Falcons Host Akron, Buffalo to Close Regular Season

THIS WEEK
The Bowling Green State University tennis team closes the 2009-10 regular-season schedule with a pair of dual matches at home this weekend ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will face the University of Akron on Friday afternoon (April 23), before meeting the University at Buffalo in Saturday action (April 24) ... both matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at BGSU's Keefe Courts ... in the event of inclement weather, matches would be held indoors at the Perrysburg Tennis Center ... the Falcons enter the final regular-season weekend in sixth place in the conference standings.

BGSU Notes & Statistics | Friday's match program | Saturday's match program

THANKS, SENIORS
Saturday's Buffalo match will be 'Senior Day' for the BGSU tennis program, with fourth-year Falcons Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel recognized prior to the match ... Babina and Kintzel are the co-captains of the 2009-10 team.

THE FALCONS AND THE MAC RACE
The Falcons enter the final weekend of the regular season with a MAC mark of 2-4 ... BGSU currently sits in sixth place in the nine-team league ... the Falcons could finish as high as a tie for fourth, or as low as a tie for seventh, depending upon this weekend's outcomes ... BG still could be seeded anywhere from fifth through eighth for the MAC Championships ... the league tourney begins on Thursday, April 29, with a match between the eighth and ninth seeds ... the quarterfinals will be held on Friday, April 30 ... the MAC Championships will take place in Kalamazoo, Mich., and will be hosted by Western Michigan.

MAC STANDINGS
SCHOOL // MAC RECORD // REMAINING MATCH(ES)
Miami // 6-0 // at Eastern Michigan (Fri.); at Toledo (Sat.)
Akron // 5-1 // at BGSU (Fri.); at Western Michigan (Sat.)
Western Mich. // 5-1 // vs. Buffalo (Fri.); vs. Akron (Sat.)
Toledo // 4-2 // vs. Ball State (Fri.); vs. Miami (Sat.)
Buffalo // 3-3 // at Western Michigan (Fri.); at BGSU (Sat.)
Bowling Green // 2-4 // vs. Akron (Fri.); vs. Buffalo (Sat.)
Eastern Mich. // 1-5 // vs. Miami (Fri.); vs. Ball State (Sat.)
Ball State // 1-5 // at Toledo (Fri.); at Eastern Michigan (Sat.)
Northern Ill. // 1-7 // Regular season complete

LAST TIME OUT
The Falcons snapped a four-match losing streak with a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois Friday afternoon (April 16) in the team's lone match of the week, at the Perrysburg Tennis Center ... BGSU won all three doubles matches, then took four of the six singles contests as well ... junior Christine Chiricosta lost only one game in winning her top-flight singles match ... senior co-captains Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel and freshman #Maddy Eccleston# also won their singles contests in straight sets ... those four players had teamed up in doubles, with Chiricosta and Eccleston at flight number one and the Babina/Kintzel duo at the second flight ... sophomore Jessica Easdale and freshman #Katie Grubb# won their third-flight doubles match vs. the Huskies.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?
• BGSU's win over Northern Illinois snapped a four-match losing streak, the team's longest in four years ... the Falcons had lost five-straight matches from March 31-April 15, 2006, before any of the current team members were at BG.

• The last four matches of the 2006 streak saw the Falcons lose at Miami, at home to Western Michigan, at Toledo and at Eastern Michigan ... BG snapped that slide with a home win over Northern Illinois ... this season's streak saw the Brown and Orange lose to – in order – Miami on the road, WMU at home and UT and EMU on the road, before downing NIU at 'home' (the Perrysburg Tennis Center).

FOUR MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FALCONS
• BGSU has matched the team's win total for all of last season ... the 2008-09 Falcons posted an overall dual-match record of 12-7 ... this year's squad is also 12-7, with at least three matches remaining.

• The Falcons have recorded at least 10 dual-match victories for the eighth consecutive season, extending the school record ... prior to the current streak, the longest string of double-digit win totals was four-straight seasons, on two prior occasions (1988-92 and 1996-2000).

• Additionally, the Falcons' victory over NIU clinched a winning record ... BGSU will finish above .500 for the sixth-straight season, which extends that school record ... the current streak breaks the old mark of four consecutive winning seasons (originally set from 1974-75 through 1977-78, and matched from 1996-97 through 1999-2000).

