last time BGSU teammates posted double-digit kills in at least five consecutive matches came during the 2008 season when Kendra Halm and Meghan Mohr strung together 10 in a row from Sept. 5 through Sept. 20.

BLOCK PARTY
Early in the year, Bowling Green struggled to block at the net. The Falcons had 5.0 or more team blocks in only two of the first nine matches of the year. But the team now has 5.0 or more team blocks in nine of the past 11 contests. The team ranks sixth in the conference in MAC only matches with 1.91 per set and Kari Galen ranks seventh in the league with 0.91 blocks per set.

FIVE-SET SPECIALISTS
In recent history, Bowling Green has thrived in five-set matches, posting a .500 record or better in such contests every year since 2005. Overall, the team is 26-9 in such matches since 2005. This year, Bowling Green is 2-1 in matches that have gone the distance, losing a five-setter to Pittsburgh before winning matches against Eastern Illinois and Buffalo.

Bowling Green's Record In Five-Set Matches Since 2005
2010 2-1
2009 6-2
2008 9-1
2007 5-1
2006 2-2
2005 2-2

FRESHMAN CONTRIBUTIONS
With such a young team in 2010, Bowling Green is relying on freshmen to produce right from the start. The class has not disappointed so far, led by Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan. Penrod's 239 kills to this point are the most for any BGSU player in their first 20 collegiate matches over the past decade, while Tonyan's 190 rank fourth. The Falcon freshmen class is having just as big of an impact defensively as Ashley Dunn, Penrod, and Laura Avila rank first, second, and third on the team in digs. Dunn's 274 digs are the fourth-most for a BGSU freshman in her first 20 matches in the past decade.

PENROD RISING TO THE TOP
Paige Penrod's 239 kills this year already rank as the seventh-most in a freshman season in program history. She needs 11 more this weekend to match Kendra Halm (2005) for sixth place and 13 to equal Maggie Karges (2004) for fifth. Susie Norris set the freshman record with 360 kills in 2000. With 11 regular season matches remaining, Penrod would need to average 11.0 kills per match to equal Norris' total by the end of the year (postseason excluded).

TONYAN ABOUT TO MAKE THE LIST TOO
Danielle Tonyan's 190 kills this season are just seven shy of tying Laura Cramer (1984) for the 10th best freshman season in program history. Only in 2004 (Maggie Karges and Stephanie Swiger) and 2005 (Kendra Halm and Meghan Mohr) have teammates reached the top 10 in single season kills for a freshman.

THE YOUNGEST EVER?
This year's team has seven freshmen and four sophomores on the roster. No team under head coach Denise Van De Walle has ever had more than six freshmen and none have had a combined 11 freshmen and sophomores. Since volleyball became a varsity sport under the athletics department in 1976, there is no record of any other team having seven freshmen on the varsity roster. While it certainly means big things could be in store for the future, the Falcons will be relying on inexperienced players to learn through on-the-job training.

VAN DE WALLE STARTS ON THE NEXT 500
With a victory over rival Toledo in the Mid-American Conference Tournament a year ago, Bowling Green coach Denise Van De Walle won her 500th career match, becoming the first to reach that total as a coach in the MAC. The team's win over IUPUI during the opening weekend started her on the backside to 1,000 with her 501st victory. She is now 506-354 all-time, including 236-191 in conference play. In 28 seasons at the helm, she has 13 20-win seasons and a 30-win campaign in 1992. Her teams have won five MAC regular season championships and Van De Walle has been named MAC Coach of the Year four times.

NEW FALCON NEST
The volleyball team will move into the Stroh Center, a new convocation center, in 2011 along with the men's and women's basketball and gymnastics teams. It has been announced that the Falcons will open the arena Friday, Sept. 9, 2011 against Michigan State. The last time BGSU hosted a Big Ten school came in 2005 when the Falcons lost a five-set match to Ohio State in the BGSU Invitational.

PENROD/SPITLER SWEEP ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Freshman Paige Penrod and senior Noelle Spitler were each named to an all-tournament team twice during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Penrod was honored for the first time in her college career at the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida, and then followed that up by being named to the all-tournament team at Pittsburgh's Blue and Gold Invite. Spitler was honored at Michigan State's MSU Showcase and then at home in the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational.

MARK THE CALENDAR
Bowling Green has announced a number of promotions throughout the year. The Falcons already recognized the All-Anderson Volleyball Team and held Alumnae Day on Oct. 2 when BGSU hosted Western Michigan. The Oct. 22 home game against Toledo at 7 p.m. will serve as the annual Pink Out game to raise Cancer awareness. Parent's Night will take place Oct. 29 against Buffalo at 7 p.m. and Senior Night will be the next day against Akron at 3 p.m.

HITTING THE BOOKS
Bowling Green has always stressed academics and Falcon volleyball has been a model of that philosophy. The 2009 BGSU volleyball team received the AVCA Academic Team Award for the 10th 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 11 times overall. The volleyball team has been a big part of BGSU leading the way in the MAC in academics. Bowling Green was awarded the Faculty Athletic Representatives' award for the second consecutive year in recognition of having the highest GPA among women student-athletes and the Falcons also received the 2010 MAC Institutional Academic Achievement Award for having the highest GPA among all of its student-athletes in the conference.

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