Falcons Prepare for Vegas Trip

The Bowling Green State University tennis team, after several weeks away from intercollegiate competition, will head to Las Vegas, Nev., for a pair of dual matches. The Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will face the University of Houston on Sunday, March 18, before meeting the University of Kansas the following day (March 19).

BGSU STATS & MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS

The Falcons are 4-3 on the season, including a 3-1 record away from home. BGSU's most recent action was a 5-2 win at Cleveland State on Feb. 25. In that dual, the Falcons captured the doubles point with wins at the top-two flights, and BGSU won at each of the top-three singles flights, as well as at flight number six.

Sophomores Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland and junior co-captain Maddy Eccleston each went 2-0 against the Vikings. Chiricosta teamed with junior Mary Hill for a doubles win, then posted a straight-sets victory at the top singles flight.

Eccleston teamed up with Reuland for a win at the number-one doubles flight, then lost a total of just two games in her second-flight singles win. Reuland was victorious at the third flight against the Vikings, for her seventh singles win in her last eight matches.

Jessica Easdale, the Falcons' lone senior and a co-captain along with Eccleston, won in the minimum two sets at the sixth singles flight at CSU.

Reuland paces the Falcons with 17 singles wins and 32 overall victories this season. She has won over 80 percent of her singles matches and more than 76% of her overall contests in 2011-12.

Eccleston has 16 singles wins and Chiricosta 15. Hill has won 14 singles matches, while junior Katie Grubb has 11 singles victories this year to date.

Overall, Eccleston has won 30 matches, with Chiricosta (29 overall wins) and Hill (28) close behind. Grubb has a total of 23 wins this year, while fellow junior Jade Johnson has 19.

All seven Falcons have winning records in both singles and doubles. Six of the seven student-athletes have won more than 65% of their overall matches this season. As a team, BGSU is 90-40 in singles (69.2%) and 43-21 in doubles (67.2%).

Houston has an overall record of 5-3 in dual matches this season to date, but the Cougars have a number of matches on the schedule before facing the Falcons. UH has two home contests – vs. Iowa State (March 12) and Marquette (March 14) – before heading to Vegas. Then, the Cougars face Idaho (March 16) and Kansas (March 17) before meeting BGSU.

Houston had a five-match winning streak snapped with a 5-2 setback against Tulane in the team's last dual match (Feb. 25). Head coach John Severance's club posted a 16-8 overall record last year, for the program's ninth-straight winning season.

Kansas is 7-4 this season, after suffering two home losses last week. The Jayhawks lost to No. 40 Oklahoma, 5-2, on Friday (March 9), before falling to 56th-ranked Oklahoma State by a 6-1 count on Sunday (March 11). After arriving in Vegas, KU will face Houston (March 17) and Idaho (March 18) before meeting the Falcons.

The Jayhawks won the first seven dual matches of the season before dropping the last four, including a pair in Tulsa, Okla. KU lost to North Texas (March 3) and host Tulsa (March 4) on that trip, before facing OU and OSU last week. A year ago, the Jayhawks of head coach Amy Hall-Holt had a 9-13 record in duals.

BGSU has never met either Houston or Kansas in tennis.

Following the Kansas match, the Falcons will return to the Midwest to begin a three-match homestand. That homestand also coincides with the start of Mid-American Conference action, as the Brown and Orange will host Northern Illinois on March 24. BGSU then faces Buffalo (March 30) and Akron (March 31) at Keefe Courts.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Bowling Green State University Athletics

Falcons Prepare for Vegas Trip

Next Event

Related Videos