Falcons Sweep NIU, 7-0, to Close Regular Season

Saturday, April 23

DeKalb, Ill.

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Northern Illinois

Each of the eight players on the roster picked up at least one win for the Falcons at NIU

April 23, 2011 | Women's Tennis

By: DeKALB, Ill. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University tennis team won at every flight on Saturday afternoon (April 23), closing the regular season with a 7-0 win over Northern Illinois University. The Mid-American Conference dual match was held at the West Tennis Courts on the NIU campus.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 14-7 overall, and BGSU finishes the regular season with a 5-3 MAC ledger. The Falcons finish the regular season in fourth place in the nine-team conference, and BG will face the fifth-seeded University of Toledo in the quarterfinals of the MAC Championships. The BG-UT match will be held on Friday (April 29) in Ypsilanti, Mich., with starting time to be announced.

The Huskies end the regular season with records of 2-16 overall and 0-8 in the league.

Each of the eight players on the BGSU roster was involved in at least one win on Saturday afternoon. In doubles play, sophomore Jade Johnson and freshman Emily Reuland posted the most lopsided result of the Falcons' three doubles victories. That duo picked up an 8-2 win over Emily Rogers and Haley Dekkinga at the second flight.

In third-flight action, sophs Katie Grubb and Mary Hill downed Kelly Phillips and Ilse Pacheco by an 8-4 result. The closest match of the entire day came at the number-one doubles flight, where BGSU senior co-captain Christine Chiricosta teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston to win a tiebreaker over the Huskies' Katie Friedlund and Sara McLaughlin.

Singles play saw each of the six Falcons win in straight sets, as BGSU players lost two games or fewer in nine of the 12 total sets. In the top three flights, in fact, no Falcon lost more than two total games. That group included Christine Chiricosta, her sister -- freshman Nikki Chiricosta -- and Eccleston, not in that order.

Christine Chiricosta downed Phillips at the top flight, coasting to a 6-1, 6-1 win. Eccleston also dropped only two total games -- one in each set -- en route to her win over Martina Schnapp at the second flight.

At the third flight, Nikki Chiricosta did not lose a single game, rolling along to a victory over Rogers.

BGSU also won in efficient fashion at each of the bottom three flights. Hill, the reigning MAC Player of the Week, lost a total of five games in her victory. The sophomore defeated McLaughlin in fourth-flight action.

Reuland and junior co-captain Jessica Easdale rounded out the Falcons' sweep, picking up wins in straight sets at the bottom two flights. Reuland defeated Dekkinga in fifth-flight action, while Easdale was a winner over Pacheco at the sixth level.

The Falcons end the regular season on a three-match winning streak, the team's first such streak in MAC action in over two years.

BGSU 7, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 0
Sat., April 23, 2011 - West Tennis Courts - DeKalb, Ill.
Singles
1 - Christine Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Kelly Phillips 6-1, 6-1
2 - Maddy Eccleston (BGSU) def. Martina Schnapp 6-1, 6-1
3 - Nikki Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Emily Rogers 6-0, 6-0
4 - Mary Hill (BGSU) def. Sara McLaughlin 6-1, 6-4
5 - Emily Reuland (BGSU) def. Haley Dekkinga 6-3, 6-2
6 - Jessica Easdale (BGSU) def. Ilse Pacheco 6-3, 6-2
# - Katie Grubb (BGSU) def. Rebecca Hansmann 6-0

Doubles
1 - C.Chiricosta/Eccleston (BGSU) def. McLaughlin/Katie Friedlund 8-7 (4)
2 - Reuland/Jade Johnson (BGSU) def. Rogers/Dekkinga 8-2
3 - Grubb/Hill (BGSU) def. Phillips/Pacheco 8-4

# - exhibition; not included in overall match scoring

NOTES
* Senior co-captain Christine Chiricosta, the winningest player in BGSU tennis history, did more winning on Saturday at NIU ... with a pair of victories vs. the Huskies, she now has a record of 25-9 in both singles and doubles this year to date ... additionally, Chiricosta now has 89 career singles wins and 89 career doubles victories.

* Chiricosta's combined career win total of 178 is 25 ahead of the second-place person on the BGSU list.

* While Christine continues her assault on the career record books, freshman Nikki Chiricosta is moving up the single-season lists ... Nikki has 27 singles wins this year, tying for the second-highest total in school history ... overall, she has 51 wins on the season, ranking third on that list.

* Christine Chiricosta and sophomore Mary Hill have 50 and 49 wins, respectively, this season ... those two, along with Nikki Chiricosta, have combined for three of the six highest individual win totals in a season in BGSU history ... Christine is tied for fourth with her 50 victories, while Hill is ranked sixth on that chart.

* Hill has a team-leading 26 doubles wins, ranking fourth on that BGSU seasonal list ... Christine Chiricosta and soph Maddy Eccleston each have 25 doubles victories to tie for fifth on that list.

* Eccleston has 46 combined victories this year, tying for eighth in program history.

* Eccleston, as mentioned just a sophomore, now has 86 combined career victories at BGSU ... she is just one win away from breaking into the school's top 25 in that category.

* Hill and freshman Emily Reuland each went 6-2 in MAC singles matches, while the Chiricosta sisters posted identical 5-3 records.

* In doubles play, Hill went 7-1 in the MAC, going 6-1 with Nikki Chiricosta and winning a match with soph Katie Grubb at NIU ... overall, Hill has gone 16-4 in doubles play during the dual-match schedule.

* Christine Chiricosta and Eccleston combined to go 6-2 in MAC doubles play ... they are 16-5 in dual matches, 24-9 on the year and 44-17 as a team in their respective careers.