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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, August 26
Annapolis, Mary.
11:00 a.m.
Bowling Green State University
vs
Air Force
Falcons Open Final Season Of Van De Walle Era At Navy
August 20, 2011 | Volleyball
Kristen Dickmann Invitational
Hosted by US Naval Academy
Aug. 26-27/Annapolis, Mary.
Bowling Green vs. Air Force
Aug. 26, 11 a.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Bowling Green at Navy
Aug. 26, 3 p.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Live Stats
Bowling Green vs. St. John's
Aug. 27, 11 a.m.
All-Time Series History: St. John's leads 1-0 (3-1 on 9/19/98)
Bowling Green vs. Iona
Aug. 27, 3 p.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Live Stats
Hosted by US Naval Academy
Aug. 26-27/Annapolis, Mary.
Bowling Green vs. Air Force
Aug. 26, 11 a.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Bowling Green at Navy
Aug. 26, 3 p.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Live Stats
Bowling Green vs. St. John's
Aug. 27, 11 a.m.
All-Time Series History: St. John's leads 1-0 (3-1 on 9/19/98)
Bowling Green vs. Iona
Aug. 27, 3 p.m.
All-Time Series History: First Meeting
Live Stats
Bowling Green opens the 2011 season at the Kristen Dickmann Invitational, hosted by Navy, on Friday and Saturday. The Falcons will play four matches at the event. The 2011 campaign will be the last of head coach Denise Van De Walle's 29 seasons at the helm of the program as she announced in the spring that she would retire following this season. She has a career record of 508-366 entering the year.
THE OPPONENTS
Air Force will be a mysterious team coming into the season under second year head coach Matt McShane. The team went just 4-25 a year ago and returns only two starters but did add 10 newcomers. There are no seniors and only one junior on the roster. Air Force did play one Mid-American Conference school a year ago, dropping a three-set decision to Buffalo. Maiya Perich is the only junior and started 17 matches a year ago, leading the team with 22 aces.
Navy is trying to improve on a 2010 season that saw the Midshipmen go 7-23. Navy also faced MAC opponent Buffalo a year ago, dropping a four-set match to the Bulls. This is yet another team with a lot of mystery around it under first-year head coach Larry Bock, although he has an amazing career record of 1252-192 while building a powerhouse at NCAA Division III Juaniata. With four seniors and four juniors on the squad, along with three returning starters plus the libero, Navy is a much more experienced squad than Air Force.
St. John's went 18-13 a year ago, which included a four-set loss in the team's lone match against a MAC school when the team was defeated by Buffalo. The team was picked to finish 10th out of 15 schools in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll and 6-foot-2 senior middle hitter Darlene Ramdin was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team. Ramdin was second team All-BIG EAST a year ago and led the team in kills, hitting percentage and blocks. The Red Storm return five starters from a year ago.
Iona is another team with a first-year head coach as Jon Killingbeck has taken over the Gaels program. A year ago, Iona went 20-11, including 12-6 in the MAAC but the team lost its only MAC contest, a three-set defeat to Eastern Michigan. The program does have a solid base to work with as returners Theresa Harvey and Alicja Pawelec both had over 300 kills a year ago. However, those are the only two regular starters who return from last year's team.
THE DYNAMIC DUO
Bowling Green returns one of the most talented attacking duos in the Mid-American Conference in sophomores Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan. The pair became the first teammates in program history to both record at least 300 kills in a season as freshmen and Penrod was named Preseason All-MAC East Division. Penrod had 405 kills a year ago and Tonyan finished with 301.
SETTING THEM UP
While Penrod and Tonyan are primed to have big sophomore seasons, they need some help to produce at the same rate they did a year ago. Sophomore setter Laura Avila could be just what those two need. She led the team with 796 assists a year ago, including 54 in a three-set loss to Western Michigan, the most by a BGSU player in a three-set match in the rally scoring era of college volleyball.
DIGGING DUNN
A year ago, libero Ashley Dunn posted the fourth-highest single-season dig total in program history for a freshman with 457. That total was the eighth-best total in program history and her 4.27 digs per set was the fifth-best average in school history and second-best among freshmen.
