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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Illinois
Falcons Close Regular Season with Trip to Northern Illinois
April 21, 2011 | Women's Tennis
BGSU looks to extend win streak to three
The Bowling Green State University tennis team, after posting a pair of narrow home wins last weekend, hits the road for the final dual match of the 2010-11 regular season ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will head to the Mid-American Conference's "West Coast," facing Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., on Saturday (April 23) ... match time is 1:00 p.m. locally (2:00 p.m. Eastern) at West Tennis Courts on the NIU campus ... in the event of inclement weather, the match would be moved to the Boylan Tennis Center in Rockford, Ill.
BGSU NOTES & STATS - PDF
SIX NOTES NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR FALCON TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• BGSU is looking to put together a three-match winning streak in conference play for the first time in two years ... the Falcons' last such streak included home wins over Toledo and Eastern Michigan, along with a road victory over Northern Illinois (March 27-April 3, 2009) ... BGSU downed EMU and UT in home matches last weekend.
• That three-game MAC win streak in 2008-09 helped head coach Penny Dean's team finish fourth in the final regular-season standings ... regardless of the outcome of Saturday's NIU match or the results around the league on the final weekend, BGSU will be the fourth seed for the MAC Championships this year.
• The Falcons are a game behind third-place Western Michigan, but WMU would win a tiebreaker by virtue of a win over BGSU in the teams' head-to-head meeting.
• Similarly, BGSU is a game up on both EMU and UT ... the Eagles play the Rockets this weekend ... in the event of a BGSU loss at NIU and a tie with the EMU-UT winner in the standings, the Falcons would win the tiebreaker with either school due to last weekend's two wins, and would be the number-four seed for the MAC Championships.
• The Falcons will know the identity of the MAC Championships opponent before ever taking the court in DeKalb Saturday ... the winner of Friday's EMU-UT match will face BGSU in the quarterfinal round of next weekend's extravaganza in Ypsilanti, Mich. ... BG's MAC Championships quarterfinal match will be held on Friday, April 29.
• Sophomore Mary Hill won both of her singles matches last weekend, giving the Brown and Orange the match-clinching fourth point in the victories vs. both Eastern and Toledo ... on Friday (April 15), she downed EMU's Mariya Toncheva, roaring to a 6-1 win in the third set at the fourth flight ... the Hill-Toncheva match was the final one to finish ... the next day, with BG up by a 3-2 score and two matches remaining on the court, Hill downed Toledo's Kelsey Anonsen, again winning set three by a 6-1 result ... she teamed with freshman Nikki Chiricosta to win a pair of doubles matches, making it a perfect 4-0 weekend.
HILL NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Mary Hill was named the MAC Player of the Week, the league office announced on Wednesday afternoon (April 20) ... Hill earned the honor for the first time in her BGSU career ... a native of Munster, Ind., Hill was a perfect 4-0 in her weekend matches, winning the clinching singles contest on back-to-back days to help the Falcons to 4-3 wins over Eastern Michigan and Toledo ... she teamed with freshman Nikki Chiricosta for 8-3 and 8-1 wins, respectively, at the third flight, and won two three-set matches at the fourth singles flight ... Hill won her third set by a 6-1 score on each day, giving her team its fourth point to clinch the win.
TOPPING LAST YEAR'S TOTALS
BGSU has topped the team's victory totals for last season, both in conference play and overall ... the Falcons have an overall record of 13-7 in dual-match action this season to date, after going 12-10 a year ago ... in MAC play, BG has a 4-3 record, doubling the win total from last season ... the 2009-10 team finished with a 2-6 ledger in MAC action.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
BGSU enters the weekend with a dual-match record of 13-7, and the Falcons are 4-3 in MAC play ... last weekend, BG picked up a pair of 4-3 victories at the Perrysburg Tennis Center, downing Eastern Michigan on Friday (April 15) and Toledo on Saturday (April 16) ... head coach Penny Dean's team finished with a home record of 5-1, and the Falcons have records of 6-6 in away contests and 2-0 in neutral-site matches to date ... all six home contests were played indoors, at the PTC.
Individually, senior co-captain Christine Chiricosta has played all 20 dual matches at the number-one singles flight, and has teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston at the top doubles flight ... Chiricosta is 13-7 in dual-match singles play, and has an overall singles mark of 24-9 this year to date.
Eccleston, who played at the fifth flight for most of the non-conference season, has played at the second flight in the last nine duals, including all seven MAC matches ... Eccleston has a singles record of 20-13 this year, including a mark of 11-9 in dual-match action.
Freshman Nikki Chiricosta has played the bulk of the duals at the third singles flight ... she is 13-6 at flight number three, and also has a win at the second flight ... she leads the team with an overall singles record of 26-8 this season, and has a BG-best 50 total wins.
Sophomore Mary Hill has played at the fourth singles flight in every match since February ... Hill has a dual-match record of 13-7, including marks of 6-4 at the second flight and 1-0 at the third ... freshman Emily Reuland played the first nine dual matches at the fourth flight, and has played the last 11 at the fifth level ... Reuland is 12-8 in dual matches and 21-12 overall ... she has gone 8-3 overall and 5-2 in the MAC since moving to the fifth flight ... Hill is also 5-2 in MAC duals, while the Chiricosta sisters each are 4-3.
Junior Jessica Easdale has drawn the sixth-flight assignment for 16 of this year's 20 dual matches ... Easdale, a co-captain along with Christine Chiricosta, is 7-9 in duals and 14-15 overall ... sophomores Katie Grubb and Jade Johnson have a combined singles record of 12-8 this season to date ... Johnson has played at flight six in three MAC matches.
