Bowling Green State University Athletics

Maddy Eccleston (left) and Christine Chiricosta won their doubles match on Friday afternoon. Chiricosta also won in singles play, and was named the MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week
Western Michigan tops Falcons, 5-2; Chiricosta Named MAC Scholar-Athlete of Week
April 02, 2010 | Women's Tennis
Chiricosta, Babina pick up singles wins
In a match that was much closer than the final score would indicate, visiting Western Michigan University pulled out a 5-2 victory over the Bowling Green State University tennis team Friday afternoon (April 2). The Mid-American Conference dual was held at BGSU's Keefe Courts.
BGSU-WMU Photo Gallery
With the win, the Broncos improve to 10-9 overall and 2-1 in MAC action, while the Falcons drop to 11-5 and 1-2, respectively.
The Broncos narrowly won the doubles point. The teams split 8-3 decisions in the first two matches to finish, as junior Christine Chiricosta teamed with freshman Maddy Eccleston for a victory at the top flight, and the visitors captured a win at the third level.
The second-flight doubles match went down to the wire, with the WMU duo of Amanda Moccia and April Kerr pulling out an 8-6 win over senior co-captain Katia Babina and freshman Jade Johnson.
In singles play, the Broncos picked up first-set wins in five of the six flights. At the fourth and fifth flights, WMU players won in tiebreakers before closing out victories.
Western's Maggie Remynse downed sophomore Jessica Easdale by a 7-6 count in the first set at the fourth flight, while the Broncos' Maria Nivia topped Eccleston by the identical score in the fifth flight. Both Remynse and Nivia closed out their matches with second-set wins.
At the sixth flight, WMU's Jill Pastunink won a pair of close sets over Falcon freshman Jade Johnson. Pastunink picked up a 6-4 win in the opening set, then won the second set in a tiebreaker.
The next match to finish came at the top flight, where Chiricosta defeated Emily Dudzik in three sets. The Falcon junior won a 6-1 first set, before Dudzik battled back for a 7-5 win in a tight second set. But, Chiricosta picked up a 6-3 victory in the penultimate set, improving to a perfect 3-0 in MAC singles play.
Western's Yumi Matsuto downed Falcon senior co-captain Samantha Kintzel in three sets at the third flight. The third set went to a tiebreaker, with Matsuto winning a squeaker.
In the final match to finish, Babina and Moccia battled through a pair of 7-5 sets at the second flight, before Babina picked up a 10-3 decision in a super-tiebreaker. Babina, like Chiricosta, is now a perfect 3-0 in MAC singles action to date.
Chiricosta's singles win was her sixth in a row, and improved her record to 13-3 in dual-match play this year to date. Babina has won four-straight singles matches, and is 11-5 in duals. The duo has played at the first and second flights, respectively, in all 16 of the Falcons' dual matches to date.
In doubles action, the Chiricosta/Eccleston duo is now 12-4 at the number-one flight in dual matches, including a 2-1 MAC mark. Grubb and Kintzel's doubles loss was the tandem's first in MAC action.
On the career lists, Babina has moved into a tie for 15th in BGSU history in singles wins, with 63. Chiricosta is right behind her, with 62 career singles victories to place 17th. Babina now has a total of 127 combined career wins, tying her for 12th in school history.
Chiricosta's doubles win was her 60th as a Falcon, moving her into a tie for 13th place. She now has 122 overall wins to move into 17th on that chart.
In other Falcon tennis news, Chiricosta has been named the MAC's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week. The announcement was made by the conference office on Friday afternoon. Chiricosta earns the award for the third time this season, having also been so honored on Jan. 22 and Feb. 19.
Chiricosta, a native of Avon Lake, Ohio (Avon Lake H.S.), went 3-1 last week as the Falcons split a pair of matches on the road to open the MAC schedule. She won both of her singles matches in straight sets at the top flight, downing Ball State's Hayley Hall (7-5, 6-3) and Miami's Anastasia Dracheva (6-3, 6-2).
In doubles play last weekend, Chiricosta teamed with Eccleston to win an 8-2 decision at BSU, before the duo was narrowly defeated, 8-6, the following day in Oxford.
In the classroom, Chiricosta has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average as an adolescent/young adult/secondary education major. Last spring, she was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team, becoming the first student-athlete in BGSU women's tennis history to earn such an honor. On the court, she has been named to the All-MAC Second Team in each of her first two seasons.
The MAC Scholar-Athlete-of-the-Week honor is presented to one male and one female student-athlete each week. To qualify for nomination, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore academically, must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and must have performed well during the prior week's competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conference's faculty athletic representatives.
The Falcons return to the road next weekend, heading to Toledo for a Friday (April 9) match before facing Eastern Michigan the following day (April 10). Both matches begin at 1:00 p.m. Following the EMU contest, the Falcons will close the regular season with three-straight home matches, against Northern Illinois (April 16), Akron (April 23) and Buffalo (April 24).
WESTERN MICHIGAN 5, BOWLING GREEN 2
Friday, April 2, 2010 - Keefe Courts - Bowling Green, Ohio
SINGLES
Friday, April 2, 2010 - Keefe Courts - Bowling Green, Ohio
SINGLES
1 - Christine Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Emily Dudzik 6-1, 5-7, 6-3
2 - Katia Babina (BGSU) def. Amanda Moccia 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-3)
3 - Yumi Matsuto (WMU) def. Samantha Kintzel 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3)
4 - Maggie Remynse (WMU) def. Jessica Easdale 7-6 (3), 6-0
5 - Maria Nivia (WMU) def. Maddy Eccleston 7-6 (3), 6-1
6 - Jill Pastunink (WMU) def. Jade Johnson 6-4, 7-6 (5)
# - Katie Grubb (BGSU) def. Rachel Denny 6-3
DOUBLES
1 - Chiricosta/Eccleston (BGSU) def. Dudzik/Pastunink 8-3
2 - Moccia/Kerr (WMU) def. Babina/Johnson 8-6
3 - Matsuto/Nivia (WMU) def. Kintzel/Grubb 8-3
ORDER OF FINISH
Singles - 4,5,6,1,3,2
Doubles - 1,3,2
# - exhibition; did not count in final scoring
# - exhibition; did not count in final scoring
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