PENROD NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAC
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Penrod was picked as a Preseason All-MAC East Division player by vote of the league coaches. Penrod joined Akron's Tina Dimitrijevs, Buffalo's Abby Niekamp, Miami's Cassie Farrell, and Ohio's Katie Post and Lexie Hartnett on the team.
FIVE-SET SPECIALISTS
In recent history, Bowling Green has thrived in five-set matches, posting a .500 record or better in such contests every year since 2005. Overall, the team is 26-10 in such matches since 2005 and, even more impressively, 22-6 in the past four years.
Bowling Green's Record In Five-Set Matches Since 2005
2010: 2-2
2009: 6-2
2008: 9-1
2007: 5-1
2006: 2-2
2005: 2-2
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Three active players have recorded at least one double-double in their career (posting at least 10 kills, digs, assists, blocks, or aces in a match in two of those categories). Paige Penrod enters the season with a team-high 10 double-doubles, followed by Laura Avila with five and Ashley Dunn with one.
20 KILLS OR 20 DIGS
Paige Penrod enters the season with three career matches with at least 20 kills (and a career-high 25 against Buffalo on Oct. 29, 2010), while Danielle Tonyan has added one career 20-kill match (23 vs. Western Michigan on Oct. 2, 2010). Ashley Dunn posted seven 20-dig matches a year ago with a career-best 26 in matches against St. Francis (Sept. 17, 2010) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 16, 2010).
VAN DE WALLE GOING OUT ON TOP
Last spring, Bowling Green head coach Denise Van De Walle announced that the 2011 season would be her last before she retires. Entering the year, she has a career record of 508-365 and has been named MAC Coach of the Year four times. The Falcons have posted a record of 237-202 in conference action over the course of her career.
FALCONS PICKED FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the preseason poll by vote of the league's coaches. Ohio was selected to win the East, followed by Miami, Akron, Buffalo, BGSU, and Kent State. In the West, Northern Illinois was picked to win, followed by Ball State, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Toledo.
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Senior defensive specialist Madison Nitta represented the United States on the US Deaf Volleyball Team during the past summer. Nitta, who has profound hearing loss, was a key player as the United States won the 2011 Friendship Games in Washington, D.C. The USA defeated the Ukraine twice along the way to the championship, the first time in more than six years that the Ukraine had been defeated in international play.
THE NEW HOME
The volleyball and basketball teams will move into the Stroh Center this year, a brand new arena on the campus of BGSU. The Falcon volleyball team will host the first athletic event in the facility, playing Michigan State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9. 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.
HITTING THE BOOKS
Bowling Green has always stressed academics and Falcon volleyball has been a model of that philosophy. The 2010 BGSU volleyball team received the AVCA Academic Team Award for the 11th 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 12 times overall.
THE OPPONENTS
Air Force will be a mysterious team coming into the season under second year head coach Matt McShane. The team went just 4-25 a year ago and returns only two starters but did add 10 newcomers. There are no seniors and only one junior on the roster. Air Force did play one Mid-American Conference school a year ago, dropping a three-set decision to Buffalo. Maiya Perich is the only junior and started 17 matches a year ago, leading the team with 22 aces.
Navy is trying to improve on a 2010 season that saw the Midshipmen go 7-23. Navy also faced MAC opponent Buffalo a year ago, dropping a four-set match to the Bulls. This is yet another team with a lot of mystery around it under first-year head coach Larry Bock, although he has an amazing career record of 1252-192 while building a powerhouse at NCAA Division III Juaniata. With four seniors and four juniors on the squad, along with three returning starters plus the libero, Navy is a much more experienced squad than Air Force.
St. John's went 18-13 a year ago, which included a four-set loss in the team's lone match against a MAC school when the team was defeated by Buffalo. The team was picked to finish 10th out of 15 schools in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll and 6-foot-2 senior middle hitter Darlene Ramdin was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST team. Ramdin was second team All-BIG EAST a year ago and led the team in kills, hitting percentage and blocks. The Red Storm return five starters from a year ago.
