Falcons Look To Remain Undefeated In MAC Saturday

BGSU (1-2, 1-0 MAC) VS. EASTERN MICHIGAN (0-3, 0-1 MAC)
Date	Jan. 25, 2014
Time	4:00 PM
Location	Bowling Green, Ohio \| Anderson Arena
Coverage	Live Stats (Link Coming Soon)
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook

BGSU Performance List

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team will hold its home opener Saturday at 4 p.m. in Anderson Arena as the Falcons host Eastern Michigan in a Mid-American Conference meet. BGSU enters the competition at 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the league, while Eastern Michigan is 0-3 overall and 0-1 in conference.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Links to live stats can be found at BGSUFalcons.com for each meet. Fans can follow the BGSU Gymnastics team through Twitter on the official team account @FalconGymn and through the official account of the Athletics Department @BGAthletics.

ABOUT EMU
Eastern Michigan opened the season this past Friday at the Kent State Quad, finishing fourth with a team score of 192.750. The team lost to No. 16 Rutgers, George Washington and MAC preseason favorite Kent State. In the preseason league poll, the Eagles were picked to finish fifth out of seven teams in the conference. Khadijah Hudson, one of two current members of the team who were named second team All-MAC a year ago, is the defending MAC co-Specialist of the Week. Head Coach Steve Wilce is in his 32nd season leading Eastern Michigan.

LAST TIME OUT
Bowling Green opened conference action with a 192.825-191.450 win at Western Michigan Friday evening. The Falcons improved to 1-0 for the first time since the 2010 season behind a strong effort from Alyssa Nocella, who won the all-around with a score of 38.850. The Falcons took over on the vault with a score of 48.650 as all six competitors scored at least 9.600 on the second rotation. Megan Harrington's 38.700 score was second in the all-around and Lauren Feely finished third with a 38.625.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN
With a win, Bowling Green would start MAC play at 2-0 for the first time since defeating Northern Illinois and Western Michigan in 2010, victories that began a 4-0 stretch. It would also be the team's third consecutive win over Eastern Michigan. A year ago, the Falcons fashioned a 194.025-193.900 win.

CAREER BESTS
In the season opener, Alyssa Nocella broke her career best with a 9.800 on bars and she then tied her career bests at Western Michigan with a 9.775 on vault and a 38.850 in the all-around. Amanda Lievendag tied her career best with a 9.875 on bars at Ohio State to begin the year, the same meet that senior Lacey Swords competed on the floor for the first time in her career, establishing a new personal best with a 9.675.

LIEVENDAG HONORED BY MAC
Junior Amanda Lievendag was named the Mid-American Conference's Specialist of the Week Jan. 14 after posting a meet-best 9.875 on the uneven bars against No. 12 Oregon State and No. 19 Ohio State. She also tied for fifth on the vault with a 9.775. It is the second time Lievendag has earned the award in her career.

PRESEASON POLL
BGSU was picked to finish third in the MAC Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's coaches. The Falcons finished third during the regular season a year ago and fifth at the MAC Championship. Defending MAC Champion Kent State was picked to repeat, followed by Central Michigan. Following BGSU, Northern Illinois was selected fourth and Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Ball State round out the preseason standings.

SOLID FOUNDATION
BGSU Head Coach Kerrie Turner was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2013 with good reason. She has pushed the program forward after the team went 0-6 in the MAC in 2011. The 2012 team improved incrementally to 1-5 and the 2012 squad moved to 3-3. The Falcons return most of their contributors from a year ago, as well as adding a strong freshman class.

THE MAC CHAMPS ARE BACK
BGSU is the only school in the MAC to return a pair of individual champions from a year ago in junior Jamilah Ali and sophomore Alyssa Nocella. Ali won the vault a year ago and Nocella claimed the balance beam title. The duo represent just the second and third MAC individual champions under Turner, who began her head coaching tenure at BGSU in 2008.

FIVE ADDED FOR 2014
Earlier this fall, BGSU announced five additions to the gymnastics program for the 2015 season. Morgan Denlinger (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield HS/Prestige Gymnastics Club), Taylor Livingston (Hartland, Mich./Hartland HS/Geddert's Twisters Gymnastics Club), Shannon Goniwiecha (Rochester Hills, Mich./Stoney Creek HS/Oakland Gymnastics), Kylie Bosco (Illinois Gymnastics Institute) and McKenna Schoenberger (Maple City Gymnastics) will all join the program next year.

HALL OF FAME
BGSU gymnastics alumnus Marny Oestreng was inducted into the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame over the summer. Oestreng, a 2002 BGSU graduate, won the 1999 NCAA Championship in the floor exercise. Her school- and career-best score in the all-around while at BG was 39.600, and she also posted the program's best-ever scores in the floor exercise (9.975), uneven bars (9.950), vault (9.950) and balance beam (9.925).

SCHOLASTIC ALL-AMERICANS
In August, five Falcons were named Scholastic All-Americans by the National Association of College Gymnastics Coaches for Women (NACGC). Student-athletes must have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher to be honored. Senior Megan Harrington and sophomores Caroline Ellingboe and Alyssa Nocella, along with graduates Monica Eaton and Sunny Marchand (who is now an assistant coach with the team), received the recognition.

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