Falcons Finally Home For MAC Opener This Weekend

BGSU vs. Ohio
Friday, Sept. 21, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Stroh Center/Bowling Green, Ohio
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com
Live Video: America One
Live Audio: BGRSO

BGSU vs. Kent State
Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012; 7:00 p.m.
Stroh Center/Bowling Green, Ohio
Live Stats: BGSUFalcons.com
Live Video: America One
Live Audio: BGRSO
Television: BCSN

2012 MAC STANDINGS
EAST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Akron	0-0	7-5
Buffalo	0-0	6-6
Ohio	0-0	5-7
Miami	0-0	5-8
Bowling Green	0-0	4-7
Kent State	0-0	3-9
WEST TEAMS	MAC	OVERALL
Eastern Michigan	0-0	10-6
Western Michigan	0-0	7-5
Northern Illinois	0-0	9-7
Central Michigan	0-0	6-5
Ball State	0-0	7-6
Toledo	0-0	6-6

Bowling Green opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend as well as playing its first home games of the year as the Falcons host defending MAC East champion Ohio Friday night at 7 p.m. and Kent State Saturday night at 7 p.m. Friday night's match will serve as Alumni Night and the team will recognize the 1992 team.

LINKS, LINKS, LINKS
Here's a list of links that fans may find interesting heading into the weekend's matches:
* BGSU volleyball players single-match season and career highs (.pdf)
* Mid-American Conference statistical leaders
* Paige Penrod Named MAC Player of the Week
* Ohio Preview (not yet available)
* Kent State Preview (not yet available)

ABOUT OHIO
Playing a brutal schedule that has included four top 20 teams, Ohio is 5-7 on the year and enters the weekend on a two-match losing streak. The Bobcats' 2.68 blocks per set are easily the best in the MAC, ranking 30th in the country, and Serena Warner is among the best in the conference at 1.29 per set. Kelly Lamberti is one of the top hitters in the conference, averaging 3.83 kills per set and she is also among the top servers in the league at 0.40 aces. Head Coach Ryan Theis is 101-45 in his fourth season at Ohio, including a 51-13 MAC record.

ABOUT KENT STATE
Kent State went 3-9 in pre-conference play and has lost four in a row heading into this weekend's play. Seven of the nine Golden Flashes' losses have been in straight sets. Kent State does have two players averaging more than 3.00 kills per set in 5-foot-9 sophomore outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola and 6-foot-1 freshman outside hitter Kelly Hutchison. The Golden Flashes have struggled as a team defensively, averaging a MAC-worst 11.71 digs per set, ranking 311th out of 328 teams nationally. Head Coach Don Gromala is in his first year leading Kent State after spending the previous four years as an assistant coach at Ohio State.

FOLLOWING THE FALCONS
If you can't be at the home games this weekend, there are a variety of ways to follow the action. Live stats will be available for both matches, along with live video webstream and live audio. Links for all are available on BGSUFalcons.com. Saturday's match against Kent State will be televised locally on BCSN. Check local listings for broadcast schedule or view www.bcsn.tv. As well, fans can keep up with the action on Twitter by following @BGAthletics and @jknavel.

TURN THE DIAL
The Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) will provide a radio broadcast of all BGSU volleyball home matches this season, which will also be available on the web via live streaming. Follow links at BGSUFalcons.com to listen on the web.

ON THE TUBE
BGSU's intersquad scrimmage was televised via tape-delay by the Buckeye Cable Sports Network (BCSN), broadcasting to the greater Toledo area. BCSN will also televise the Falcons' Sept. 22 match against Kent State. More information about BCSN is available online at www.bcsn.tv.

NEW COACHING STAFF
For the first time in 30 years, the BGSU volleyball team has a new head coach. Three-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Danijela Tomic takes over leadership of the program after 29-year head coach Denise Van De Walle retired following the 2011 season. Tomic spent seven years as the head coach at FIU, racking up a career record of 158-61. Assistant coaches Tucker Short and Jessica Hohl are also new to the program, as is Coordinator of Operations Lindsay Laurent.

