Falcons Play Final Matches Ever In Anderson Arena

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

Bowling Green, Ohio - This weekend marks the end of an era as the Bowling Green volleyball team will play its final home matches ever in Anderson Arena. The House That Roars is the only home the program has ever known and will move into the Stroh Center for the 2011 season. The weekend will also serve as Parent's Night on Friday and Senior Day on Saturday. The Falcons will honor two seniors -- Sam Fish and Noelle Spitler.

THE OPPONENTS
• Buffalo enters the weekend with a record of 14-12 overall and 2-8 in Mid-American Conference play. Much like Bowling Green, the Bulls are hungry for a win, having lost 8-of-9 matches coming into the week. Earlier this year, the Falcons beat Buffalo in a thrilling 25-18, 16-25, 19-25, 25-22, 17-15 match in which the team had a season-high 15.0 blocks. The Bulls are holding opponents to just a .155 attack percentage, best in the MAC, and are second in the league with 1.65 aces per set. Kristen Bignell's 1.09 blocks per set in conference matches ranks second in the MAC. Head coach Todd Kress is in his second season at Buffalo with a mark of 30-28 overall. He has previous experience as a head coach as well, guiding three teams to NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Despite being picked to finish last in the MAC East in the preseason poll, Akron stands tied for first in the division at 13-9 overall and 5-5 in league play. The Zips beat BGSU 27-25, 25-23, 25-16 earlier this season as the Falcons were unable to come up with the key points in the first two sets and Akron hit .301 for the contest. Tina Dimitrijevs leads the conference with a .360 attack percentage and Morgan Kuhn's 0.39 aces per set are third in the MAC. Head coach Ron Arenz is 40-44 overall at Akron in his third season at the helm.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
Freshman libero Ashley Dunn has an active streak of 16 consecutive matches with at least 12 digs. She has posted at least 20 digs in five of those contests, peaking with a career-high 26 against both St. Francis (Pa.) and Eastern Michigan. That is the longest string of 12+ dig matches since Chelsey Meek reached that figure in 17 consecutive matches during the 2008 season.

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. Two weeks ago, 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.

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 11 of the past 15 contests.

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.

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 291 kills to this point are the second-most for any BGSU player in their first 25 collegiate matches over the past decade, while Tonyan's 232 rank fourth. As well, Lindsey Butterfield's 92 kills are the 10th most for a Falcon freshman. The rookie 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 365 digs are the third-most for a BGSU freshman in her first 25 matches in the past decade.

PENROD AND TONYAN RISING TO THE TOP
Paige Penrod's 291 kills this year already rank as the fourth-most in a freshman season in program history. She needs just nine more to become just the fourth freshman in program history to reach 300 kills for the season and 22 more this week to match Corey Domek (2006) for third. Domek is the only player in program history to have 300 kills in a season four times. Along with that, Danielle Tonyan has moved into eighth place in kills for a freshman with 232. She needs 18 this week to match Kendra Halm (2005) for seventh and 20 to tie Maggie Karges (2004) for sixth. Susie Norris set the freshman record with 360 kills in 2000. With six regular season matches and a minimum of one postseason match remaining, Penrod needs to average 9.9 kills per match the rest of the way to equal Norris.

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 507-360 all-time, including 236-197 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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