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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, April 18
Muncie, IN
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
at
Ball State
Two Key Matches on Tap for Falcons as Regular Season Winds Down
April 16, 2014 | Women's Tennis
There's a lot on the line as BGSU battles Ball State, Miami this weekend
Both MAC matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m., with Friday's contest to be held at the Cardinal Creek Tennis Center in Muncie, Ind., and Saturday's match scheduled to be played at the Hepburn Varsity Tennis Courts in Oxford, Ohio.
The Falcons, riding a season-best four-match winning streak, have moved into a tie for third place in the nine-team conference standings. And, entering the final weekend of the regular season, BGSU remains in contention for the league title.
BGSU and BSU each have 4-2 MAC records, and the Falcons and Cardinals are a game behind the first-place RedHawks (5-1 MAC). Eastern Michigan sits in second place with a 5-2 league ledger.
The top six teams in the final conference standings will qualify for the MAC Championships, with the first- and second-place teams earning first-round byes. The 2013-14 season marks the second year of the current format. Prior to last season, all nine teams qualified for the league championships.
Last weekend, the Brown and Orange picked up a pair of home wins. The Falcons, playing a dual match at Keefe Courts for the first time in nearly two years, picked up a 6-1 win over Akron on Friday afternoon (April 11), and BGSU then topped Buffalo by a 5-2 count the following day.
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| THIS WEEK IN BGSU TENNIS | |
| Friday, April 18 | BGSU at Ball State - 1:00 p.m. |
| Saturday, April 19 | BGSU at Miami - 1:00 p.m. |
| Handy PDF Links | BGSU Stats & Records | 2013-14 BGSU Media Guide |
| Match-by-Match Series Info vs. MAC Opponents | |
| The Opponents | Ball State tennis | Miami tennis |
Those wins came on the heels of victories over Northern Illinois (6-1; April 4) and Chicago State (7-0; April 5) at the Perrysburg Tennis Center. BG finished the home portion of the schedule with a perfect 7-0 record, including five victories at the PTC and last weekend's two wins at Keefe.
Four of the seven players on the roster went a perfect 4-0 last weekend. That quartet included senior co-captains Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland, sophomore Katie Brozovich and freshman Harley Hutchison.
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| MAC STANDINGS | ||
| 1 | Miami (13-6) | 5-1 |
| 2 | Eastern Michigan (12-8) | 5-2 |
| 3 | Bowling Green (10-6) | 4-2 |
| Ball State (14-8) | 4-2 | |
| 5 | Buffalo (13-5) | 4-3 |
| Toledo (13-6) | 4-3 | |
| 7 | Western Michigan (13-9) | 2-4 |
| 8 | Northern Illinois (7-10) | 1-5 |
| 9 | Akron (10-14) | 0-7 |
Brozovich won a pair of matches at the third singles flight, while Hutchison teamed with fellow freshman Hannah Drayton for two third-flight doubles wins and posted victories at the sixth singles flight vs. both UA and UB.
Chiricosta and Reuland won both of their singles matches in straight sets last weekend. Chiricosta lost a total of just seven games in those four sets, while Reuland dropped only six total games, winning one set by a 6-0 score and the other three by 6-2 results.
Saturday's Buffalo match saw the co-captains pick up two wins apiece on 'Senior Day' at Keefe, in the final home match of their respective BGSU careers.
Brozovich and Hutchison each are a perfect 8-0 over the last two weekends, having gone 4-0 in the two duals vs. Illinois foes at the PTC. Chiricosta went 7-1 over that two-week span, while Fillis and Reuland each had records of 6-2 during that time.
Friday's Akron match marked the first time the Falcons had won all three doubles matches since the dual-match opener vs. Youngstown State back on Jan. 26. The Brown and Orange repeated that feat on Saturday, capturing all three doubles matches vs. Buffalo. BG won one of those doubles contests by an 8-0 score, with an 8-1 win and two 8-2 triumphs among the six total doubles wins last weekend.
On the season, Chiricosta leads the Falcons with 40 overall wins, while Brozovich has 37 and Reuland 30. Chiricosta has a team-leading 18 singles wins this season, with Brozovich and Reuland right behind with 17 apiece. In doubles, Chiricosta paces the team with a record of 22-9, including an 18-6 mark when competing with Brozovich. Brozovich has an overall doubles mark of 20-8 this season to date.
Hutchison has 25 overall wins, while Fillis has won 23 matches and Drayton 22 this season. Brittany Plaszewski currently has nine wins in her initial season with the Falcons.
