Falcons Home For First Time In 2010 This Weekend

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Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational Tournament Page

Bowling Green, Ohio - After playing its first six matches of the 2010 season on the road, Bowling Green will play in front of a home crowd for the first time this weekend. The Falcons host the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational and will compete with Cornell, IPFW, and Oakland for the tournament crown. All of Bowling Green's first six matches have been decided in just three sets and the youthful Falcons are just 1-5 so far after playing two teams ranked in the top 15 in the country and another receiving votes in the poll. In recognition of coach Denise Van De Walle's 500th career victory a year ago, the 28-year head coach of the BGSU program will be honored with an on-court presentation prior to Friday night's 7 p.m. match.

THE OPPONENTS
• Cornell is off to a 1-2 start on the season, defeating Siena and losing to St. Francis (Pa.) and Lamar at its own tournament. The Big Red went just 6-19 a year ago and 3-11 in the Ivy League. The team lost three starters to graduation a year ago but does return 11 letterwinners. Sarah Bernson is in her second season as the head coach of the program and spent five years prior as an assistant coach at Cornell, in which the team won three Ivy League titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice.
• IPFW comes into this weekend's tournament with a record of 2-5 after winning two out of three in the IPFW Invitational and then losing three straight during the past weekend at the Xavier Invitational. The Mastadons also lost a match to MAC opponent Western Michigan. IPFW is coming off of a season in which it won the Summit League Tournament and is picked to finish second in the conference this year. Head coach Kelly Hartley Hutton is 231-126 in 12 seasons at IPFW and 368-193 in 17 seasons overall as a head coach.
• Oakland is 3-4 on the season after opening the year with tournaments at Northern Illinois at Ball State. The Golden Grizzlies lost to both MAC opponents (NIU in four sets and Ball State in three) it faced. Oakland was picked to finish fourth in the Summit League this year. Senior defensive specialist Brittany Dunn hails from Bowling Green and is the sister of BGSU freshman Ashley Dunn. Coach Rob Beam is in his fourth year at the helm of the Oakland program with a record of 36-56.

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 downside to 1,000 with her 501st victory. She is 501-347 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.

PENROD NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT AT FLORIDA
Freshman Paige Penrod was honored for the first time in her college career at the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida, as an all-tournament selection. Penrod 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.

SPITLER NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT AT MICHIGAN STATE
Senior Noelle Spitler was named to the MSU Showcase All-Tournament Team after posting 29 kills and a .417 attack percentage in three matches. She tied her career high with 12 kills in the loss to Evansville and then surpassed that with 13 in the win over IUPUI. In that match, she hit .524 and added two aces, two digs, and a block.

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 24-8 in such matches since 2005. In fact, of Bowling Green's final six wins of the 2009 season, five of those matches went the distance.

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.

FRESHMAN CONTRIBUTIONS
With such a young team in 2010, Bowling Green will be relying on freshmen to produce right from the start. The class has not disappointed through the first two weekends, led by Danielle Tonyan and Paige Penrod. Tonyan's 47 kills to this point are the fifth-most for any BGSU player in their first six collegiate matches in the past decade, while Penrod's 43 kills are sixth. The Falcon freshmen class may have an even bigger impact defensively as Ashley Dunn, Laura Avila, and Penrod rank first, second, and third on the team in digs. Dunn's 52 digs are the fourth most for any BGSU player in her first six career matches in the past decade.

COMING INTO HER OWN
Junior middle Emily Kauth had 289 kills a year ago, the most among all returners this year. Her improvement from 2008 was impressive as she played in just five matches as a freshman and recorded only one kill. But in 2009, Kauth became one of the leaders on the team with a .247 attack percentage and 77 blocks, averaging 2.39 kills per set.

CLOSING THE DOORS OF THE HOUSE THAT ROARS
All year long, Bowling Green will be celebrating the final year of Anderson Arena with "Closing The Doors Of The House That Roars". Anderson Arena has hosted BGSU volleyball matches for 35 years and the athletics department has announced that season tickets are just $35. Call 877-BGSU TICKET to order your season tickets today.

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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