HITTING ON ALL CYLINDERS
Junior outside hitter Paige Penrod and junior setter Laura Avila have been playing at an extraordinary level lately. Penrod is averaging 5.25 kills per set over the past four matches, posting at least 14 kills in each of those contests. During the same stretch, Avila is averaging 12.1 assists per set and has had at least 50 three times. Prior to these past four matches, Avila had only handed out 50 assists in a match one time in her career.

PENROD NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
With those strong numbers lately, Paige Penrod was honored by the MAC as the East Division Offensive Player of the Week last week. She averaged 4.91 kills and 5.41 points per set as well as posting 2.55 digs and six blocks, while posting a perfect serve receive percentage in 58 attempts. It is the third time Penrod earned MAC Player of the Week honors in her career.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Four different BGSU players earned all-tournament honors at one of the four pre-conference tournament this year. Paige Penrod earned the honor twice (making five in her career), being named to the team at the two most recent tournaments, the Purdue Active Ankle Challenge and the BYU Nike Invitational. Laura Avila was also named all-tournament at the Purdue Active Ankle Challenge (the second of her career), while Kaitlyn Skinner earned her first career all-tournament honor at the Indiana Invitational. Danielle Tonyan opened the year by being named to the Marquette Challenge All-Tournament team, the third all-tournament honor she has earned in her three years at BGSU.

BEST IN THE MAC
Junior Paige Penrod leads the MAC in two of the six statistical categories the league tracks. Her 4.12 kills per set make her the only player in the league to be averaging more than 4.00. She also leads the conference with 0.44 aces per set, just ahead of Ohio's Kelly Lamberti, who is at 0.40.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
In the team's first three matches, BGSU had 28 fewer digs than its opponents, but the Falcons have worked hard to improve in that area and it has paid off. The Falcons have outdug six of their eight opponents since that time, posting a total of 29 more than their opponents.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
A year ago, Bowling Green opened the year by winning 12 consecutive matches but accomplished that against a relatively weak schedule. This year, the Falcons beefed up the schedule and the strength of the opponents has shown early. Bowling Green's 11 opponents thus far are a combined 92-43 and the seven teams the Falcons have lost to are 67-16. Two teams, Northwestern and BYU, remain undefeated, while both BYU and Purdue are ranked in the top 15 in the country.

STACKING UP THE MAC
The list below shows where BGSU ranks as a team and individuals among the MAC leaders in various statistical categories. Team or individual stats that rank first in the MAC are bolded and italicized:

TEAM STATS (Rank out of 12 MAC team)
Hitting Percentage – 7. BGSU .194
Opponent Hitting Percentage – 12. BGSU .238
Assists – 5. BGSU 12.02
Kills – 5. BGSU 13.29
Blocks – 4. BGSU 1.93
Service Aces – 3. BGSU 1.27
Digs – 9. BGSU 13.98

INDIVIDUAL STATS (Top 10 rankings)
Hitting Percentage – 4. Leah Shaw .323
Kills – 1. Paige Penrod 4.12; 6. Danielle Tonyan 3.41
Assists – 5. Laura Avila 10.32
Service Aces – 1. Paige Penrod 0.44

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Much like the MAC leaders, Paige Penrod ranks among the top 50 in the country in three statistical categories – kills, points, and aces. Listed below is how BG ranks nationally as a team and individually.

