Home Bouts versus Miami & NIU Round Out BGSU's 2015 Slate

Thursday, November 12

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Miami (Dollar Day) (Scout Night)

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Photo by: JD Pooley

November 10, 2015 | Volleyball

By: by Kevin Davis, BGSU Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Miami (Ohio) (18-9, 10-4 MAC)
at
Bowling Green (7-20, 3-11 MAC)
Match 28
Thursday, November 12, 2015; 7 p.m. ET
Stroh Center / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO ON ESPN3
LIVE AUDIO
WEEK 12 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

MATCH DAY CENTRAL PAGE

Northern Ilinois (16-10, 12-2 MAC)
at
Bowling Green (7-20, 3-11 MAC)
Match 29
Saturday, November 14, 2015; 7 p.m. ET
Stroh Center / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO ON ESPN3
LIVE AUDIO
WEEK 12 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

MATCH DAY CENTRAL PAGE

CLOSING THE SEASON OUT
The BGSU Falcons will look to close out the regular season on a high note with two home matches versus Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 12 and Northern Illinois on Nov. 14. The two home contests this week will be the final home matches of the 2015 season for BG.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Both home matches this weekend can be followed via live stats online at www.BGSUFalcons.com. Both MAC contests will also be video streamed live on ESPN3. BGRSO will also be on-hand to provide flagship audio coverage of both of BGSU's matches at www.falconradio.org. Links to all in game media outlets are located on the BGSU volleyball schedule page online at www.BGSUFalcons.com. Fans can also follow along via Twitter @BGSUVolleyball.

FALCONS ALL-TIME VERSUS THIS WEEKS OPPONENTS
The Falcons have had a hard time against both Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois in the program's history, as BGSU is a combined 39-71 against the two teams overall. BGSU is just 29-45 versus the RedHawks and have dropped three straight to Miami (Ohio), including a loss in Oxford, Ohio earlier this season. The Falcons are 10-26 all-time versus the Huskies of NIU and have lost each of the last two meetings after coming from behind to defeat the Huskies 3-2 in the 2012 MAC Volleyball Tournament championship match to win the 2012 MAC Championship.

FALCON FLASHBACK
BGSU and Miami (Ohio) already met once this season with the RedHawks defending home court with a 3-0 sweep of the Falcons on Oct. 8 in Oxford, Ohio. Despite posting more attacks than the RedHawks for the match at 124-121, BGSU committed eight serve receive errors and 19 attack errors overall. The Falcons also struggled on side outs, as Miami tallied a side out percentage of 63 percent over the three set match compared to BGSU's 48 percent. Behind Jelena Sunjic's 12 kills and eight digs was Katie Scholten with seven kills on an attack percentage of .429 overall, 26 assists, one ace and three digs and fellow sophomore Nicole Slimko with seven kills of her own. Junior Alyssa Maloney recorded four total blocks at the net, while Kallie Seimet and Madeline Garda finished with 18 and 13 digs apiece, respectively.

DOLLAR DAY, THURSDAY NIGHT, NOV. 12!
The BGSU Athletics Department will be hosting its first DOLLAR DAY of the year on Thursday, Nov. 12. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time for just $1 for the four Dollar Day events, while 12oz soda's, a junior popcorns and hot dogs will all be just $1 at the concession stands for those selected contests. The $1 ticket is good for only general admission seating at each event. Seating is limited, so this offer is good while general admission tickets last. Call the BGSU Ticket Office by phone at 877-BGSU TICKET today to get your $1 tickets! (BGSU Dollar Days Information)

AUTOGRAPHS! GET YOUR FALCON AUTOGRAPHS!
The BGSU volleyball team will be signing autographs not once, but twice this week. The Falcons will be in the concourse signing autographs after Thursday night's match versus Miami (Ohio) and after Saturday night's match versus Northern Illinois.

COACH TOMIC CHALK TALK IS BACK
One of the many benefits for Bowling Green State University volleyball season ticket holders in 2015 is the chance to go beyond the seats in the Stroh Center and behind the scenes with fourth year head coach Danijela Tomic in a series of chalk talk sessions throughout the 2015 season. The final Coach Tomic Chalk Talk session is scheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 14, at 5:30 p.m. prior to the Falcons' home match versus Northern Illinois 7 p.m. The final session of the season will take place on the Stroh Center practice court and is open to all volleyball season ticket holders.

FOCUS ON THE FALCONS
BGSU has won two of its last four matches with both wins coming in five sets. Jelena Sunjic leads BGSU with 382 kills and 3.64 kills per set this season, which ranks fourth overall in the MAC on the year. Setter Katie Scholten is fifth in the MAC on the season with an average of 9.43 assists per set, and is just 10 shy of 1,000 assists on the season. Alyssa Maloney is eighth in the MAC in both aces per set at 0.30 and at blocks per set at 0.97, which are both team highs. Freshman libero Kallie Seimet is already in the Falcons' top-10 for most digs in a single season with 460 and is sixth in the MAC on the year with an average of 4.38 digs per set.