In doubles, Christine Chiricosta and Eccleston have played every match at the top flight ... they are 15-5 in duals and 23-9 overall this year, and have won 12 of their last 14 matches ... the two freshmen, Nikki Chiricosta and Reuland, are 6-4 at the second flight in dual-match play, with all 10 of those results coming in non-conference play ... sophomores Grubb and Johnson are 3-4 in second-flight doubles action, and their seven matches together have included each of the first five MAC contests ... recently, however, Johnson has teamed with Reuland at the number-two doubles flight.
Grubb and Hill combined for a 7-3 mark at the third flight, but Hill has teamed with Nikki Chiricosta in third-flight action in the last 10 matches, and the latter duo has posted a record of 9-1 during that time.
Overall this season, the eight players on the BGSU roster have combined for a singles record of 139-76 (64.7%) ... Falcon doubles competitors have teamed for a 69-34 mark (67.0%) this year to date.
BGSU finished the 2009-10 season with an overall record of 12-10 and a MAC mark of 2-6 ... BG tied for sixth place in the final regular-season standings, and the Falcons were the seventh seed for the MAC Championships ... the Falcons fell to second-seeded Akron, 4-1, in the league tourney's quarterfinal round.
CC'S HELPED BG WIN 53
The Falcons have won 53 matches since the team's lone senior, Christine Chiricosta, arrived on campus in the fall of 2007 ... that total is just two away from matching a BGSU mark ... 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 the following year's class (Libby Harrison, Kelsey Jakupcin and Stefanie Menoff).
CHRISTINE CHIRICOSTA RECORD WATCH
Senior Christine Chiricosta owns all three BGSU career wins records ... Chiricosta currently has 88 singles victories, 88 doubles wins and 176 overall triumphs ... she has amassed those totals while playing at the first doubles flight and the first and second singles flights for virtually her entire career.
CHRISTINE CHIRICOSTA ON BGSU CAREER RECORDS LISTS
SINGLES WINS: 88, FIRST
Broke Stefanie Menoff's (2006-09) record of 81 in the Detroit match on Feb. 27
DOUBLES WINS: 88, FIRST
Snapped Jenny Cheung's (1995-98) record of 84 wins on April 2 vs. Ball State
COMBINED WINS: 176, FIRST
Broke Deidee Bissinger's (1997-2000) record of 153 in Jan. 30 match at Butler
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE ...
• The Falcons have recorded at least 10 dual-match victories for the ninth consecutive season ... prior to the current streak, the longest string of double-digit win totals was four-straight years, on two prior occasions (1988-92 and 1996-2000).
• Additionally, the Falcons have clinched a winning mark for the seventh-straight season, extending 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).
... DOUBLE YOUR FUN
The Falcons have won the doubles point in 14 of this year's first 20 dual matches ... last season, BG picked up the doubles point in 14 of the 22 duals, including in five of the eight MAC matches ... over the last three-plus years, BGSU has won the doubles point in 57 of 81 matches.
A COMEBACK WIN
The Falcons' win over Eastern Michigan on Friday (April 15) marked the first time this season that BGSU rallied to win a match after losing the doubles point ... for the most part this season, the result in doubles play has been a harbinger of things to come ... in 17 of the first 20 duals, the team that won the doubles point went on to win the match ... BGSU has captured the doubles point in 14 of those 20 matches, and the Falcons went on to win 12 of those matches (all but the Akron and UIC match) ... BG's other five losses – to Louisville, Michigan State, Air Force, Miami and Western Michigan – each came after the Falcons lost the doubles point.
THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Northern Illinois currently has a dual-match record of 2-14, and the Huskies are 0-6 in MAC play ... Northern hosts Western Michigan on Friday (April 22) before meeting the Falcons the following day ... the Huskies' two dual-match wins have come at home, a 6-1 win over Bradley (Feb. 12) and a 7-0 victory vs. Western Illinois (March 5) ... last weekend, NIU dropped 7-0 road decisions to Buffalo and Akron ... a year ago, head coach Ryun Ferrell's team went 7-12 overall and 1-7 in the MAC.
The Falcons and Northern Illinois are tied, 11-11, in the all-time series between the teams, but BGSU has captured the last six meetings ... last year, the Falcons posted a 5-2 win over the Huskies at the Perrysburg Tennis Center (April 16, 2010) ... in the teams' last meeting in Illinois, the Falcons came away with a 6-1 win two years ago (April 3, 2009) ... NIU's last win over BGSU came at the old Keefe Courts in April of 2004.
A FEW FINAL FALCON FACTS
• Senior co-captain Christine Chiricosta, as mentioned, is the winningest player in BGSU tennis history ... her school-record totals now stand at 88 singles wins, 88 doubles victories and 176 total wins ... she has a career winning percentage of 72.4%.
• While Christine Chiricosta is rewriting the career records lists, freshman Nikki Chiricosta is moving up the single-season charts ... the younger Chiricosta leads the Falcons with 50 overall victories this year ... she has a team-best 26-8 singles record, and has gone 24-9 in doubles play ... Nikki Chiricosta's 50 total wins ties her for third on the BGSU single-season list, while her 26 singles victories deadlocks her for third on that Falcon seasonal chart.
• Christine Chiricosta has 48 total victories this season, while sophomore Mary Hill now has 47 ... soph Maddy Eccleston has 44 overall wins in 2010-11, meaning that four players are ranked among the top 10 in program history in single-season wins.
UP NEXT
Following the NIU match, the Falcons will prepare for the MAC Championships, which run from April 28 to May 1 in Ypsilanti, Mich. ... BGSU will be the fourth seed for the nine-team tournament, and will meet either Toledo or host EMU in the quarterfinal round on Friday, April 29.
