Falcons Head to Ypsi for MAC Championships

The Bowling Green State University tennis team, having completed the 2010-11 regular season, heads to Ypsilanti, Mich., for this weekend's Mid-American Conference Championships, hosted by Eastern Michigan University ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean, the fourth seed for the nine-team tournament, will face the fifth-seeded University of Toledo in Friday's (April 29) quarterfinal round ... the match is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti.

LINKS
BGSU NOTES & STATS (8 pages) | BGSU STATS & RECORDS (4 pages)
MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKET
2011 MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL
DIRECTIONS TO THE CHIPPEWA CLUB

LIVE STATS
If you can't make it to Ypsilanti this weekend, live statistics for every match are scheduled to be available on the web ... the links can be accessed through the MAC Championships Central page ... from the tennis home page right here at BGSUFalcons.com, click the "2011 MAC Championships" link on the right side of the page ... or simply click one of the links below ... live stats for all eight tourney matches are scheduled to be available.
LIVE STATS AT CHIPPEWA CLUB (BGSU'S Friday match)
LIVE STATS AT YPSILANTI H.S.

MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
The MAC Championships run from Thursday through Sunday (April 28-May 1) in Ypsilanti ... most matches are scheduled to be held at Ypsilanti High School, but several contests, including the BGSU-UT dual, are slated for the Chippewa Club in Ypsi ... in the event of inclement weather, matches would be moved indoors at the Chippewa Club ... the complete MAC Championships schedule ...

2011 MAC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ypsilanti H.S. (unless noted); Ypsilanti, Mich.
First Round – Thursday, April 28
#8 Ball State vs. #9 Northern Illinois, Noon

Quarterfinals – Friday, April 29
#1 Miami vs. Ball State/Northern Illinois winner, 10:00 a.m.
#4 Bowling Green vs. #5 Toledo, 10:00 a.m. (Chippewa Club)
#3 Western Michigan vs. #6 Eastern Michigan, 2:00 p.m. (Chippewa Club)
#2 Akron vs. #7 Buffalo, 2:00 p.m.

Semifinals – Saturday, April 30
Miami/BSU/NIU winner vs. BGSU/Toledo winner, 10:00 a.m.
Akron/Buffalo winner vs. WMU/EMU winner, 2:00 p.m.

Championship – Sunday, May 1
Semifinal winners, Noon

THE FALCONS IN THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Falcons have a record of 9-16 since the MAC Championships went to the current format (teams advance rather than individuals) prior to the 1996-97 season ... in 2010, the Falcons dropped a 4-1 decision to Akron in the quarterfinal round ... the '09 tourney saw BGSU fall to Toledo in quarterfinal action in Bowling Green ... that loss snapped a two-year streak in which the Falcons had advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament ... BG made it to the semis in both 2007 and '08, losing to Western Michigan in each season.

SEVEN NOTES NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR FALCON TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• BGSU enters the MAC Championships riding a three-match winning streak ... the three wins all came in conference play, marking the first such streak in two years ... the Falcons' last three-match MAC winning 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 two weekends ago (April 15-16), then won on the road at NIU on Saturday (April 23).

• That three-game MAC win streak in 2008-09 helped head coach Penny Dean's team finish fourth in the final regular-season standings ... and, in 2010-11, the Brown and Orange again finished fourth in the league regular-season race.

• BGSU won at every singles and doubles flight in Saturday's 7-0 sweep of NIU ... singles play saw each of the six Falcon competitors win in straight sets, as BGSU players lost two games or fewer in nine of the 12 total sets.

• Senior Christine Chiricosta, the winningest player in program history, won at both singles and doubles at Northern ... Chiricosta has identical records of 25-9 in singles and doubles this year to date ... in her career, she has totals of 89 singles wins and 89 doubles victories.

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

• While Christine continues her assault on the BG career record books, her sister, 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 victories on the season, ranking third on that BGSU chart.

• 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.

CHIRICOSTA NAMED MAC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Senior Christine Chiricosta was named MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week, the league office announced on Friday afternoon (April 22) ... Chiricosta earned the award for the second time this season and the fifth time in her BGSU career ... a native of Avon Lake, Ohio, she garnered the honor after helping BG post 4-3 wins over both Eastern Michigan and Toledo the previous weekend ... Chiricosta went 2-0 at the top singles flight, losing just five games in her four overall sets ... she teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston for a 1-1 doubles record at the top flight ... in the classroom, Chiricosta has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average as an adolescent/young adult/secondary education major ... a two-time Academic All-American, she is also the winningest player in BGSU history.