TEAM STATS (Rank out of 328 NCAA Division I teams)
Service Aces – 152. Bowling Green 1.27
Assists – 120. Bowling Green 12.02
Blocks – 176. Bowling Green 1.93
Digs – 210. Bowling Green 13.98
Hitting Percentage – 164. Bowling Green .194
Kills – 95. Bowling Green 13.29

INDIVIDUAL STATS (Top 250 Nationally)
Aces – 45. Paige Penrod 0.44
Assists – 72. Laura Avila 10.32
Digs – 239. Ashley Dunn 3.59
Hitting Percentage – 156. Leah Shaw .323
Kills – 39. Paige Penrod 4.12; 163. Danielle Tonyan 3.41
Points – 35. Paige Penrod 4.80; 173. Danielle Tonyan 3.88

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
In her first two seasons at Bowling Green, Kaitlyn Skinner posted just seven career blocks. But in just the first eight matches of 2012, the junior middle has 31 blocks, averaging a team-best 0.91 per set. Skinner has recorded at least two blocks in nine of the 11 matches this year and has twice posted at least six. She had a career-best seven against Northwestern during the opening weekend of the season.

DUNN IS DIGGING IT
Ashley Dunn has already put her name in the BGSU record book a couple of times. As a freshman, she posted 457 digs, eighth most in program history. She followed that up with 450 a year ago, tenth most. She went over 1,000 career digs earlier this year and needs only 70 more to tie Jo Lynn Williamson for the top 10 in a career at BGSU.

PENROD PACES
While it is still early in the season, Paige Penrod has an opportunity to break into the top 10 in a single-season in a handful of statistical categories. She is on pace for 46 service aces, which would be tied for ninth-most all-time at Bowling Green, and her 0.44 aces per set would also be ninth. Her 4.12 kills per set would rank 10th all-time and her 1,252 attack attempts would-be fifth-most in a single season at BGSU.

CHARTING THEIR CAREERS
Junior setter Laura Avila moved into 10th place in career assists at BGSU this past weekend. She needs 627 more to tie Wendy Watkins (1994-97) for ninth place on the leaderboard. Paige Penrod is on pace to move into the top 10 in two career statistical categories by the end of her junior year. She needs 447 more attack attempts to tie Kendra Halm for tenth place and 22 more aces to tie Wendy Watkins for tenth. Ashley Dunn is 70 digs away from Jo Lynn Williamson to move into the top 10 all-time at BGSU.

THE DYNAMIC DUO
Bowling Green has one of the most talented attacking duos in the Mid-American Conference in juniors Paige Penrod and Danielle Tonyan. The pair is the only set of teammates in the MAC to both rank in the top 10 in the league in kills (Penrod is first and Tonyan is sixth) and they were the only set of teammates to do that a year ago as well. Both have recorded more than 300 kills in each of their first two years and are on pace to reach that total again this year. Only one player in program history, Corey Domek, reached 300 kills in all four years of a career.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Five 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 has a team-high 21 career double-doubles after posting five so far this year. Laura Avila follows with 15 (also five this year) and Erica Fullenkamp has five. Danielle Tonyan has both of her career double-doubles this year and Ashley Dunn has one.

Double-Doubles In 2012
8/24/12 at Marquette – Danielle Tonyan 12 kills, 10 digs
8/25/12 vs. Northwestern – Danielle Tonyan 19 kills, 10 digs
8/25/12 vs. Northwestern – Paige Penrod 13 kills, 11 digs
9/1/12 at Indiana – Paige Penrod 26 kills, 10 digs
9/1/12 at Indiana – Laura Avila 44 assists, 10 digs
9/7/12 vs. Portland State – Laura Avila 49 assists, 11 digs
9/8/12 at BYU – Paige Penrod 11 kills, 13 digs
9/8/12 vs. Utah – Paige Penrod 30 kills, 19 digs
9/8/12 vs. Utah – Laura Avila 64 assists, 14 digs
9/14/12 vs. UAB – Paige Penrod 19 kills, 12 digs
9/14/12 vs. UAB – Laura Avila 60 assists, 10 digs
9/14/12 vs. Jacksonville State – Laura Avila 50 assists, 15 digs

20 KILLS OR 20 DIGS
Danielle Tonyan and Paige Penrod have each recorded 20 kills in a match eight times in their career. Against Jacksonville State, Tonyan and Penrod both recorded 20 kills, marking the third time in their careers that they have done it in the same match. Penrod has reached 20 or more kills three times this year. Those eight career 20-kill matches, Tonyan and Penrod have the most since Corey Domek had nine from 2006-09. Ashley Dunn posted seven 20-dig matches as a freshman, three more as a sophomore, and has two more this year for a career total of 12. Her career total is the most since Chelsey Meek had 44 career matches with at least 20 digs from 2005-08. Cassie Berning posted the first 20-dig match of her career against UAB this weekend.