In her young career, Brozovich now has a singles record of 32-6 in dual-match play. She is 12-4 at the third flight this year after spending time at the fourth (10-1), fifth (2-0) and sixth (8-1) flights last spring.
Chiricosta is 5-1 in both singles and doubles during MAC play, teaming up with Brozovich for all six of those doubles matches. Brozovich and Reuland each have 4-2 singles records in MAC action, while Drayton and Hutchison have combined for a 4-2 doubles mark in their initial season with the Brown and Orange.
Dean's two seniors are ranked high atop the school's career wins lists. Chiricosta and Reuland each are listed among the top-five players in BGSU history on all three charts.
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Chiricosta is the winningest player in BGSU history, with 189 overall wins, and she also holds the school record with 95 singles victories. The Avon Lake, Ohio, native broke both records, originally set by her sister, Christine (2008-11), in the Falcons' win over Western Michigan in the MAC opener (March 22). Nikki Chiricosta has 94 doubles victories to rank second on that list, three behind record-holder Maddy Eccleston (2010-13).
Reuland is fourth in school history with 164 total victories, and the Oswego, Ill., native sits in third place on the singles wins list. With 85 singles victories as a Falcon, she is the winningest player not named Chiricosta in BGSU singles history. Reuland is four wins behind second-place Christine Chiricosta. Reuland has 79 career doubles wins, good for sole possession of fifth place on that list.
The BGSU season and career records can be found by clicking the "BGSU Stats & Records" PDF link near the top of this page.
Ball State enters Friday's match with an overall record of 14-8, and the Cardinals are 4-2 in MAC play to date, good for a third-place tie with the Falcons. BSU has won three of the last four matches, with each of the team's last three matches ending in a 4-3 score. Last Friday, the Cards lost at Toledo by that 4-3 score, but BSU rebounded to beat Eastern Michigan -- the first-place team in the MAC at the time -- in another 4-3 match. BSU is 9-3 in home matches and 5-5 on the road this year to date. Max Norris was named head coach of the Cardinals in December of 2013. Last season, the Cardinals finished with a 15-11 overall mark and a MAC record of 5-3.
Miami is 13-6 this season to date, and the RedHawks have a MAC record of 5-1 heading into a Friday home match vs. Western Michigan. MU sits atop the league standings, as mentioned, a half-game ahead of Eastern Michigan and a full game up on BGSU and BSU. Last weekend, the RedHawks won twice on the road, with a 4-3 win at EMU on Friday and a 7-0 victory at UT on Saturday. Friday's win marked EMU's first conference loss of the season. MU has won three-straight matches, and the team's lone MAC loss was a 5-2 decision at Buffalo two weekends ago (April 4). A year ago, coach Anca Dumitrescu's team went 13-13 overall and 7-1 in the MAC. The RedHawks won both the league's regular-season and tournament titles a year ago.
The Falcons lead Ball State, 19-17, in the all-time series between the teams, and BGSU has captured each of the last seven meetings. Last season, the Brown and Orange picked up a 6-1 win at the PTC (April 12, 2013), marking BG's third-straight series win by that score. The teams' last matchup in Muncie came two years ago (April 7, 2012). Ball State's last series win came in March of 2006. BGSU is 10-7 in home matches, 7-9 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site contests vs. the Cardinals over the years.
BGSU trails Miami, 38-5, in that series, and the RedHawks have won each of the last nine meetings. Both of last year's matchups were decided by narrow 4-3 margins, with MU winning the regular-season meeting on April 13, 2013, at the PTC, before getting past the Falcons in the title match of the MAC Championships two weekends later (April 28, 2013). The regular-season match was a five-hour marathon, and the rematch went down to a third set at the top singles flight. Miami's Nimisha Mohan won the decisive singles match in each of last year's meetings. MU has knocked the Falcons out of the MAC Championships in each of the last three seasons, with semifinal-round wins in both 2011 and '12. Two of BGSU's five series triumphs over Miami came in the 2006-07 campaign. The Falcons' last series win was a 4-3 decision in the league tourney quarterfinals in '07, and BG's last road win over Miami also came by a 4-3 score, over 11 years ago (April 5, 2003).
Complete match-by-match series information for BGSU against all MAC teams can be found by clicking the PDF link near the top of the page.
Following this weekend's matches, the league's top-six teams will prepare for the 2014 MAC Championships, which will be held in Oxford from April 25-27.
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