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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, January 18
South Bend, IN
4:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Notre Dame
Falcons Begin Dual-Match Schedule at No. 19 Notre Dame Friday
January 17, 2013 | Women's Tennis
BGSU then hosts Duquesne at the PTC on Saturday afternoon
BGSU STATS & RESULTS - PDF
Friday's match vs. the Fighting Irish will begin at 4:00 p.m. inside the Eck Tennis Pavilion. Saturday's Duquesne contest is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
The Falcons are coming off a solid weekend of action at the adidas/IU Winter Invitational in Bloomington, Ind. (Jan. 11-13). The three other teams that joined BGSU in the tourney field featured two nationally-ranked programs -- No. 49 Indiana and No. 52 Missouri -- in the first Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings of the spring.
BGSU had overall records of 4-11 in singles and 12-7 in doubles at IU. After going 1-11 overall in first-day action, primarily against the host Hoosiers, the Brown and Orange bounced back to post seven overall wins on Saturday and eight on Sunday.
The Falcons went 3-4 in singles play on Saturday, and BG competitors posted a 5-2 doubles mark as well. On Sunday, the teams played exclusively doubles, and the Falcons went a combined 7-1.
Those Sunday wins included a victory over a nationally-ranked duo. BGSU senior co-captain Maddy Eccleston and junior Emily Reuland picked up a win over a Missouri team (Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Elisha Gabb) ranked 26th in the nation in the latest ITA doubles listings.
In all, the Falcons posted a perfect 4-0 doubles record against Missouri.
On the weekend, senior Katie Grubb had a team-best 6-1 record, including a 2-0 singles mark and a 4-1 doubles ledger. Junior Nikki Chiricosta was 5-2 over the three days, going a perfect 5-0 in the last two days of the invite, while senior Jade Johnson's 4-3 mark included a 4-0 doubles record after a first-day loss.
Dean utilized no fewer than 11 different doubles combinations at IU.
Heading into this weekend's action, Chiricosta has a team-leading 24-8 record, while Reuland is right behind with a 23-9 mark. Freshman Katie Brozovich has 17 overall wins, while Grubb now has 16 victories.
Chiricosta and Reuland have identical 10-4 singles records this year to date. Reuland is ranked No. 87 in the nation in the ITA singles rankings. She is the only Mid-American Conference player ranked among the top 125.
In doubles, Chiricosta has a 14-4 record, while Reuland is 13-5. Three other Falcons -- Eccleston, Grubb and Johnson -- have 10 doubles wins apiece, and all eight BG players have a winning doubles record with at least seven victories in 2012-13.
On the career charts, Grubb surpassed the 100-win mark during the IU invite. She now has 101 overall victories to rank 28th in school history. Grubb is one of five active Falcons to be ranked on that list.
Eccleston is tied for eighth in BGSU history with 141 overall wins, while Chiricosta (19th, 122), Reuland (22nd, 112) and senior Mary Hill (T-24th, 104) join Grubb in that group.
Eccleston is now third on the school list for doubles wins, with 79 in her career. She is just 10 shy of tying Christine Chiricosta, Nikki's older sister and Eccleston's former doubles partner, for the school record. Christine Chiricosta had 89 doubles wins in her career, and Eccleston was her partner for 44 of those victories.
Chiricosta, Grubb, Hill, Johnson and Reuland all are ranked among the top 25 on the BG career doubles wins list, while Eccleston, Chiricosta, Reuland and Hill can be found among the top 25 performers in singles. Grubb is one win away from joining the top-30 singles players in BG history.
The Falcons went 10-10 in dual-match play a year ago, including a 4-4 MAC regular-season mark. BGSU advanced to the semifinal round of the league championships last April.
Notre Dame, listed in the ITA preseason rankings for the 23rd consecutive season, also will open the dual-match season on Friday. The Fighting Irish went 21-8 last season, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Team Championship.
ND junior Britney Sanders is ranked 58th on the ITA singles list, while Sanders and fellow junior Julie Sabacinski are 20th on the doubles chart. Junior Jennifer Kellner and sophomore Molly O'Koniewski are listed 44th.
Friday's match will be Notre Dame's first intercollegiate competition in two months, since the Western Michigan Super Challenge. The Falcons also participated in that tourney in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Duquesne and the Falcons are also quite familiar with one another. The Dukes' three fall tourneys included a pair at which BGSU also participated. DU came to the BGSU Invitational on Sept. 21-22, and the teams also competed at Toledo's Rocket Invitational the following month (Oct. 12-13). Saturday's match vs. the Falcons will mark Duquesne's dual-match opener.
Last season, Duquesne had a dual-match record of 13-9, and the Dukes advanced to the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Championships before falling to the number-one seed.
The Falcons hold a 6-0 lead over Duquesne in the all-time series between the teams. Last year, BGSU posted a 5-2 victory in Western Pennsylvania in the dual-match opener for the Brown and Orange (Jan. 21, 2012). In the last meeting in Northwest Ohio, the Falcons picked up a 4-3 win at the Perrysburg Tennis Center three seasons ago (March 19, 2010).
BGSU and Notre Dame have not met since the 1988-89 season. The Falcons posted three victories over the Irish during the decade of the 1970s, while UND picked up four wins during the 1980s.
Following this weekend's action, the Falcons will prepare for yet another trip on the Indiana Tollway. This time, BGSU will continue through Indiana en route to Illinois for a pair of matches in the Windy City. BG will face Drake in a neutral-site match on Jan. 26, before meeting Chicago State on Jan. 27.
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