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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Akron
Falcons Close Regular Season On The Road
November 14, 2013 | Volleyball
at Akron (8-17, 2-12 MAC) Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
at Buffalo (16-11, 4-10 MAC) Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
FALCONS CLOSE REGULAR SEASON ON THE ROAD
The Bowling Green volleyball team will conclude the regular season this weekend with matches at Akron and Buffalo. While BGSU can not win the Mid-American Conference regular season title or the MAC East title, the Falcons could still finish with a seed as high as No. 3 or as low as No. 6, so closing with two wins is important. Bowling Green will also use the matches to continue to build momentum into next week's MAC Tournament.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Both matches this weekend can be heard online, for free, at BGSUFalcons.com, courtesy of BGRSO. Fans can also find links to the audio broadcast at falconradio.org. Live stats and live video are also available and links can be found at BGSUFalcons.com. Follow along on Twitter via @BGSUVolleyball.
SEEDING
BGSU currently sits in a three-way tie for fourth place in the MAC regular season standings and the Falcons could still climb as high as third (Ball State is one-game against of Bowling Green but the Falcons won the regular season match in case a tiebreaker is needed).
ZIPPING TOWARDS AKRON
Despite an 8-17 overall record and 2-12 mark in the conference, Akron showed less than a week ago just how dangerous the team is. The Zips swept the weekend, beating Buffalo and MAC West leader Ball State at home to snap a 12-match MAC losing streak to open conference play. Although Akron ranks last in the conference in almost every statistical category, the Zips are a capable team. Sophomore Kelsey Wilson ranks second in the MAC in service aces and the squad is fourth in the league in that category. Akron is coached by Ron Arenz, who is 68-107 in six years at Akron.
BULL MARKET
Buffalo had one of the best starts in program history this year, opening with 12 consecutive victories but the Bulls have fallen to 16-11 overall and just 4-10 in MAC play. Buffalo, however, is still eyeing a possible MAC Tournament bid and will play playing for the postseason this weekend. Defensively, Buffalo thrives, ranking second in the MAC in blocks and third in opponent hitting percentage. Senior Carissa McKenna is third in the league in blocks and sophomore Amber Hatchett is fifth. Senior libero Kelly Svoboda is among the national leaders in digs, averaging 5.74 per set. Head coach Todd Kress is 71-80 in five seasons at Buffalo.
FIREPOWER
Bowling Green has three players ranked among the top 10 in the MAC in kills with Lindsey Butterfield (seventh at 3.23 per set), Paige Penrod (ninth at 3.00 per set) and Jelena Sunjic (10th at 2.92 per set). No other MAC program has more than one player among the top 10.
SUCCESSFUL SENIOR CLASS CLOSES IN ON MARKS
* The BGSU senior class will go down as one of the greatest classes in program history, lead the 2012 team to the first NCAA Tournament win ever. Several members of the senior class are quickly closing in on career records.
* Paige Penrod currently sits in the top 10 in three different categories. Penrod's 4,327 attack attempts rank first all-time in school history. She surpassed Carlyn Esslinger for first all-time with her 52 attempts at Miami on Sept. 26. Penrod currently sits in second place in school-history with 1,524 career kills. She is 185 short of Tammy Schiller's all-time mark. Finally, Penrod is currently ninth all-time with 114 service aces.
* Ashley Dunn currently sits in second with 1,951 career digs. She is 336 digs shy of Chelsea Meek's all-time record.
Danielle Tonyan has reached the top ten all-time in a pair of statistical categories. Her 1,330 career kills are sixth all-time, while her 3,252 attack attempts are ninth on the all-time list.
* Laura Avila currently ranks fourth all-time with 3,363 assists. She is 44 assists shy of moving into third place in school history.
BLOCK PARTY
With 138 blocks this season, Kaitlyn Skinner ranks among the top 20 in the country. She is also beginning to climb Bowling Green's single-season records charts. Her 129 block assists this year are tied for third in a season and are just 16 from Lisa Mika's school-record of 145 in 1990.
BUTTERFIELD HAS CLASS
Senior Lindsey Butterfield is not only a star on the volleyball court, but one off of it, as well. A nominee for the Senior CLASS Award, Butterfield embodies what it means to be a student-athlete. Butterfield, who was named first team all-MAC last season, holds a 3.824 GPA in biology. Butterfield leads the team with 297 kills and was named to the preseason all-MAC East team by the league's head coaches prior to the season. Butterfield ranks seventh in the MAC, averaging 3.23 kills per set.
DUNN DIGS TO NEW CAREER HIGH
Senior Ashley Dunn is making the most of her senior year, as the libero has turned in 12 20-dig matches this season, including each of the last four. She also has recorded at least 20 digs in 10 of the team's 14 conference matches. Dunn broke the 30-dig barrier for the first time Friday night, posting 31 in a five-set loss to Ohio. She is eighth in the conference in digs in league matches, averaging 5.07 per set.
SCHEDULE BENEFITTING FALCONS
The strength of schedule which Danijela Tomic put her team up against early in the season is paying off, as the Falcons are now battle-tested. The Falcons have played 10 matches against teams inside the RPI's top 50, including wins over No. 24 BYU and No. 45 Ball State. Bowling Green has gone 12-6 in its last 18 matches and has an RPI of 73.
SUNJIC ADJUSTING TO BOWLING GREEN
Freshman Jelena Sunjic, a native of Metkovic, Croatia, has adjusted nicely to the pace of American volleyball during her first season at Bowling Green. She is currently third on the team with 263 kills and has climbed into the top 10 in the MAC with 2.92 per set. Two weekends ago, she set a new career-high with 22 kills in a win over Miami and has posted at least 11 kills in eight of the past nine matches. Sunjic is also third on the team with 58 blocks.
DACHENHAUS DEVELOPING
Through the first 17 matches of the 2013 season, Libby Dachenhaus had recorded 10 or more digs just twice. But over the past nine matches, she has reached that total six times, including 17 at Toledo.
300 TIMES FOUR
Paige Penrod is just seven kills from reaching 300 this season and hitting that mark for all four years of her career. Only one other player in program history, Corey Domek, had four 300-kill seasons in her career.