20-Dig Matches In 2012
8/25/12 vs. Northwestern – Ashley Dunn 23 digs
9/1/12 at Indiana – Ashley Dunn 20 digs
9/14/12 vs. UAB – Cassie Berning 22 digs

20-Kill Matches In 2012
9/1/12 at Indiana – Paige Penrod 26 kills
9/8/12 vs. Utah – Paige Penrod 30 kills
9/14/12 vs. Jacksonville State – Paige Penrod 21 kills
9/14/12 vs. Jacksonville State – Danielle Tonyan 20 kills

PRESEASON PICKS
BGSU was picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference East Division, by vote of the league's 12 head coaches in the MAC Preseason Poll. The Falcons trailed just Ohio and Miami in the poll, and ranked ahead of Buffalo, Kent State, and Akron. Western Michigan was picked to win the West and the Broncos were also selected as the overall regular season champions and the tournament champions.

TONYAN NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAC
Junior right side hitter Danielle Tonyan was named East Division Preseason All-MAC, in voting by the league's 12 head coaches. Tonyan is coming off of a sophomore year in which she was named first team All-MAC and ranked third in the league in kills. She finished the year among the top 100 nationally in both kills and points. She joined Ohio's Chelsea Bilger, Lexie Hartnett and Kelly Lamberti, Buffalo's Liz Scott and Miami's Madison Hardy on the team. The West Division Preseason All-MAC team consisted of Western Michigan's Jessica Brown and Terin Norris, Ball State's Kara Bates, Central Michigan's Kaitlyn McIntyre, Eastern Michigan's Rachel Iaquaniello, and Northern Illinois' Mary Kurisch.

OLD SCHOOL
For the past few years, we've talked about how young the BGSU volleyball team is, but that's not the case anymore. Eleven of the 13 team members are either juniors or seniors (four seniors and seven juniors). That total is more than any other in the Mid-American Conference. Akron, Ball State, and Northern Illinois all have nine juniors and seniors. On the other end of the spectrum, Kent State has just three and Western Michigan has four.

TRANSFER OF POWER
The lone newcomer on the BGSU volleyball team is sophomore transfer Kelsey Bates. Bates, who hails from Willshire, Ohio, spent her freshman season at Syracuse before returning to her home state for this season.

MOST IMPROVED
With an 11-win increase over a year ago, Bowling Green was easily the most improved team in the Mid-American Conference a year ago. The Falcons improved from 8-24 in 2010 to 19-12 in 2011. The second most improved team in the conference was Central Michigan, which had a five-win increase.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
The Stroh Center has proven to be a strong home court advantage for all three BGSU athletic teams that compete in the arena. For volleyball, BGSU stunned Michigan State a year ago in the arena in four sets behind a record crowd of 2,961. In fact, that was the largest crowd any MAC team played in front of a year ago, home or away.

MAC ATTACK
Danielle Tonyan was named first team All-MAC as a sophomore in 2011, becoming the first player to earn that honor since Shari Luther in 2009. Kendra Halm, in 2006, was the last BGSU sophomore to be named first-team All-MAC and she went on to earn first team honors again as both a junior and senior.

HITTING THE BOOKS
Bowling Green has always stressed academics and Falcon volleyball has been a model of that philosophy. The 2011 BGSU volleyball team received the AVCA Academic Team Award for the 12th 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 13 times overall. Two BGSU players, Laura Avila and Kari Galen, were named Academic All-MAC a year ago, while Lindsey Butterfield, Libby Dachenhaus, Ashley Dunn, and the graduated Emily Kauth were named honorable mention.

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