Iona is another team with a first-year head coach as Jon Killingbeck has taken over the Gaels program. A year ago, Iona went 20-11, including 12-6 in the MAAC but the team lost its only MAC contest, a three-set defeat to Eastern Michigan. The program does have a solid base to work with as returners Theresa Harvey and Alicja Pawelec both had over 300 kills a year ago. However, those are the only two regular starters who return from last year's team.
THE DYNAMIC DUO
Bowling Green returns one of the most talented attacking duos in the Mid-American Conference in sophomores Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan. The pair became the first teammates in program history to both record at least 300 kills in a season as freshmen and Penrod was named Preseason All-MAC East Division. Penrod had 405 kills a year ago and Tonyan finished with 301.
SETTING THEM UP
While Penrod and Tonyan are primed to have big sophomore seasons, they need some help to produce at the same rate they did a year ago. Sophomore setter Laura Avila could be just what those two need. She led the team with 796 assists a year ago, including 54 in a three-set loss to Western Michigan, the most by a BGSU player in a three-set match in the rally scoring era of college volleyball.
DIGGING DUNN
A year ago, libero Ashley Dunn posted the fourth-highest single-season dig total in program history for a freshman with 457. That total was the eighth-best total in program history and her 4.27 digs per set was the fifth-best average in school history and second-best among freshmen.
PENROD NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAC
Sophomore outside hitter Paige Penrod was picked as a Preseason All-MAC East Division player by vote of the league coaches. Penrod joined Akron's Tina Dimitrijevs, Buffalo's Abby Niekamp, Miami's Cassie Farrell, and Ohio's Katie Post and Lexie Hartnett on the team.
FIVE-SET SPECIALISTS
In recent history, Bowling Green has thrived in five-set matches, posting a .500 record or better in such contests every year since 2005. Overall, the team is 26-10 in such matches since 2005 and, even more impressively, 22-6 in the past four years.
Bowling Green's Record In Five-Set Matches Since 2005
2010: 2-2
2009: 6-2
2008: 9-1
2007: 5-1
2006: 2-2
2005: 2-2
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Three active players have recorded at least one double-double in their career (posting at least 10 kills, digs, assists, blocks, or aces in a match in two of those categories). Paige Penrod enters the season with a team-high 10 double-doubles, followed by Laura Avila with five and Ashley Dunn with one.
20 KILLS OR 20 DIGS
Paige Penrod enters the season with three career matches with at least 20 kills (and a career-high 25 against Buffalo on Oct. 29, 2010), while Danielle Tonyan has added one career 20-kill match (23 vs. Western Michigan on Oct. 2, 2010). Ashley Dunn posted seven 20-dig matches a year ago with a career-best 26 in matches against St. Francis (Sept. 17, 2010) and Eastern Michigan (Oct. 16, 2010).
VAN DE WALLE GOING OUT ON TOP
Last spring, Bowling Green head coach Denise Van De Walle announced that the 2011 season would be her last before she retires. Entering the year, she has a career record of 508-365 and has been named MAC Coach of the Year four times. The Falcons have posted a record of 237-202 in conference action over the course of her career.
FALCONS PICKED FIFTH
Bowling Green was picked to finish fifth in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the preseason poll by vote of the league's coaches. Ohio was selected to win the East, followed by Miami, Akron, Buffalo, BGSU, and Kent State. In the West, Northern Illinois was picked to win, followed by Ball State, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Toledo.
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Senior defensive specialist Madison Nitta represented the United States on the US Deaf Volleyball Team during the past summer. Nitta, who has profound hearing loss, was a key player as the United States won the 2011 Friendship Games in Washington, D.C. The USA defeated the Ukraine twice along the way to the championship, the first time in more than six years that the Ukraine had been defeated in international play.
THE NEW HOME
The volleyball and basketball teams will move into the Stroh Center this year, a brand new arena on the campus of BGSU. The Falcon volleyball team will host the first athletic event in the facility, playing Michigan State at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9. 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.
HITTING THE BOOKS
Bowling Green has always stressed academics and Falcon volleyball has been a model of that philosophy. The 2010 BGSU volleyball team received the AVCA Academic Team Award for the 11th 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 12 times overall.
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