Falcons Face Northern Illinois to Begin Three-Match Road Swing

The Bowling Green State University tennis team hits the road for the next three Mid-American Conference matches, beginning with a trip to Illinois. The Falcons of head coach Penny Dean will face Northern Illinois University on Friday afternoon (March 29), with the match scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. Central Time (2:00 p.m. Eastern) at Rockford Boylan High School.

LINKS
BGSU STATS & MATCH-BY-MATCH RESULTS
2012-13 BGSU TENNIS MEDIA GUIDE

BGSU enters the weekend with a record of 12-2 in dual-match play, and the Falcons are 1-1 in MAC action. The Falcons split a pair of matches at the Perrysburg Tennis Center last weekend, downing Toledo by a 6-1 final on Friday (March 22) for the team's school-record 12th consecutive victory, but losing, 4-3, to Eastern Michigan on Saturday afternoon (March 23).

In the UT match, senior Maddy Eccleston captured the 90th doubles win of her BGSU career, setting a new school record. Eccleston broke the record set by Christine Chiricosta, who had 89 doubles wins from 2008-11. Eccleston teamed with Chiricosta for 44 victories during their two years together at BG.

**MADDY ECCLESTON'S CAREER DOUBLES RECORD BY PARTNER**
Katia Babina	2- 0
Katie Brozovich	2- 2
Christine Chiricosta	44-18
Nikki Chiricosta	4- 2
Jessica Easdale	0- 0 ^
Katie Grubb	24- 8
Jade Johnson	10- 4
Emily Reuland	5- 2
TOTAL	91-36
^ won a match by forfeit

BGSU has captured the doubles point in 13 consecutive matches, and the Falcon competitors have a combined record of 32-7 during that time. BG competitors are 9-4 at the top doubles flight, 12-1 at the second and 11-2 at the third flight during that 13-match span.

Last weekend, the Falcons' four seniors combined for the teams' doubles wins. Eccleston teamed up with Katie Grubb for a pair of wins at the number-two flight, while Mary Hill and Jade Johnson combined to go 2-0 at the third flight.

Juniors Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland rank one-two on the team in total wins, as Chiricosta is now 45-15 on the season, while Reuland is 42-18. Grubb and freshman Katie Brozovich have 37 and 36 total wins, respectively, and both players -- like Chiricosta and Reuland -- have won more than two-thirds of their overall matches. Chiricosta has a winning percentage of 75.0% in 2012-13, with Grubb at 74.0% (37-13), Brozovich 70.6% (36-15) and Reuland 70.0%.

Freshman Drew Fillis also has won close to 70% of her matches this season. Fillis is 22-10 overall this season to date, good for a winning percentage of 68.8%.

In fact, all eight players on the BGSU roster have at least 22 total wins, and every Falcon is at least five games over .500, with seven of the eight players at least 10 games above the break-even mark.

Eccleston has an overall mark of 33-20 this spring, while Johnson is 26-15. Hill, a 2012-13 BGSU co-captain along with Eccleston, is 25-20, while Fillis is 22-10.

Chiricosta and Brozovich each have 22 singles wins, while Reuland has 19. In doubles, both Chiricosta and Reuland are 23-9, while Eccleston has a 22-8 record. Grubb has a stellar 20-5 doubles mark this season, while Johnson is 20-7, Fillis 15-5, Hill 15-8 and Brozovich 14-7. Every player on the team has won at least two-thirds of her doubles matches this year.

Brozovich has captured 13 consecutive singles matches since her last loss back on Jan. 18. Overall, she has won 19 matches in a row since that singles setback. Eccleston has won five consecutive doubles contests.

In doubles, school record-holder Eccleston now has 91 career wins. Chiricosta, just a junior, is tied for 10th with 70 victories, while Grubb is 14th with 67. Hill, Johnson and Reuland all have 64 career doubles wins, and are tied for 16th on that list.

Chiricosta is deadlocked for 11th on the BGSU singles wins list, with 73, while Eccleston is 14th with 69 victories. Reuland is 17th with 67 career singles wins, with Grubb 23rd (55) and Hill 24th (54).

Eccleston is second on the BGSU combined career wins list, with a total of 160 victories as a Falcon. Christine Chiricosta holds that BG record, with 178 total wins as a Falcon.

All four BGSU seniors and both Falcon juniors are on the list of the top-30 players in school history in combined career wins, with Chiricosta tied for seventh (143), Reuland deadlocked for 13th (131), Grubb 21st (122), Hill 23rd (118) and Johnson 29th (95). All three lists can be found by clicking the PDF stats link near the top of this page.

Northern Illinois is 14-4 in dual matches this season. The Huskies' win total is the program's highest since a 15-9 mark in 1997. NIU is 0-2 in MAC play, however, having lost to Akron (7-0) and Buffalo (6-1) on the road last weekend. The Huskies are 2-2 in home matches, 8-2 on the road and 4-0 in neutral-site contests this season to date. Individually, Nelle Youel, who plays at the number-one flight, has a 16-2 singles record this season. A year ago, Northern went 11-12 overall and 2-6 in the MAC.

BGSU holds a 13-11 lead over Northern Illinois in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won the last eight meetings. Last season's meeting saw the Falcons down NIU, 7-0, at Keefe Courts (March 24, 2012). The Brown and Orange also captured a 7-0 victory in the team's last road match vs. the Huskies, two seasons ago (April 23, 2011). NIU's last win over BGSU came at the old Keefe Courts in April of 2004.

Following the NIU match, the Falcons will continue a three-match road swing with contests against Akron (April 5) and Buffalo (April 6). After home matches against Ball State (April 12) and Miami (April 13), the Falcons end the regular season on the road vs. Western Michigan (April 20). The MAC Championships will be April 26-28 in Muncie, Ind.

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