Volleyball Opens Up 2015 Season this Weekend at the Blue Raider Bash

Bowling Green (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
vs.
Indiana (0-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Match 1
Friday, August 28, 2015; 1:00 p.m. ET
Alumni Memorial Gym / Murfreesboro, Tenn.
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
WEEK 1 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

Bowling Green (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
vs.
Middle Tennessee (0-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Match 2
Friday, August 28, 2015; 6:30 p.m. ET
Alumni Memorial Gym / Murfreesboro, Tenn.
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
WEEK 1 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

Bowling Green (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
vs.
Notre Dame (0-0, 0-0 ACC)
Match 3
Saturday, August 29, 2015; 11:00 a.m. ET
Alumni Memorial Gym / Murfreesboro, Tenn.
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
WEEK 1 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

Bowling Green (0-0, 0-0 MAC)
vs.
Cleveland State (0-0, 0-0 Horizon)
Match 4
Saturday, August 29, 2015; 8:30 p.m. ET
Alumni Memorial Gym / Murfreesboro, Tenn.
LIVE STATS
LIVE AUDIO
LIVE VIDEO
WEEK 1 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

FALCONS OPEN UP 2015 SEASON THIS WEEKEND
The Falcons will open up the 2015 regular season slate this weekend at the Blue Raider Bash hosted by Middle Tennessee State University. The two-day tournament will be the first of four in season tournaments this year for BGSU.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
All four matches during the weekend can be followed via live stats, courtesy of Middle Tennessee State University at www.goblueraiders.com. BGRSO will be on-hand to provide flagship audio coverage of all the matches as well 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 WEEKEND FOES
Overall BGSU is 22-28 all-time versus this weekend's foes in Indiana (2-2), Middle Tennessee (1-1), Notre Dame (2-8) and Cleveland State (18-17).

FOCUS ON THE FALCONS
BGSU has a young team in 2015 with four juniors, two sophomores and five freshmen. However, the 2015 squad returns five starters from last year's team and six letterwinners overall highlighted by 2014 All-MAC First-Team selection in junior Jelena Sunjic and sophomore Nicole Slimko who led the Falcons with 340 kills overall and an average of 3.24 kills per set last year.

INVESTIGATING INDIANA
The Indiana Hoosiers are coming off a 15-17 overall record last season in which IU went 6-14 in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers return five starters and a total of 11 letterwinners from last season. Returning for IU is senior outside hitter Amelia Anderson, who led the team with 312 kills last season, junior setter Megan Tallman, who recorded a team-best 1,159 assists last year, and junior outside hitter Taylor Lebo, who was ranked 13th in the NCAA with 51 service aces in 2014. The Hoosiers were picked to finish 12th in the 2015 Big Ten Preseason Poll.

MEDDLING WITH MIDDLE TENNESSEE
The Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders will open up the season by hosting the Blue Raider Bash this weekend. MTSU is coming off a season in which the Blue Raiders went 9-21 overall and 5-11 in Conference USA play in 2014. Middle Tennessee returns just six letterwinners from last season, and only two starters and a libero from 2014. The Blue Raiders will have seven new faces make their intercollegiate debuts in 2015, while 2015 C-USA Preseason All-Conference Team member Chelsea Ross, who led the team with 490 kills a year ago, and sophomore libero Jacqueline Lux, who recorded a team-best 425 digs last year, will look to help the Blue Raiders improve on their record from 2014. Middle Tennessee was picked to finish eighth in the 2015 C-USA Preseason Poll.

NOTING NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will have a new leader in charge in 2015, as Jim McLaughlin was named the new head coach in Jan. 2015. McLaughlin is the only person to coach both a women's and a men's volleyball team to NCAA titles and has over 25 years of head coaching experience. Notre Dame, who went just 6-23 overall and only 3-15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014, will have a mix of both new and old in seven returners and seven newcomers in 2015. The Fighting Irish return 2014 All-ACC Freshman Team selection in Sam Fry, who was third on the team with 242 kills last season. However, Notre Dame's freshmen class includes Meg Morningstar, the USA Today High School Gatorade Player of the Year in Pennsylvania last year, as well as two 2nd-Team Under Armour High School All-Americans in Ryann DeJarld and Katie Houser. The Irish were picked to finish ninth in the 2015 ACC Volleyball Preseason Poll, while Fry was named to the 2015 Preseason All-ACC Team.

CATCHING UP ON CLEVELAND STATE
The Cleveland State Vikings will also open up its 2015 regular season slate this weekend at the Blue Raider Bash. The Vikings are coming off a 14-14 season in 2014, in which CSU went 7-7 in Horizon League play. The Vikings return two of their top-three hitters from last season in Grace Kauth and Christina Toth who combined for 530 kills a year ago. CSU also brought in six newcomers in 2015 and only lost four letterwinners from last year.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"We are excited to open our 2015 season this weekend at MTSU against four quality opponents. This will be our first real test to see where our team is in its development, and the data we will collect will give us a realistic picture of what our strengths and weaknesses are at this point of our season. Our focus this weekend will be mostly on what we need to do on our side of the net to make sure that we are playing within our system. This will especially be the case with our matches against Indiana and Notre Dame because we won't be able to see them play and will have limited information for scouting. The goal is to see our team compete, play to win and get better each match. If we do those things, winning will take care of itself."

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.

KEY RETURNERS FOR 2015
BGSU will look to a number of key returners in 2015. 2014 First-Team All-MAC and 2013 All-MAC Freshman Team selection Jelena Sunjic will look to bounce back from an injury plagued season in which she played in just 15 matches in 2014. Sunjic had 168 kills overall and an average of 3.00 kills per set in just 15 matches in 2014. She posted a team-best .246 attack percentage in 2014 and was fourth on the team with 37 total blocks. Sophomore Nicole Slimko led the Falcons with 340 kills overall and an average of 3.24 kills per set last year as a freshman and was also second on the team with 22 service aces and fourth with 192 digs. Junior libero Madeline Garda returns after leading the MAC in digs in conference play with an average of 5.88 per set and finished second overall in the MAC with 4.89 digs per contest last year. She also led the team with a total of 513 digs and ranked third with 14 service aces on the season. Delaney Arkeilpane, who started in 27 matches for BGSU last season, posted a team-best .953 serve receive percentage and ranked third on the team in digs with 197 in 2014. Junior Alyssa Maloney returns after playing in all 28 matches for the Falcons in 2014 in which she was second on the team with 86 blocks and fifth in kills with an average of 1.48 per set.

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.

THE TOMIC FILE
BGSU volleyball coach Danijela Tomic is one of the winningest coaches in NCAA Division I, posting a career winning percentage of .648. At 201-109 overall, she posted her 200th career win a 3-0 sweep of Akron on Oct. 31, 2014. Tomic helped the Falcons to a 22-11 mark in her initial season at Bowling Green in 2012 and has guided BGSU to a 27-21 record in the Mid-American Conference over the past three seasons.

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.

UP NEXT FOR THE FALCONS
The Falcons will continue their 2015 regular season slate with the Hampton Inn Bowling Green Invitational on Sept. 4-5. BGSU will host a four team round robin event in IPFW, Wright State, Loyola (Chicago) and BGSU. The Orange and Brown will play Wright State on Friday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m., before hosting both Loyola (Chicago) at 12:30 p.m. and IPFW at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5.

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