Falcons Close Regular Season This Weekend

Complete Game Notes (.pdf)

FALCONS CLOSE REGULAR SEASON THIS WEEKEND
Bowling Green, needing two wins for a chance to qualify for the Mid-American Conference Tournament, will close out the regular season on the road this weekend. The Falcons will play at MAC leader Ohio Friday at 7 pm and will face Kent State Saturday at 7 pm. With two wins, combined with two Central Michigan losses, BGSU would advance to the MAC Tournament.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Both matches during the weekend can be followed in a variety of ways. Live stats, live audio and live video will be available through links at BGSUFalcons.com. Both games will have audio broadcasts courtesy of flagship coverage of BGSU Volleyball through the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO). Fans can also follow along on Twitter via @BGSUVolleyball.

ABOUT OHIO
Ohio has rolled through MAC play so far with a record of 14-0 in conference and a 21-4 overall record. The Bobcats are among the top 30 in the country in a number of statistical categories, including ranking 10th in the nation in aces and 22nd in opponent's hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Jamie Kosiorek is 22nd in the country with 0.44 aces per set. Junior libero Meredith Ashy leads the MAC with 4.91 digs per set. Head coach Deane Webb is in his first year at Ohio but has a Division I career record of 256-171.

ABOUT KENT STATE
Kent State enters the final weekend of the regular season with a record of 15-12 overall and 7-7 in MAC play. The Golden Flashes have excelled blocking at the net and lead the MAC at 2.38 blocks per set. Senior middle Liz Reikow leads the conference with 1.17 blocks per set to pace the squad. Head coach Don Gromala is in his third year and has almost surpassed the team's total wins in his first two seasons. He has a mark of 33-52 at Kent State.

LAST WEEKEND
BGSU battled with two of the top teams in the MAC, but ultimately lost four-setters to both Miami and Northern Illinois. Against Miami, sophomore libero Madeline Garda broke the school record with 34 digs in a four-set match. She followed that up with 27 more digs against Northern Illinois and earned MAC East Defensive Player of the Week honors.

IN HER WORDS
"We know that we have to play our best match of the year to have a chance to beat Ohio. We are playing better and better and we continue to improve. I think we took Kent by surprise the first time. I think they are waiting for us for revenge because I don't think they felt good after that match here when we beat them."
-- BGSU Volleyball Coach Danijela Tomic

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Over the past two weeks, BGSU has earned three MAC East Division Player of the Week honors. Nicole Slimko earned MAC East Offensive Player of the Week accolades on Nov. 3 and Madeline Garda has earned the MAC East Defensive Player of the Week award each of the past two weeks. For both, it marks the first time in their careers that they received a MAC weekly award.

CAN YOU DIG THIS?
Sophomore libero Madeline Garda continued her torrid pace of racking up digs over the past weekend. With 34 digs in a loss at Miami, she broke the school record for digs in a four-set match. She followed that up with 27 more digs in a four-set contest at Northern Illinois. She has now posted at least 15 digs in 12 of the past 13 contests and has 90 total digs in the last three matches. On the season, Garda ranks second in the MAC with 4.73 digs per set, an average that would tie her for fourth in a single season at BGSU. But in conference matches, she is doing even better, posting a league-best 5.73 digs per set.

TWO GRAND
With 47 assists against Toledo, Erica Fullenkamp reached 2,000 for her career despite the fact that this is her first full season as the team's setter. As a freshman, she recorded 449 assists splitting time as a setter and outside hitter. In 2012, Fullenkamp played just 19 sets and had 30 assists. A year ago, she had 839 assists in a split setter role before taking over full time this season. She currently has 917 assists and ranks fifth in the MAC with 10.18 assists per set in conference contests.

FIVE-SETTERS
With a win over Buffalo Saturday, Bowling Green improved to 4-3 in five-set matches this year and has gone 17-8 in three years under head coach Danijela Tomic in matches that have gone the distance. In fact, the Falcons have traditionally played well in five setters, posted a record of .500 or better in all but one season since 2005 with a winning percentage of .676 (46-22) since that time. Both the 2008 and 2012 teams went 9-1 in five-setters on the season.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
In just one year, the Bowling Green volleyball team went from being one of the most experienced programs in the country to one of the least. Eleven of the team's 13 players are either freshmen or sophomores and seniors Erica Fullenkamp and Kelsey Bates are the only remnants from a squad that won the MAC Championship just two years ago.

DT200
With a win over Akron two weeks ago, BGSU head coach Danijela Tomic won her 200th career match. She won 158 matches in seven years at Florida International and now has 43 wins in her third season at BGSU.

FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
With 15 kills at Miami, freshman outside hitter Nicole Slimko became just the sixth BGSU player since 1986 to record at least 300 kills in a season as a freshman. Earlier in the year she had a career-best 31 kills in the team's five set victory over Wright State on Sept. 6, the most for a BGSU player since Oct. 8, 1999. Slimko currently leads the Falcons in kills with 3.30 per set. Her 323 kills put her in fourth since 1986 as a freshman and she could climb as high as second this weekend.

MARATHON MATCH
Bowling Green and Wichita State combined to set a pair of NCAA records in their match at the Bluejay Invitational. Wichita State's 127 points were the most ever for a match in the 25-point era (since 2008) and Bowling Green's 124 points were the most for a losing team in the 25-point era. In fact, BGSU's 35-33 fourth-set win was the program's highest scoring set in the same 25-point era.

GETTING TO .200
In Bowling Green's first 16 matches, the Falcons reached a .200 attack percentage just three times. However, BGSU has improved upon that stat, hitting .200 in seven of the past 10 matches. Why is that so important? The Falcons are 0-16 on the year when hitting below .200 but 7-3 when attacking over that percentage.

CHAMPIONS IN THE CLASSROOM
BGSU Volleyball has been recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for 14 consecutive years for posting a team cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher. The string is the second-longest in the country among NCAA Division I institutions.

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