3-0 Start On The Line At Ball State Friday

BGSU (2-2, 2-0 MAC) AT BALL STATE (2-5, 0-2 MAC)
Date	Jan. 31, 2014
Time	7:00 PM
Location	Muncie, Ind. \| Irving Gymnasium
Coverage	TBA
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook

BGSU Performance List

Bowling Green, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team heads to Muncie, Ind. Friday looking to improve to 3-0 in Mid-American Conference action as the Falcons face Ball State at 7 pm. The Falcons are 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the MAC leading into the meet, while Ball State is 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Links to live stats (as available) 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 BALL STATE
Ball State is off to a 2-5 start on the season and 0-2 in MAC competition. The Cardinals have broken a 191.000 team score just once so far this year, but that did come in the team's last meet when they scored 192.350 in a loss to Central Michigan. Ball State was picked to finish last in the seven-team conference in the preseason coaches poll. Joanna Saleem is in her first year as head coach at Ball State, but served as a volunteer assistant coach a year ago.

LAST TIME OUT
Bowling Green posted its second best team score since 2005 as the Falcons moved to 2-0 in Mid-American Conference action with a 194.600-192.525 victory over Eastern Michigan Saturday. Sophomore Alyssa Nocella scored a career-best 39.150 in the all-around and the Falcons got contributions up-and-down the lineup to get the win. BGSU outscored EMU on all four apparatuses to pull away.

WHAT A WIN WOULD MEAN
With a win, Bowling Green would start MAC play at 3-0 for the first time since defeating Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Ball State in 2010, victories that began a 4-0 stretch. It would also mark the team's second consecutive win over Ball State, following a 194.525-192.775 win a year ago.

THE ROOKIES
BGSU freshmen Lauren Feely and Rachel Reis came into their own in the team's home opener against Eastern Michigan. Feely established her collegiate best all-around score with a 38.750, which included winning the vault with a 9.825. Reis won the uneven bars with a 9.750 and added a 9.675 on the balance beam.

NOCELLA NAMED GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
BGSU sophomore Alyssa Nocella was named MAC Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 28 after scoring a career-best 39.150 in the all-around and leading BGSU to its second-highest team score since 2005 in a win over Eastern Michigan. Nocella posted at least a 9.725 on all four apparatuses, tying her career-best with a 9.775 on vault.

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 2013 squad moved to 3-3. The Falcons return most of their contributors from a year ago, as well as adding a strong freshman class, and have begun the season 2-0 in MAC play.

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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