HILL NAMED MAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Mary Hill was named the MAC Player of the Week last Wednesday (April 20), for her performance in the Falcons' 4-3 wins over Eastern Michigan (April 15) and Toledo (April 16) ... a native of Munster, Ind., Hill won the clinching singles contest on back-to-back days 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 14-7 in dual-match action this season to date, after going 12-10 a year ago ... in MAC play, BG finished with a 5-3 record, more than 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 MAC Championships with a dual-match record of 14-7, and the Falcons finished the regular season with a record of 5-3 in MAC play ... BG, picked to finish seventh in the MAC, actually ended up fourth in the final regular-season standings ... last weekend, BGSU posted a 7-0 win at Northern Illinois (April 23) to run the current winning streak to three matches ... head coach Penny Dean and the Falcons finished with a home record of 5-1, and BG has records of 7-6 in away contests and 2-0 in neutral-site matches to date ... all six home contests were played indoors, at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.

Individually, senior co-captain Christine Chiricosta has played all 21 dual matches at the number-one singles flight, and has teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston at the top doubles flight ... Chiricosta is 14-7 in dual-match singles play, and has an overall singles mark of 25-9 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 10 duals, including all eight MAC matches ... Eccleston has a singles record of 21-13 this year, including a mark of 12-9 in dual-match action.

Freshman Nikki Chiricosta has played the bulk of the duals at the third singles flight ... she is 14-6 at flight number three, and also has a win at the second flight ... she leads the team with an overall singles record of 27-8 this season, and has a BG-best 51 total wins.

Sophomore Mary Hill has played at the fourth singles flight in every match since February ... Hill has a dual-match record of 14-7, 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 12 at the fifth level ... Reuland is 13-8 in dual matches and 22-12 overall ... she has had a 9-3 mark since moving to the fifth flight, and went 6-2 in the MAC ... Hill also was 6-2 in MAC duals, while the Chiricosta sisters each went 5-3.

Junior Jessica Easdale has drawn the sixth-flight assignment for 17 of this year's 21 dual matches ... Easdale, a co-captain along with Christine Chiricosta, is 8-9 in duals and 15-15 overall ... sophomores Katie Grubb and Jade Johnson have a combined singles record of 13-8 this season to date ... Johnson played at flight six in three MAC matches.

In doubles, Christine Chiricosta and Eccleston have played every match at the top flight ... they are 16-5 in duals and 24-9 overall this year, and have won 13 of their last 15 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 included each of the first five MAC contests ... recently, however, Johnson has teamed with Reuland at the number-two doubles flight, and that duo picked up a win at NIU.

Grubb and Hill have combined for an 8-3 mark at the third flight ... Hill teamed with Nikki Chiricosta in third-flight action in 10-straight matches, posting a record of 9-1 during that time, but the Hill/Grubb tandem was reunited for the NIU match, and picked up a victory.

Overall this season, the eight players on the BGSU roster have combined for a singles record of 146-76 (65.8%) ... Falcon doubles competitors have teamed for a 72-34 mark (67.9%) 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 last April.

SENIOR CLASS RECORD WATCH
The Falcons have won 54 matches since the team's one-woman senior class, Christine Chiricosta, arrived on campus in the fall of 2007 ... that total is just one 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 89 singles victories, 89 doubles wins and 178 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: 89, FIRST
Broke Stefanie Menoff's (2006-09) record of 81 in the Detroit match on Feb. 27

DOUBLES WINS: 89, FIRST
Snapped Jenny Cheung's (1995-98) record of 84 wins on April 2 vs. Ball State

COMBINED WINS: 178, FIRST
Broke Deidee Bissinger's (1997-2000) record of 153 in Jan. 30 match at Butler

THE OPPONENT / THE SERIES
Toledo currently has a dual-match record of 13-9, and the Rockets finished MAC regular-season play with a 4-4 mark ... last weekend, UT won a 5-2 decision at Eastern Michigan to sew up the fifth seed for the league tourney ... the Rockets' other MAC wins came over Ball State, Northern Illinois and Buffalo ... UT, like BG, has just one senior on the roster ... and, just like at BGSU, that lone senior – Ashley Frey – is the winningest player in program history ... coach Tracy Mauntler's club went 12-7 overall and 5-3 in the MAC a year ago.

BGSU leads UT, 23-16, in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons pulled out a narrow 4-3 win in this year's regular-season meeting, less than two weeks ago (April 16) ... that victory snapped a two-match series win streak for UT ... last season, the Rockets picked up a 4-3 victory in the Glass City (April 9, 2010) ... two years ago, UT came to Keefe Courts twice, and the teams split the two matches ... the Falcons won a 4-3 decision in regular-season action (March 27, 2009), but UT downed the Brown and Orange, 4-0, in the MAC Championships several weeks later (April 24, 2009), with that match being held at the 'old' Keefe Courts ... the only other BGSU-UT match in MAC Championships play was a 4-0 Falcon victory, in the back draw of the 1999 tourney in Muncie, Ind.

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