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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Northern Illinois
Falcons Ready To Defend MAC Title This Weekend
November 18, 2013 | Volleyball
vs. No. 5 Northern Illinois (18-12, 10-6 MAC) Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
MAC TOURNAMENT WEBSITE / MAC TOURNAMENT BRACKET (.pdf)
MAC TOURNAMENT BEGINS FRIDAY
The Bowling Green volleyball team returns to SPIRE Institute this weekend for the Mid-American Conference Volleyball Tournament. The three-day tournament begins Friday as eight MAC teams vie for the championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Bowling Green is the defending tournament champion and is the No. 4 seed this year. The Falcons will face No. 5 seed Northern Illinois in the quarterfinals Friday at 2 p.m. The winner will play in the semifinals Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and the championship match will take place Sunday at 1 p.m.
FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Bowling Green's volleyball 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. The entire tournament will be webstreamed as well at mac-sports.com. Live stats are available and links can be found at BGSUFalcons.com. Follow along on Twitter via @BGSUVolleyball.
THE TOURNAMENT SEEDING
BGSU finished the regular season tied with Northern Illinois for fourth place in the MAC standings but earned the No. 4 seed by virtue of a three-game sweep over the Huskies earlier this year.
HUSKIE HISTORY
For the third consecutive year, Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will meet in the MAC Tournament. In 2011, top-seeded NIU beat No. 8 seed Bowling Green in three sets in the first round, but the Falcons returned the favor in improbable fashion a year ago. BGSU fought off two match points after dropping the first two sets to defeat Northern Illinois in five sets in the MAC Championship in 2012. These two programs have been intertwined as they squared off to open MAC play this year with the Falcons sweeping Northern Illinois in front of the second-largest crowd to watch a volleyball match in Stroh Center history -- 1,503 fans.
ABOUT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois enters the MAC Tournament with a record of 18-12 overall and the Huskies went 10-6 in MAC play. The team ranks fourth in the league with a .211 attack percentage but has improved to .225 in 16 conference matches. Junior Mackenzie Roddy ranks fifth in the MAC with 3.43 kills per set and sophomore setter Alexis Gonzalez is handing out 9.45 assists per set, seventh-most in the league. Head coach Ray Gooden is 223-163 in 12 seasons leading Northern Illinois with five 20-win seasons.
MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Bowling Green is 19-24 all-time in the MAC Tournament and this is the 11th consecutive year in which the Falcons have competed in the postseason event. A year ago, BGSU won the MAC Tournament for the second time, joining the 1991 team as championships. The Falcons have also advanced to the finals in 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993 and 2006. BGSU has faced Ball State more than any other team in the tournament, meeting the Cardinals nine times (with just one win). Bowling Green has the most wins against Central Michigan (4-0 record) and Western Michigan (4-4 record). The Falcons are just 1-1 all-time against their first round opponent Northern Illinois, playing the Huskies each of the past two seasons.
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 4,407 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 1,549 career kills. She is 160 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 1,991 career digs. She is 296 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 1,363 career kills are sixth all-time, while her 3,330 attack attempts are seventh on the all-time list.
* Laura Avila currently ranks fourth all-time with 3,371 assists. She is 36 assists shy of moving into third place in school history.
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 3.20 kills per set and was named to the preseason all-MAC East team by the league's head coaches prior to the season.
BLOCK PARTY
With 150 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, ranking ninth in program history. Her 140 block assists this year are second-most in a season and just five shy of Lisa Mika's school-record of 145 in 1990.
DUNN DIGS TO NEW CAREER HIGH
Senior Ashley Dunn is making the most of her senior year, as the libero has turned in 14 20-dig matches this season, including each of the last six. She also has recorded at least 20 digs in 12 of the team's 16 conference matches. Dunn broke the 30-dig barrier for the first time in her career, posting 31 in a five-set loss to Ohio. She is tied for seventh in the conference in digs in league matches, averaging 4.99 per set.
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 282 kills and is just outside the top 10 in the MAC with 2.85 per set. She set a new career-high with 22 kills in a win over Miami a few weeks ago and has posted at least 11 kills in nine of the past 11 matches. Sunjic is also third on the team with 59 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 11 matches, she has reached that total seven times, including 17 at Toledo.
300 TIMES FOUR
With 318 kills this year, Paige Penrod became just the second player in program history to record at least 300 for all four years of her career. Only Corey Domek, who ranks fifth in career kills at BGSU, also had four 300-kill seasons.
BATES BUSTS LOOSE
As a sophomore transfer a year ago, Kelsey Bates played in just seven matches, recording only seven kills and four blocks. But as a junior, Bates has become an impact player, recording 108 kills and 62 blocks on the season. Two weeks ago, she had only two double-digit kill matches in her career, but she has done that twice in the last three matches, including a career-high 13 at Buffalo while hitting .367.
TOMIC KEEPS DOMINATING LEAGUE FOES
Head coach Danijela Tomic has guided her teams at FIU and Bowling Green to a combined 108-35 record in league matches. After her first team at FIU went just 5-6, she has posted eight consecutive seasons with at least 10 league wins, including this year's 10-6 mark.
