Dean, Falcons Announce 2011-12 Schedule

Bowling Green State University head tennis coach Penny Dean has announced her team's schedule for the 2011-12 season. The Falcons of Dean and assistant coach Cindy Yonker will participate in five fall tournaments from September through early November, then will dive into dual-match play in January of 2012.

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"We are excited about our schedule for the upcoming season," said Dean, who enters her 22nd year at the Falcon helm. "We feel this is the strongest schedule we have had in a while.

"We will face some strong tennis programs in Houston and Kansas during our trip to Las Vegas, and we again face some perennial regional powers in Michigan State and UIC, along with an outstanding Louisville program."

The season will begin with the Falcons hosting the BGSU Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16-17. The event will take place at BGSU's Keefe Courts, located on the north side of Stadium Drive, between Warren Steller (baseball) Field and Meserve (softball) Field. A total of eight teams from throughout the region, including the Falcons, are scheduled to participate.

"We always enjoy opening the season by hosting the BGSU Invitational, and we have several other solid tournaments around the Midwest to test us this fall and get us ready for the spring schedule," said Dean. "And, we know there will be no easy matches when we get into conference play in March."

BGSU's other fall tournaments are the Fall MAC Tournament, the Rocket Invitational, the ITA Midwest Regional and the Spartan Invite. The Fall MAC Tournament will be held in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, while the Rocket Invite, hosted by Toledo, is two weekends later (Oct. 14-15).

The ITA Midwest Regional, which runs from Oct. 20-25, is in Columbus this year, while Michigan State will host the Spartan Invite from Nov. 4-6.

When the team resumes play in the spring, the Falcons are scheduled to play a total of eight home duals, including four at the Perrysburg Tennis Center and four at Keefe Courts. All four of BGSU's spring non-conference home action is scheduled to be held at the PTC, while the Falcons' four MAC home matches will be played at Keefe, weather permitting.

The spring schedule begins, however, with trips to Duquesne (Jan. 21) and Cincinnati (Jan. 27), before the Brown and Orange return to Northwest Ohio for three-straight matches. Youngstown State (Jan. 29), Chicago State (Feb. 4) and UIC (Feb. 5) all will come to the PTC during that stretch.

After the season's second trip to East Lansing for a dual match vs. Michigan State (Feb. 10), the Falcons host Louisville on Saturday, Feb. 18. BGSU then heads to Cleveland State (Feb. 25), and follows that up with a trip to Las Vegas several weeks later. While in Vegas, the Falcons will play Houston (March 18) and Kansas (March 19) in the final two non-conference dual matches.

The conference schedule begins with three home matches, before the Falcons end the regular season with four of the last five matches away from home. The Brown and Orange will host Northern Illinois (March 24), Buffalo (March 30), Akron (March 31) and Western Michigan (April 13), while hitting the road to face Miami (April 6), Ball State (April 7), Eastern Michigan (April 20) and Toledo (April 21).

The MAC Championships will be held from April 26-29 in DeKalb, Ill.

The Falcons concluded the 2010-11 season with 15 wins, just one shy of matching the school record, and finished three spots higher than predicted in the MAC standings. BGSU finished the campaign with a dual-match record of 15-8 and a MAC ledger of 5-3. The Falcons, picked to place seventh in the MAC in the preseason coaches poll, actually finished fourth before advancing to the semifinal round of the MAC Championships.

"With our veteran group, we are looking forward to getting the season started and looking to get better every day as the season rolls along," said Dean.

Seven of the eight players on the 2010-11 roster return in '11-12. That list includes senior Jessica Easdale, juniors Maddy Eccleston, Katie Grubb, Mary Hill and Jade Johnson, and sophomores Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland.

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