REVIEWING THE REDHAWKS OF MIAMI (OHIO)
The RedHawks enter play this week at 18-9 overall and 10-4 in MAC play with an outside chance to win the MAC East Division regular season championship. Miami has won two straight matches and nine of its last 12 contests, all coming in MAC play. Miami is third in the MAC in a number of categories including attack percentage (.224), opponent attack percentage (.200), kills (12.91 per set) and assists (12.02 per set). The RedHawks as a team are also ranked fifth in the MAC in both blocks (2.13 per set) and in digs (16.13 per set). MU has had a well-balanced attack all season long, as Jenny Ingle and Paige Hill rank second and third in attack percentage in the MAC at .404 and .359 percent, respectively, while six different players have registered 140 kills or more on the season. Setters Mackenzie Zielinski and Krista Brakauskas have passed out 573 and 479 set assists, respectively, while six different RedHawks have picked up over 100 digs on the season led by Maeve McDonald's team-high 415 digs.

NOTING THE NIU HUSKIES
Northern Illinois, who will take on Western Michigan on Thursday, Nov. 12, sits atop of the MAC regular season standings with a conference record of 12-2 with two matches to go in the regular season. NIU, who is 16-10 overall, has won five straight matches and 10 of its last 11 contests heading into play this week. The Huskies are tops in the MAC with a .259 attack percentage overall on the season and are fourth in kills with an average of 12.87 per set. NIU's Jenna Radtke leads the MAC with an attack percentage of .430 on the season, while Lauren Zielinski is 10th overall with a percentage of .296 on the year. T'ara Austin leads the MAC with 4.27 kills per set, and a total of 393 spikes, while Alex Gonzalez is third in assists with 10.24 per set and sixth in aces with an average of 0.32 per set. Defensively, Radtke is tops in the conference in blocks with 1.21 per set, while Anna Brereton is seventh in the MAC in digs with 4.34 per set.

LAST WEEK FALCON RECAP
BGSU spit its two road matches at Buffalo and Akron last week, and will look to finish the season out on a high note with home contests versus Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois this week. BGSU fell on the road at Buffalo on Nov. 6, 3-1, but then bounced back to defeat Akron on the road on Nov. 7 in a five set match, 3-2, to complete the regular season series sweep of the Zips. The win was the Falcons first true road win of the season. Over, BGSU's two matches last week, sophomore Katie Scholten passed out a total of 92 assists, 45 at Buffalo and 47 versus Akron, to eclipse the 1,000 career assists mark in her first year as the setter during her two seasons at BGSU. The sophomore, who now has 1,019 career assists, also recorded back-to-back double-doubles on the week to give her six on the season. Junior Jelena Sunjic matched her career-high in kills with 25 spikes, as she posted a season-best attack percentage of .400 overall in the win at Akron, while fellow outside hitter Nicole Slimko registered double digit kills in both contests last week. Defensively, the Falcons were led by Kallie Seimet's match-high 43 digs, while the freshman picked up 27 digs in the win at Akron to give her eight matches this season with 20 digs or more.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"Our young team has shown a lot of fight over the last few weeks, especially winning two five-set matches. This team, that has no seniors, has continued to battle through adversity, whether that is injuries, tough losses or tough competition, to continue to improve each time out. We expect and owe it to ourselves to come out and play hard this week at home in front of our fans versus Miami and Northern Illinois. We want to finish the season out strong and carry that momentum over into the spring."

SEIMET DIGGING INTO THE TOP-10 SINGLE SEASON RECORD BOOK
In just her first year at BGSU, Kallie Seimet has already etched her named into BGSU's single season record book in digs with 460 so far this season. She is 10th all-time for the most digs in a single season with 460 and is now sitting in sixth for the most digs per set in a single season with 4.38 per set in 2015.

1,000 CAREER ASSISTS FOR SCHOLTEN
With her combined 92 assists last week in BGSU's two road matches at Buffalo and at Akron, setter Katie Scholten eclipsed the 1,000 career assists mark. Scholten, who is serving as the setter full time for the first time this season for BGSU, has 1,019 career assists heading into the final week of play this week. She has 990 set assists this season for the Falcons.

CLOSING IN ON CAREER MILESTONE 1,000
Two Falcons are closing in on a 1,000 career milestone in two different categories. Junior Madeline Garda enters play this week with a total of 963 career digs and is only 37 digs away from the 1,000 career mark. Fellow junior Jelena Sunjic is only 151 kills away from 1,000 career spikes in her career at BGSU, having totaled 849 spikes thus far.

