Falcons Kick Off Regular Season With Hampton Inn Invitational

Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video: BGSUFalcons.com
Aug. 30 (4:30 p.m.) #13 BYU vs. #25 Creighton
Aug. 30 (7:00 p.m.) Bowling Green vs. Marquette
Aug. 31 (10:00 a.m.) Bowling Green vs. #25 Creighton
Aug. 31 (12:30 p.m.) #13 BYU vs. Marquette
Aug. 31 (7:00 p.m.) Bowling Green vs. #13 BYU

This Weekend
This weekend's Bowling Green Hampton Inn Invitational marks the beginning of the 2013 regular season for Bowling Green volleyball. This will be the 38th season of varsity volleyball at Bowling Green State University. The Falcons will play host to the strongest field ever for a tournament which they host, welcoming No. 13 Brigham Young, No. 25 Creighton, and Marquette to the Stroh Center. The tournament will consist of five games over two days, taking place on August 30-31.

Live Video
Live video is available for each match during the Hampton Inn Invitational, courtesy of BGSUFalcons.com. Each Bowling Green match can also be found at MAC-Sports.com.

Live Audio
Live audio will be available for each game this weekend, courtesy of the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization. Live audio can be accessed on the volleyball schedule page at BGSUFalcons.com.

Live Stats
Live stats will be kept for free during each match of the Hampton Inn Invitational this weekend at the Stroh Center. Live statistics can also be found on the schedule page for volleyball at BGSUFalcons.com.

Scouting The Falcons
The Falcons, under the direction of Danijela Tomic, welcome back nine letterwinners from last season's team which went 22-11. Tomic, who enters her second season at Bowling Green, will begin her ninth season as a collegiate head coach. The Falcons return 5-of-6 starters and the libero from a season ago. The Orange and Brown also welcome eight freshman and one graduate student to the team in 2013, in addition to the nine returnees. Tomic will welcome back assistant coach Jessica Hohl for her second season on staff. In addition, Tomic's staff will be filled out by first year assistant Rodnei Santos, along with volunteer coach Madeline Amon and director of operations Jordan Cravens.

Meet The Opponents
The Falcons will begin the Hampton Inn Invitational with Big East foe Marquette. MU is led by fourth year head coach Bond Shymansky. Last season, Shymansky's team finished 27-7, losing to No. 21 Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Marquette returns five players who played in at least 124 sets, with four of them playing in every set. Offensively for the Golden Eagles, Lindsey Gosh recorded 343 kills in 2012, while also recording 51 service aces.

The second match of the tournament for the Falcons will put them up against the 25th-ranked team in the country. The Falcons will take on the Creighton Blue Jays at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning inside the Stroh Center. CU is coached by Kirsten Bernthal Booth, who enters her 11th season. Creighton returns three outside hitters who recorded over 300 kills in 2012. Four Blue Jays return whom played in all 124 sets. Kelli Browning, a junior middle blocker, recorded 2.82 k/s last season while hitting .370. She also averaged 1.65 bks/s. Creighton finished last season 29-4, falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to No. 11 national seed Minnesota.

In the final match of the Hampton Inn Invitational, the Falcons will play host to No. 13 Brigham Young University. BYU is led by third year head coach Shawn Olmstead. The Cougars finished the 2012 season 28-4, falling in the Sweet 16 to No. 6 national seed Oregon. The Cougars were dominant for most of the season, only playing 12 matches that went past three sets. In three set matches, BYU was 20-0. The Cougars return four players who appeared in all 112 sets last season. Jennifer Hamson recorded 458 kills in 2012, averaging 4.09 per set. Kathryn LeCheminant also hit .376 while recording 1.01 blk/s.

The Coaches
Head Coach Danijela Tomic made a bang in her first season in Bowling Green, leading the Falcons to a 22-11 record and the program's first ever NCAA Tournament win. Tomic enters her ninth season as a head coach overall, with a career record of 180-72. Tomic will be joined by second-year assistant coach Jessica Hohl, and first-year assistant Rodnei Santos. The staff will be rounded out by first-year volunteer coach Madeline Amon and first-year Director of Volleyball Operations Jordan Cravens.

Series History vs. Marquette
The Falcons enter the weekend with a 3-2 record all time vs. Marquette. The Golden Eagles were victorious in last season's match, claiming a 3-0 win over the Falcons in the first match of the season.

Series History vs. #25 Creighton
The Falcons have never faced Creighton in volleyball, but head coach Danijela Tomic is 1-0 in her career against the Blue Jays. Tomic claimed that victory during her coaching tenure at Florida International.

Series History vs. #13 BYU
The Falcons are 0-1 all-time against Brigham Young, falling to BYU in three sets a season ago. In that match, No. 21 (at the time) BYU claimed 25-22, 25-14, and 25-18 set wins.

