Eagles Slip Past Falcons, 4-3

Friday, April 20

Ypsilanti, Mich.

1:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Eastern Michigan

Emily Reuland and Nikki Chiricosta March 24 2012 vs NIU Mike Cihon photo

Emily Reuland (left) & Nikki Chiricosta continued their winning ways Friday, but the Falcons fell to EMU, 4-3

April 20, 2012 | Women's Tennis

Sophs Chiricosta & Reuland continue their success, but EMU picks up the win

By: YPSILANTI, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

For the second-straight Friday, the Bowling Green State University tennis team suffered a narrow 4-3 loss in Mid-American Conference play. This week (April 20), that setback came at the hands of Eastern Michigan University at the Chippewa Racquet Club.

With the win, the Eagles improve to 9-13 overall and 5-2 in MAC action. The Falcons, who lost to Western Michigan by the identical 4-3 score last Friday at Keefe Courts, are now 8-9 overall and 3-4 in the conference.

The loss drops the Falcons into fifth place in the nine-team conference with just one match remaining in the regular season. BGSU faces Toledo on Saturday afternoon (April 21).

Tennis: MAC standings through April 20 matches

A BG win on Saturday would give the Falcons the fifth seed for the league tournament, and would set up a rematch against either EMU or WMU in the quarterfinal round of next week's MAC Championships. A loss to UT could drop the Falcons to as low as the seventh seed for the league tourney.

The Falcons' two sophomores, Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland, continued their recent success. The two teamed up for a doubles win, and each posted a victory in singles play as well. Junior Mary Hill also was a winner during the singles portion of Friday's match.

Though the match was held in Michigan, it was played in 'typical' Bowling Green weather. The doubles play began under warm and windy conditions, before the winds calmed down for a brief period. Then, the wind direction changed, the temperature dropped, and the four-and-a-half-hour match ended just before the skies opened and the rain began to fall.

For the first time in five matches, and for only the second time in this season's seven MAC matches to date, the Falcons did not win the doubles point. Chiricosta and Reuland defeated Miriam Westerink and Nino Mebuke in a tiebreaker at the top flight, but the Eagles captured the other two matches.

At the second doubles flight, EMU's team of Mariya Toncheva and Georgia de'Lisle-Tarr defeated juniors Maddy Eccleston and Katie Grubb, 8-4, while Eastern's third-flight duo of Daphne Friedrichs and Marcela Rivero topped Hill and fellow junior Jade Johnson by an 8-5 outcome.

In singles play, Reuland lost only three total games in her third-flight dismantling of Ankita Bhatia, as the BG soph posted a 6-1, 6-2 win. Hill won a narrow first set, then rode that momentum to a second-set win and a sweep of Friedrichs at the fourth flight.

But, the Eagles picked up a pair of straight-sets wins as well, as Mebuke topped Eccleston at the number-one flight and Rivero downed senior Jessica Easdale in sixth-flight action.

Chiricosta defeated Westerink in three sets at the second flight for the Falcons' third singles win. The final match on the court was at the fifth flight, where Toncheva was able to eke out a 6-4 win over Grubb in the third set.

BGSU, as mentioned, closes the regular season with Saturday's 1:00 p.m. match vs. Toledo at the UT Varsity Tennis Courts. In the event of inclement weather, the match would be moved to a 3:30 p.m. start and would be held at Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Maumee.

The UT match is the final contest before the Falcons head to DeKalb, Ill., for the MAC Championships. All nine teams qualify for the tourney, which begins Thursday (April 26). BGSU's first match will be a quarterfinal-round contest on Friday (April 27), with opponent and starting time to be determined.

EASTERN MICHIGAN 4, BOWLING GREEN 3
Fri., April 20, 2012 - Chippewa Racquet Club - Ypsilanti, Mich.
SINGLES
1 - Nino Mebuke (EMU) def. Maddy Eccleston 6-3, 6-2
2 - Nikki Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Miriam Westerink 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3 - Emily Reuland (BGSU) def. Ankita Bhatia 6-1, 6-2
4 - Mary Hill (BGSU) def. Daphne Friedrichs 7-5, 6-2
5 - Mariya Toncheva (EMU) def. Katie Grubb 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
6 - Marcela Rivero (EMU) def. Jessica Easdale 6-3, 6-4

DOUBLES
1 - Chiricosta/Reuland (BGSU) def. Westerink/Mebuke 9-8 (3)
2 - Toncheva/Georgia de'Lisle-Tarr (EMU) def. Eccleston/Grubb 8-4
3 - Friedrichs/Rivero (EMU) def. Hill/Jade Johnson 8-5

RECORDS
BGSU 8-9, 3-4 MAC
EMU 9-13, 5-2 MAC

UP NEXT
BGSU - at Toledo; Sat., April 21
EMU - vs. Western Michigan; Sat., April 21

FALCON NOTES
* Friday's match marked the third time in as many years that the Falcons and Eastern Michigan have played to a 4-3 final ... last season, BGSU picked up a victory at the Perrysburg Tennis Center (April 15, 2011) ... two years ago in Ypsilanti (April 10, 2010), it was the Eagles earning the home win.

* Five of the last six regular-season matches between BGSU and EMU have ended in 4-3 scores.

* BGSU lost the doubles point for the first time in five matches ... despite the setback, the Falcons have captured the first point of the match six times in the last eight duals and 11 times in this season's 17 contests.

* Sophomore Emily Reuland now has a team-leading 47 wins this year ... her 47-15 record includes a 23-8 singles mark and a 24-7 doubles ledger ... she leads the Falcons in both singles and doubles victories.

* Reuland has won 10 consecutive matches, having picked up victories in both singles and doubles in each of the last five contests.

* Reuland's 47 combined wins moves her into a tie for seventh place on the BGSU single-season list ... she is deadlocked with Meghan Rhodes (1998).

* With 23 singles victories this season, Reuland is now deadlocked for eighth on that BG list ... and, her 24 doubles wins also tie her for eighth in school history on that chart.

* Sophomore Nikki Chiricosta now has 43 total wins this season, with a 21-9 singles record and a 22-9 doubles mark ... she is second on the team in both singles wins and doubles victories.

* Chiricosta now has 96 career wins at BGSU, ranking her 25th on the school list ... with 49 singles wins, she is now 22nd in BG history on that list.

* Chiricosta and Reuland each are 5-2 in singles play in MAC matches ... they are 6-1 as a doubles team in league play.

* Junior Mary Hill picked up her 20th singles win of the season and the 44th of her BGSU career ... Hill, in her second season as a Falcon, has 91 career victories at BG to move into sole possession of 26th on the school career wins list.