Falcons Open MAC Play This Weekend

Weekly Game Notes (.pdf)

Bowling Green, Ohio - Bowling Green plays two matches this weekend to begin Mid-American Conference play on the road. On Friday, the Falcons will travel to Akron, with the match beginning at 7 p.m. The Falcons will then travel to Buffalo for their second conference game Saturday night at 5 p.m.

THE OPPONENTS
• Bowling Green is 27-13 all-time against Akron and the Zips are 8-4 so far on the season, coming off a win at the Colgate Invitational, where they defeated Colgate, Cornell, and Connecticut. Akron is hitting .196 on the season and is led in the attack by 5-foot-9 junior outside hitter Courtney Jarvis, who is averaging 3.67 kills per set. Chelsea Harvey leads the Zips with 3.95 digs per set. Coach Ron Arenz is in his third year at the helm of the Akron program and is in the midst of a strong rebuilding project. Akron won 14 matches a year ago, the most for the program since 2004. The Falcons were defeated in three sets last year at Akron, but still hold a 13-6 edge at Akron all-time against the Zips.
• The Falcons are 19-2 all-time against Buffalo, including an 8-1 record on the road. Last year at Buffalo, the Falcons defeated the Bulls in three sets. This year Buffalo is 11-3 overall, including an unblemished 6-0 record at home. The Bulls are hitting .228 on the year, led by 5-foot-9 freshman outside hitter Dana Musil at 2.85 kills per set. Coach Todd Kress is beginning his second season leading the Bulls to a 16-16 record last season.

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 505-351 all-time, including 235-188 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.

DUNN NAMED MAC EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman libero Ashley Dunn was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Player of the Week Monday after posting 99 digs in five matches during the past week. She averaged 4.71 digs per set with at least 16 in every match and a pair of 20-dig matches. She had a career high 26 digs against St. Francis (Pa.) and has an active string of six consecutive double-digit dig matches. Dunn currently ranks seventh in the MAC with 3.94 digs per set.

PENROD NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT TWICE
Freshman Paige Penrod has been named to an all-tournament team twice during the non-conference section of the schedule. She was honored for the first time in her college career at the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida, where she had a team-high 29 kills and hit .221 for the Falcons, adding 18 digs and four blocks. She had her first career double-double against Albany, finishing with 11 kills and 10 digs in the match. She was then named to the all-tournament team at Pittsburgh's Blue and Gold Invitational, where she had 60 kills in four matches and a .265 attack percentage. She added 30 digs, seven aces, and six blocks at the event.

SPITLER NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT TWICE
Senior Noelle Spitler was named to an all-tournament team twice in the first three weeks of the season after being honored at the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational and the MSU Showcase. Spitler had 23 kills and hit .271 during Bowling Green's home tournament, adding a team-best seven blocks. In the win over Cornell, she had 11 kills, five digs and five blocks. At Michigan State, she posted 29 kills and a .417 attack percentage in three matches, including a career-high 13 kills in a win over IUPUI with a .524 attack percentage.

.200 IS KEY
So far in 2010, a .200 attack percentage has been the critical number for BGSU success. The Falcons are 4-0 when reaching that total for a match (doing so against IUPUI, Cornell, St. Francis and Robert Morris) and 1-9 when they do not.

STRINGING THEM ALONG
Freshmen Paige Penrod and Ashley Dunn are beginning to put together decent streaks of double-digit performances. Penrod has five consecutive double-digit kill matches and Dunn has six straight double-digit dig contests. The longest streaks a year ago came when Corey Domek ended the season with six consecutive double-digit kill performances and Alex Zlabis had a season-long 11-match streak of double-digit digs early in the season.

FIVE-SET SPECIALISTS
In recent history, Bowling Green has thrived in five-set matches, posting a .500 record or better in such contests in each of the last five years. Overall, the team is 25-9 in such matches since 2005. The Falcons are 1-1 in 2010, losing a hard fought five-setter to Pittsburgh but bouncing back the next day to beat Eastern Illinois in five.

IT'S BEEN TOUGH GETTING TO A FIFTH SET THOUGH
Bowling Green's first nine matches of the season all went three sets, the second-longest string in program history and the longest streak to start a season. But once the string was broken, the Falcons then played four consecutive matches that went at least four sets until a sweep of Robert Morris to conclude the Blue and Gold Invitational. In 1987, Bowling Green played in a program record 16 consecutive three-set matches.

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 in conference play, led by Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan. Penrod's 146 kills to this point are the third-most for any BGSU player in their first 14 collegiate matches over the past decade, while Tonyan's 103 rank seventh. The Falcon freshmen class may have an even bigger impact defensively as Ashley Dunn, Penrod, and Laura Avila rank first, second, and third on the team in digs. Dunn's 189 digs are the third-most for a BGSU freshman in her first 14 matches in the past decade.

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.

ALL-ANDERSON VOLLEYBALL TEAM
As part of the "Closing The Doors Of The House That Roars" celebration, Bowling Green has announced the All-Anderson Volleyball Team, recognizing the 14 best players to play for BGSU in the Anderson Arena era. The group represents 20 First Team All-MAC selections, 13 First Team Academic All-MAC picks, four MAC Player of the Year awards, and four selections to the BGSU Hall of Fame. The group will be honored at BGSU's home volleyball match against Western Michigan on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. The complete team can be viewed on page five.

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.

FALCONS PICKED TO FINISH FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the East Division in the Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll. Ohio was selected to win the East Division, followed by Miami, Buffalo, Kent State, BGSU, and Akron.

MARK THE CALENDAR
Bowling Green has announced a number of promotions throughout the year. The Falcons will recognize the All-Anderson Volleyball Team and hold Alumnae Day on Oct. 2 when BGSU hosts Western Michigan at 7 p.m. 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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