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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Ohio (Parents Night)
Falcons Close Home Slate This Weekend
November 05, 2013 | Volleyball
vs. Ohio (20-4, 10-2 MAC) Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
vs. Kent State (12-13, 6-6 MAC) Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
BGSU Volleyball will be holding Parents Night Friday against Ohio and Senior Night Saturday against Kent State. Senior Night recognition will take place following the match and all fans are encouraged to remain through the conclusion of the match for the festivities.
FALCONS HOST OHIO/KENT STATE IN FINAL HOME WEEKEND
The Bowling Green volleyball team will play its final home matches of the season this weekend, hosting Mid-American Conference leader Ohio Friday night and then hosting Kent State Saturday for Senior Night. The Falcons sit in second place in the East Division, two games behind Ohio. If the MAC Tournament were to start today, Bowling Green would be the No. 4 seed and would face No. 5 seed Northern Illinois in the opening round as a rematch of the 2012 MAC Championship.
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.
FALCONS LOOKING TO KEEP PACE AT THE TOP
With a league record of 8-4, Bowling Green currently sits all alone in fourth place in the MAC standings, needing just one win or one loss from both Buffalo and Eastern Michigan to clinch a bid to the MAC Tournament. Ohio and Ball State sit two games ahead of the Falcons in the league standings and Toledo is in third at 9-3. Both Northern Illinois and Western Michigan are a game behind the Falcons, tied for fifth.
A LOOK AT OHIO
Ohio was ranked as high as No. 18 in the country when the Bobcats opened the season 16-2, but losses to Kent State and Ball State dropped them out of the top 25. Despite that, Ohio is still tied for first in the MAC standings at 10-2 after winning the MAC regular season crown a year ago. The Bobcats lead the MAC in hitting percentage and blocks, ranking in the top four in the conference in every team statistical category. Ohio, in fact, ranks 12th in the country in blocks and Alexis Pinson is 19th individually. Head coach Ryan Theis is in his sixth season as the head coach at Ohio with a 137-52 record. The Bobcats have won the MAC East in every season Theis has coached.
FLASHY KENT STATE
At one point, Kent State was just 1-6 on the season but the Golden Flashes have rebounded to get to 12-13 overall, including a mark of 6-6 in the MAC. Kent State has proven to be one of the most improved teams in the league after going 6-22 a year ago and 3-13 in the league. Aleksandra Nowak ranks fifth in the league with 9.84 assists per set but the Golden Flashes rank no higher than ninth in the league in any statistical category. Head coach Don Gromala enters his second season leading the Kent State program, showing the promise he held when he was hired after the 2011 season.
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 3.14 per set) and Jelena Sunjic (10th at 2.85 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 4,307 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 1,519 career kills. She is 190 short of Tammy Schiller's all-time mark. Finally, Penrod is currently ninth all-time with 111 service aces.
* Ashley Dunn currently sits in second with 1,900 career digs. She is 387 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 1,299 career kills are tied for sixth all-time, while her 3,175 attack attempts are also tenth on the all-time list.
* Laura Avila currently ranks fourth all-time with 3,271 assists. She is 136 assists shy of moving into third place in school history.
BLOCK PARTY
With 129 blocks this season, Kaitlyn Skinner ranks among the top 15 in the country. She is also beginning to climb Bowling Green's single-season records charts. Her 120 block assists this year rank 10th in a season and she is just 25 block assists 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 is currently second on the team in kills with 268, 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.
FULLENKAMP FINDING HER STRIDE
Erica Fullenkamp, a junior setter from Minster, Ohio, hit her stride since MAC play started. Over the course of the first 12 league matches, she averaged 9.19 assists per set. However, she did miss two matches with injury but returned to play at Western Michigan Saturday.
DUNN KEEPS ON DIGGING
Senior Ashley Dunn is making the most of her senior year, as the libero has turned in 10 20-dig matches this season, including each of the last two. Eight of those performances have come in the first 12 league matches. She is eighth in the conference in digs in league matches, averaging 4.96 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 nine matches against teams inside the RPI's top 50, including wins over No. 24 BYU and No. 45 Ball State. Bowling Green has won 11 out of its last 16 matches, and has an RPI of 71.
COACHES POLL OPPONENTS
Bowling Green has played six teams this year that were ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll when the Falcons faced them or are currently ranked in the top 25.
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 234 kills and just climbed into the top 10 in the MAC with 2.85 per set. Just this past weekend, she set a new career-high with 22 kills in a five-set win over Miami and has at least 12 kills in six of the past seven matches. She is also third on the team with 55 blocks.
EMU ENDS AMAZING FIVE-SET STREAK FOR FALCONS
Under head coach Danijela Tomic, Bowling Green was 9-0 in five-set matches against conference opponents until Eastern Michigan came into the Stroh Center and downed the Falcons in five sets. BGSU did bounce back with a five-set victory over Miami Friday. Overall, Bowling Green is 13-3 in five-setters under Tomic, including five-set victories in the MAC Tournament semifinals, championship and NCAA Tournament First Round a year ago.
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 seven matches, she has reached that total five times, including 17 at Toledo.
300 TIMES FOUR
Paige Penrod is just 12 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.