KALLIE CLAIMS MAC EAST DEFENSIVE WEEKLY HONOR (11/3)
Following a strong weekend in which she tallied a match-high digs in both contests, freshman libero and defensive specialist Kallie Seimet was named the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Defensive Player of the Week, it was announced on Nov. 3. The Oregon, Ohio native totaled 58 digs over the two contests last week, an average of 7.25 digs per set. She also posted a reception percentage of .967 overall (58-of-60) to lead the Falcons. In BGSU's five set win over Kent State on Friday, Oct. 30, in which the Falcons were down 2-1 after three sets, Seimet registered a match-high 34 digs, which was also a career-high. The freshman then recorded a match-high 24 digs the following day in a three set match versus Ohio.

MAKE IT A DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Outside hitter Jelena Sunjic and setter Katie Scholten have both posted a team-high six double-doubles on the season. Sunjic's six double-doubles have come by way of kills and digs, while Scholten's double-doubles have all come from assists and digs.

SEIMET DIGGING 20
Freshman libero Kallie Seimet has posted 20 digs or more eight times in her first year at BGSU this season. She totaled 20 digs versus Cleveland State (8/29) and against Loyola (Ill.) (9/5), before registering 28 digs at home against Buffalo (10/3). She also tallied 22 digs versus Eastern Michigan (10/17) and 23 digs at Toledo (10/23). Seimet then posted 34 digs, a career-high, in a win versus Kent State (10/30) and then led BGSU with a match-high 24 digs versus the Ohio Bobcats (10/31). The first-year Falcon totaled 27 digs last weekend in the win on the road at Akron (11/7).

DOUBLE DIGIT STREAKS
Jelena Sunjic posted a season-high streak of 10 straight matches with double digit kills from Sept. 19 to Oct. 23. Not to be outdone, freshman libero Kallie Seimet recorded a career-high streak of 10 straight matches as well with double digit digs. Her streak started with 16 digs in the 3-0 win over Lehigh on Sept. 19 and ended with 23 digs at Toledo on Oct. 23.

WE'LL GO FIVE
Bowling Green doesn't mind using all five sets to determine the outcome of the match, as the Falcons are 5-3 overall in five-set matches this season. BGSU has posted five-set wins over Cleveland State (8/29), IPFW (9/5), Akron (10/2), Kent State (10/30) and again over Akron (11/7).

CAREER MATCH RECORDS SET ALL AROUND THIS SEASON
A number of Falcons set new career match high records so far this season.
   * Ryann Cox: 8 digs vs. Indiana; 2 aces vs. MTSU
   * Kallie Seimet: 34 digs vs. Kent State; 2 aces vs. Indiana
   * Isabel Kovacic: 9 kills vs. Indiana; 6 blocks vs. CSU; 3 service aces (twice); 11 digs at Pitt
   * Jelena Sunjic: 25 kills vs. Akron & at Akron; 17 digs at Toledo & vs. Kent State
   * Katie Scholten: 55 assists vs. Kent State; 8 kills at Toledo
   * Nicole Slimko: 6 blocks vs. Kent State
   * Delaney Arkeilpane: 5 assists vs. CSU
   * Alyssa Maloney: 10 blocks vs. Notre Dame; 5 aces vs. Akron; .529 attack percentage vs. NAU; 10 digs vs. Kent State
   * Madeline Brandewie: 12 kills at Buffalo; 7 blocks vs. CSU
   * Mahlia Blair: 1 dig vs. CMU; 1 block vs. CMU; 1 kill at Toledo

SLOW STARTERS
The young Falcons have been notoriously slow starters this season having been victorious in the first set to start a match just six times out of their 27 matches. BGSU took the opening set versus IPFW 27-25 in the Falcons' 3-2 win over the Mastodons and took set one versus Lehigh 25-15 in a 3-0 sweep at the Panther Invitational. BGSU dominated the Western Michigan Broncos en route to a 25-12 first set win on Oct. 10, held off Eastern Michigan to take the first set 25-18 on Oct. 17 and upended Kent State 25-22 in the first set on Oct. 30. Last week, BGSU beat Akron 25-20 in the first set en route to a 3-2 win on Nov. 7. In fact, the Falcons have been outscored 644-556 over the first set of play on the year.

POWER 5 PLAY IN 2015
BGSU played a total of five matches versus teams out of the Power 5 conferences in Indiana twice, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Pitt. The Falcons went 1-4 overall versus the Power 5 foes with the win coming over the Fighting Irish on Aug. 29 at the Blue Raider Bash.