Bowling Green Hampton Inn Invitational
With perhaps the best field in the tournament's history, the Falcons will host the Hampton Inn Invitational to begin the regular season on August 30-31. In addition to Bowling Green, No. 13 ranked BYU, No. 25 ranked Creighton, and Marquette will participate in the tournament held at the Stroh Center. The tournament will kickoff with a matchup of two ranked foes, as BYU and Creighton will play on August 30 at 4:30 p.m. The Falcons will then begin their regular season with a match against Marquette. The next day, BGSU will take on Creighton (10:00 a.m.), BYU will face Marquette (12:30 p.m.), and then the Falcons will host the highest ranked foe to ever play inside the Stroh Center, facing BYU at 7:00 p.m. on August 31.

A Glance Back At 2012
The Falcons enjoyed much success in Danijela Tomic's first season at Bowling Green, going 22-11 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991. The Falcons finished just shy of the MAC regular season championship, losing to Northern Illinois in the regular-season finale. As the number two seed in the MAC Tournament, the Falcons started with a 3-0 win against No. 7 Eastern Michigan. Facing No. 3 seed Western Michigan the very next day, the Falcons would squeak out a five set victory after trailing two sets to one. In the MAC Tournament championship, the Falcons would have a chance at revenge, facing off against No. 4 seed NIU, the team who had cost them the MAC regular season crown. The Orange and Brown quickly found themselves, as they dropped the first two sets to the Huskies. In the third set, NIU was knocking on the door of the NCAA Tournament, leading the Falcons 24-22. The Falcons would mount a comeback in the third set, however, scoring the next four points to secure a 26-24 third set victory. Bowling Green would go on to post a 25-20 win in set four, before pulling away to dominate set five, 15-4. In their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 21 seasons, the Falcons faced a tough task as the Penn State regional's number three seed. The Falcons would post a five set victory over Yale in the first round, the program's first ever win in the NCAA Tournament. The Falcons would fall to No. 1 national seed Penn State in the second round of the tournament, finishing their season at 22-11.

Senior Class
The Falcons return seven seniors from a season ago. Among the senior class are five returning starters, the libero, and three first team All-MAC performers.

Butterfield Has CLASS
Senior Lindsey Butterfield was chosen as one of the 30 semifinalist for the Senior CLASS Award, given out to student-athletes who excel both on and off the court. Butterfield, a biology major, has a 3.824 GPA. The volleyball list will be narrowed to 10 student-athletes in the middle of the season, and a finalist will be chosen at the National Championships.

Junior Class
The Falcons return two juniors from last season, in Erica Fullenkamp and Kelsey Bates. Fullenkamp, a setter, is from Minster, Ohio. Bates is a middle from Willshire, Ohio. Fullenkamp and Bates were club teammates during high school for Team Atlantis.

Eight Freshmen
This weekend's tournament could mark the first time that eight Falcon players see regular season action in their careers. One of the largest freshmen classes in program history, head coach Danijela Tomic brought in talent and height. Half of the class stands at 5-11 or above, with Alyssa Maloney (Middle), Jelena Sunjic (Outside Hitter), and Desi Klaer (Middle/Outside Hitter) all standing at 6-foot-1 or taller.

The Falcons vs. Ranked Opponents In 2013
The Falcons will play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the MAC in 2013, squaring off with six teams at least receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll. To begin the season, the Hampton Inn Invitational will see the Falcons face No. 13 BYU and No. 25 Creighton. The following weekend, BGSU will play No. 16 Purdue and RV Notre Dame in the Golden Dome Invitational. In the third tournament of the year, the Intowner Invitational, the Falcons will meet No. 20 Kansas and RV Wisconsin.

Ranked Opponents In The Stroh
The 2013 Bowling Green Hampton Inn Invitational will mark the first time that the Falcons will play a ranked opponent inside the Stroh Center since its inception in 2011.

The Longer The Match, The Better
The 2012 version of the Falcons excelled in extended matches. The longer the Falcons hung around, the tougher it became to beat them. BGSU was just 6-6 in three set matches a season ago, but the Falcons were even tougher to beat in four set matches, going 7-4 in such occurrences. In five set matches, the Falcons were nearly unbeatable, going an incredible 9-1.

Falcons Picked To Win The MAC
Among the 12 head volleyball coaches in the MAC, the Bowling Green State University volleyball team was selected first in the MAC East, receiving 7-of-12 votes. The Falcons also tied for the most votes to win the MAC Tournament championship. Find the full poll and voting below:
MAC East
1. Bowling Green (7 first place votes)
2. Ohio (5)
3. Miami
4. Buffalo
5. Akron
6. Kent State

MAC West
1. Western Michigan (5 first place votes)
2. Northern Illinois (4)
3. Central Michigan (3)
4. Ball State
5. Eastern Michigan
6. Toledo

Predicted MAC Tournament Champions:
Bowling Green/ Ohio (4 Votes Each)
Northern Illinois/Western Michigan (2 Votes Each)

Preseason All-MAC Teams…
Will be released on Thursday (Aug. 29) at 12:00 p.m. That release can be found on BGSUFalcons.com

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