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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Friday, March 20
Bowling Green, OH
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
vs
Northern Illinois
After playing three-straight matches on the road, the Falcons are back home to open the MAC schedule this weekend
Photo by: Bianca Garza, BGSU Marketing and Communications
Huskies, Broncos Come to NW Ohio as MAC Play Begins
March 19, 2015 | Women's Tennis
BGSU meets NIU, WMU this weekend
The Bowling Green State University tennis team opens Mid-American Conference play with a pair of dual matches this weekend. The Falcons of head coach Olga Elkin will begin league competition on Friday (March 20), facing Northern Illinois University. Then, on Sunday (March 22), the Brown and Orange will meet Western Michigan University.
Both of this weekend's matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus. In the event of inclement weather, matches would be moved indoors at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
"We are looking forward to beginning the MAC season this weekend, and we are excited about playing in front of our home fans," said Elkin. "We hope the weather cooperates and we have a great home atmosphere at Keefe Courts as we take on NIU and WMU."
The Falcons are coming off of a 7-0 loss to UIC on Sunday (March 15). After being forced to field a partial lineup in each of the prior two matches, Elkin and assistant coach Stephanie Dalmacio were able to field a complete six-player lineup for both singles and doubles vs. the Flames. BGSU, ravaged by injuries this season, had just five players in the lineup at Michigan State on Feb. 21, and only four players travelled to IPFW for the team's Feb. 27 match vs. the Mastodons.
Freshman Megan Miller leads the Falcons with 13 wins this season, including six singles victories and seven doubles wins. Miller, who played at the number-two singles flight for each of the Falcons' first six duals, missed the IPFW match due to injury, and has played at the top flight in each of her last two appearances.
Sophomore Harley Hutchison has played the bulk of the spring season at the top spot, but was at the number-two flight at UIC. The rest of the lineup, which has fluctuated due to the aforementioned injuries, has included freshmen Emily Witt and Sydney Seeley and sophomores Antonina Farrar, Leeah Floyd and Brittany Plaszewski.
Only Farrar, Floyd and Witt have been in the singles lineup for all nine dual matches to date, and only Floyd and Witt have been in both the singles and doubles lineups in every spring match.
Northern Illinois enters Friday's action with a record of 9-3 in dual-match play. After an 8-0 start, the Huskies have dropped three of the last four duals, with all three losses coming on the road (against SIU, DePaul and Bethune-Cookman). Senior Nelle Youel is a perfect 22-0 in the spring portion of the season, with a 12-0 mark at the top singles flight and a 10-0 record with junior Cristina Alvarez in doubles under first-year coach Tanya Gombera. Last season, the Huskies finished the year with a 7-12 overall mark and a 1-7 MAC ledger. Northern was predicted to finish eighth in the MAC in 2015 by the league's head coaches, according to the preseason poll.
Western Michigan is 8-7 on the year, heading into Friday's MAC opener at Miami. Four of the program's seven losses have come to teams ranked in the top 50 – Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Michigan. Last year, Betsy Kuhle's team went 13-11 overall and 2-6 in the MAC, and the Broncos were tabbed to finish fourth in the league this spring by the MAC's head coaches. The WMU roster, like the BG roster, features just one upperclass player, as Western has one senior, four sophomores and four freshmen.
BGSU holds a 15-11 lead over Northern Illinois in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won the last 10 meetings. Last season's matchup saw the Brown and Orange receive dominant performances from the top of the lineup en route to a 6-1 win over the Huskies at the Perrysburg Tennis Center (April 4, 2014). Two years ago, BG posted a 5-2 road win (March 29, 2013). NIU's last win over BGSU came at the old Keefe Courts in April of 2004.
The Falcons trail Western Michigan, 38-2, in that series, but BGSU has won the last two matches after losing no fewer than 38 consecutive meetings with the Broncos. Last year, the Falcons won a thriller, rallying for a 4-3 win over the Broncos at the PTC in the MAC opener for both clubs (March 22, 2014). BG took the doubles point, but Western won the first three singles matches that were completed. Needing to win all three remaining matches, the Falcons did just that, with wins at each of the top-three flights. Two years ago, on the final day of the regular season (April 20, 2013), the Falcons picked up a 5-2 win on the road to clinch not only a berth in the MAC Championships, but the number-two seed for the league tourney.
Only two players on the 2014-15 BGSU roster, junior Drew Fillis and sophomore Harley Hutchison, saw action in last year's NIU and WMU matches. Fillis played at the fifth singles and top doubles flights in each of those matches. After playing a pair of doubles matches in this season's opening tournament (Sept. 12-13 at Miami), Fillis has missed the rest of the season to date due to injury. Hutchison played at the sixth singles and third doubles flights vs. both the Huskies and Broncos last spring.