SUNJIC & SCHOLTEN: PANTHER INVITE ALL-TOURNEY NODS
The Falcons' Jelena Sunjic and Katie Scholten each earned a spot on the Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team on Sept. 18-19. Sunjic led the Falcons with 41 kills, an average of 4.10 per set, on a team-best attack percentage of .277 over the three matches. She also tallied 16 digs, six blocks, one ace and led BGSU with a total of 45.5 points. Scholten passed out 107 assists, an average of 10.70 per set, and totaled 27 digs in 10 sets of play. The sophomore setter also recorded six kills, three blocks and a service ace on the weekend.

MALONEY MAKES IU INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
BG middle Alyssa Maloney was named to the Indiana Invitational All-Tournament Team for the weekend of Sept. 11-12. Maloney was the most consistent Falcon over BGSU's three matches, totaling 21 kills, eight blocks, five service aces and five digs. She also posted a career-high attack percentage of .529 versus NAU on Friday, Sept. 11.

SUNJIC SEIZES HAMPTON INN ALL-TOURNEY RECOGNITION
Outside hitter Jelena Sunjic earned Hampton Inn All-Tournament Team honors from the weekend of Sept. 4-5. Sunjic led the team with 47 kills, 3.92 per set, over the Falcons' three matches. The junior was third on the team with 19 digs and five total blocks. She also led the Falcons with 52.0 total points overall.

#MAKEHISTORYNOW
The 2015 Falcons made history in the first weekend of play with their 3-1 win over Notre Dame at the Blue Raider Bash on Aug. 29. The win was BGSU's first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since defeating Maryland back in 2001. It was also the Falcons' first win over a Power 5 conference foe since beating Indiana of the Big Ten in 2012.

MALONEY GARNERS MAC EAST DPOTW HONORS (9/1)
Junior Alyssa Maloney was a force for the Falcons at the net on opening weekend, as the BGSU middle led the Falcons with a total of 24 blocks, an average of 1.41 per set, over the four matches. She was second on the team with an attack percentage of .262 overall and third in kills with 30 spikes overall. Maloney totaled a season-best 12 kills and 10 total blocks in the 3-1 win over Notre Dame, the Falcons' first win over an ACC foe since beating Maryland in 2001. Her 10 total blocks was a new career-high.

SCHOLTEN SNAGS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS
Sophomore Katie Scholten was named to the Blue Raider Bash All-Tournament Team for her play over the Falcons' four matches on Aug. 28-29. The setter totaled 159 assists, an average of 9.18 per set, 33 digs, 15 kills and nine blocks overall. She posted her first two career double-doubles as a Falcon with 43 assists and 12 digs versus Notre Dame and 49 assists and 11 digs in the 3-2 win over the Vikings of Cleveland State.

FALCONS PICKED FOURTH IN MAC EAST
BGSU Volleyball was picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference East Division, as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches. Ohio was picked to win the East, followed by Miami. Kent State was chosen third, while Buffalo and Akron were selected fifth and sixth, respectively.

SUNJIC NAMED PRESEASON ALL-MAC EAST...AGAIN
BGSU junior outside hitter Jelena Sunjic was named to the Preseason All-MAC East Division Team for the second straight year. Sunjic, who earned 2014 All-MAC First Team honors last season despite missing most of the year due to injury, averaged 3.00 kills per set, which was second-best on the team, and hit a Falcon-best .246 overall for the season. She recorded at least 10 kills in nine of the 14 conference matches in which she competed and blasted a season-best 19 kills later in the year against Miami. Her 35 blocks and nine aces in conference play both ranked third on the team, while she also ranked eighth in the MAC in kills both over the course of the entire season and in conference play.

SCHOLTEN SLIDING IN AT THE SETTER SPOT
After spending most of last year as a freshman learning behind four-year letter award winner Erica Fullenkamp, sophomore Katie Scholten slides into the setter position for the Falcons in 2015. Scholten, who played in 20 matches last season in an injury hampered year, tallied more than 1,300 assists during her high school career at Visitation Academy (Mo.) where she was a first-team all-district selection.

YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Falcons are one of the youngest teams in the country this season, as BGSU has only four upperclassmen on the roster and not a single senior. Coach Tomic's squad consists of four juniors - Jelena Sunjic, Madeline Garda, Delaney Arkeilpane and Alyssa Maloney, two sophomores - Nicole Slimko and Katie Scholten, and five freshmen - Mahlia Blair, Ryann Cox, Kallie Seimet, Isabel Kovacic and Madeline Brandewie.

CHAMPIONS IN THE CLASSROOM
BGSU Volleyball has been recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) for 15 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 all NCAA Division I institutions that sponsor women's volleyball.

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