• BGSU has posted a total of 53 wins since the team's two seniors, co-captains #Katia Babina# and Samantha Kintzel, arrived on campus ... the school record for wins in a four-year span is 55, set by the senior class of 2007-08 (Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle) and matched by last year's seniors – Libby Harrison, Kelsey Jakupcin and Stefanie Menoff.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU is 12-7 in dual matches, and the Falcons are 2-4 in the MAC ... BG picked up a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois in last weekend's lone action ... the Falcons are 5-2 at home, 4-5 on the road and 3-0 in neutral-site contests ... six of the seven home matches have come indoors, at the Perrysburg Tennis Center ... that list includes Friday's (April 16) NIU match ... the April 2 loss to Western Michigan was the Falcons' first dual at Keefe Courts this season.

Junior Christine Chiricosta, who has earned All-MAC honors in each of her first two seasons, appears well on her way to earning all-conference accolades again in 2009-10 ... Chiricosta has identical 15-4 records at singles and doubles in dual-match play this season to date ... she has played at the number-one flight in both singles and doubles, teaming with freshman Maddy Eccleston in doubles play ... Chiricosta's overall total of 42 wins this year leads the team and ties her for 11th in BGSU history ... she also leads BG in singles wins, with a 22-6 mark this year.

Senior co-captains Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel have been at the second and third singles flights, respectively, all season ... Babina is 12-7 in dual matches, including 4-2 in MAC play ... Kintzel is 11-8 in duals this year to date.

Eccleston is also 11-8 in duals, primarily at the fourth flight, but has played at the fifth level in each of the last four matches ... sophomore #Jessica Easdale# has a 9-6 record in duals, including a 6-3 mark at the fifth level and a 2-0 record in sixth-flight play ... Easdale has played each of the last four contests at flight number four ... freshmen #Katie Grubb# and Jade Johnson each have seen time at the fifth and sixth flights in dual action.

In doubles, the Chiricosta/Eccleston duo is 15-4 at the top flight, including a 5-1 MAC mark, while Babina and Johnson have a 10-7 mark in second-flight play ... Kintzel has teamed with Grubb (7-5 in duals) and Easdale (2-2) at the third flight in dual-match action ... the two senior co-captains have teamed up at the second doubles flight for each of the last two matches (vs. Eastern Michigan and NIU), though, while Easdale and Grubb played together at the third flight ... head coach Penny Dean's eight-player roster includes four returnees from a year ago and four newcomers to Division-I tennis.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
Akron enters the weekend with an overall record of 16-2, and the Zips are 5-1 in MAC action ... UA is having the finest season in program history ... the Zips began the year with 15-straight wins, the program's best-ever start to a season ... Akron was the last remaining undefeated Division-I team in the nation before losing to then 26th-ranked DePaul on April 10 ... last weekend, the Zips topped Ball State, 6-1, on Friday (April 16) before losing a 4-3 decision to Miami the next day ... Akron was ranked 72nd in the nation in last week's ITA poll (this week's poll has not yet been released) ... last season, Akron went 15-8 overall and 4-4 in MAC regular-season play.

BGSU leads Akron, 25-3, in the all-time series between the teams, but the Zips captured last year's meeting ... Akron snapped BG's 15-match series winning streak with a 6-1 win over the Falcons in the Rubber City (April 10, 2009) ... BGSU picked up a 6-1 victory over UA two years ago, in the first-ever dual match at the new Keefe Courts (April 5, 2008) ... prior to last year, UA's only two series wins had come in back-to-back seasons, 1991-92 and '92-93.

Buffalo is 7-7 overall, and the Bulls will take a 3-3 MAC ledger into a Friday match at Western Michigan ... UB has yet to put together a streak of any kind in MAC play, alternating a loss with a win since the start of the conference schedule ... last weekend, the Bulls fell to Miami by a narrow 4-3 count before downing Ball State, 7-0 ... a year ago, UB finished 14-6 overall and tied for second in the MAC with a 6-2 league slate ... the Bulls advanced to the semifinals of the 2009 MAC Championships, before falling to WMU.

The Falcons hold an 11-2 series advantage over Buffalo, and BGSU picked up a 4-3 victory on the road in last year's meeting (April 11, 2009) ... two years ago, the Falcons also posted a 4-3 win over the Bulls, at Shadow Valley in Toledo (April 4, 2008) ... UB had won the previous two meetings after the Falcons captured the first nine series matchups.

UP NEXT
Following this weekend's matches, the Falcons will prepare for next week's MAC Championships ... all nine conference teams will head to Kalamazoo, Mich., for this year's event, which will run from Thursday through Sunday (April 29-May 2) ... the winner will earn the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

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