Following this weekend's matches, the Falcons will return to the road for the next two contests. BGSU will face Akron next Friday (March 27), before meeting Buffalo two days later (Sunday, March 29). The Falcons then return home to begin a two-match homestand which includes duals vs. Toledo (April 3) and Miami (April 11).
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Both of this weekend's matches are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at Keefe Courts on the BGSU campus. In the event of inclement weather, matches would be moved indoors at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
"We are looking forward to beginning the MAC season this weekend, and we are excited about playing in front of our home fans," said Elkin. "We hope the weather cooperates and we have a great home atmosphere at Keefe Courts as we take on NIU and WMU."
The Falcons are coming off of a 7-0 loss to UIC on Sunday (March 15). After being forced to field a partial lineup in each of the prior two matches, Elkin and assistant coach Stephanie Dalmacio were able to field a complete six-player lineup for both singles and doubles vs. the Flames. BGSU, ravaged by injuries this season, had just five players in the lineup at Michigan State on Feb. 21, and only four players travelled to IPFW for the team's Feb. 27 match vs. the Mastodons.
Freshman Megan Miller leads the Falcons with 13 wins this season, including six singles victories and seven doubles wins. Miller, who played at the number-two singles flight for each of the Falcons' first six duals, missed the IPFW match due to injury, and has played at the top flight in each of her last two appearances.
Sophomore Harley Hutchison has played the bulk of the spring season at the top spot, but was at the number-two flight at UIC. The rest of the lineup, which has fluctuated due to the aforementioned injuries, has included freshmen Emily Witt and Sydney Seeley and sophomores Antonina Farrar, Leeah Floyd and Brittany Plaszewski.
Only Farrar, Floyd and Witt have been in the singles lineup for all nine dual matches to date, and only Floyd and Witt have been in both the singles and doubles lineups in every spring match.
Northern Illinois enters Friday's action with a record of 9-3 in dual-match play. After an 8-0 start, the Huskies have dropped three of the last four duals, with all three losses coming on the road (against SIU, DePaul and Bethune-Cookman). Senior Nelle Youel is a perfect 22-0 in the spring portion of the season, with a 12-0 mark at the top singles flight and a 10-0 record with junior Cristina Alvarez in doubles under first-year coach Tanya Gombera. Last season, the Huskies finished the year with a 7-12 overall mark and a 1-7 MAC ledger. Northern was predicted to finish eighth in the MAC in 2015 by the league's head coaches, according to the preseason poll.
Western Michigan is 8-7 on the year, heading into Friday's MAC opener at Miami. Four of the program's seven losses have come to teams ranked in the top 50 – Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee and Michigan. Last year, Betsy Kuhle's team went 13-11 overall and 2-6 in the MAC, and the Broncos were tabbed to finish fourth in the league this spring by the MAC's head coaches. The WMU roster, like the BG roster, features just one upperclass player, as Western has one senior, four sophomores and four freshmen.
BGSU holds a 15-11 lead over Northern Illinois in the all-time series between the teams, and the Falcons have won the last 10 meetings. Last season's matchup saw the Brown and Orange receive dominant performances from the top of the lineup en route to a 6-1 win over the Huskies at the Perrysburg Tennis Center (April 4, 2014). Two years ago, BG posted a 5-2 road win (March 29, 2013). NIU's last win over BGSU came at the old Keefe Courts in April of 2004.
The Falcons trail Western Michigan, 38-2, in that series, but BGSU has won the last two matches after losing no fewer than 38 consecutive meetings with the Broncos. Last year, the Falcons won a thriller, rallying for a 4-3 win over the Broncos at the PTC in the MAC opener for both clubs (March 22, 2014). BG took the doubles point, but Western won the first three singles matches that were completed. Needing to win all three remaining matches, the Falcons did just that, with wins at each of the top-three flights. Two years ago, on the final day of the regular season (April 20, 2013), the Falcons picked up a 5-2 win on the road to clinch not only a berth in the MAC Championships, but the number-two seed for the league tourney.
Only two players on the 2014-15 BGSU roster, junior Drew Fillis and sophomore Harley Hutchison, saw action in last year's NIU and WMU matches. Fillis played at the fifth singles and top doubles flights in each of those matches. After playing a pair of doubles matches in this season's opening tournament (Sept. 12-13 at Miami), Fillis has missed the rest of the season to date due to injury. Hutchison played at the sixth singles and third doubles flights vs. both the Huskies and Broncos last spring.
Following this weekend's matches, the Falcons will return to the road for the next two contests. BGSU will face Akron next Friday (March 27), before meeting Buffalo two days later (Sunday, March 29). The Falcons then return home to begin a two-match homestand which includes duals vs. Toledo (April 3) and Miami (April 11).
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Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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