Volleyball Returns to the Stroh to Host Akron & Buffalo This Weekend

Akron (7-8, 1-1 MAC)
at
Bowling Green (4-11, 0-2 MAC)
Match 16
Friday, October 2, 2015; 7 p.m. ET
Stroh Center / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO ON ESPN3
LIVE AUDIO
WEEK 6 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

Buffalo (2-12, 1-1 MAC)
at
Bowling Green (4-11, 0-2 MAC)
Match 17
Saturday, October 3, 2015; 5 p.m. ET
Stroh Center / Bowling Green, Ohio
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO ON ESPN3
LIVE AUDIO
WEEK 6 - BGSU MATCH NOTES

MAC HOME WEEKEND
The Falcons will host their first MAC weekend of play this weekend when both Akron (Oct. 2) and Buffalo (Oct. 3) come to town. This is the first of four MAC home weekends for BGSU on the season.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Both matches during the weekend can be followed via live stats by going to www.BGSUFalcons.com. BGRSO will also be on-hand to provide flagship audio coverage of both of the BGSU matches at www.falconradio.org. The two matches will also be video streamed live at ESPN3. 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.

WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Friday, Oct. 2 - Perrysburg Night; Saturday, Oct. 3 - Youth Sports Night & Findlay Night
BGSU fans, come out to the Stroh Center this weekend to enjoy a full slat of BGSU volleyball action. Perrysburg (Friday) and Findlay (Saturday) residents have the opportunity to pre-purchase tickets for a low price of $2 for the previously listed days. Youth Sports Night will also take place on Saturday night, where all aspiring young athletes can receive a pre-purchased $2 ticket to the volleyball match as well. Make sure to call the BGSU Ticket Office at 877-BGSU-Ticket to get your $2 tickets for this weekend's matches. Discounted tickets are only redeemable in advance and offers are not acceptable on the day of the match.

AUTOGRAPHS! GET YOUR FALCON AUTOGRAPHS!
The BGSU volleyball team will be signing autographs not once, but twice this weekend. The Falcons will be in the concourse signing autographs after Friday night's match versus Akron and after Saturday night's match versus Buffalo.

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 next Coach Tomic Chalk Talk session is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m. prior to the Falcons' home match versus Buffalo at 5 p.m. The session will take place in the Stroh Center classroom next to the coaches' offices and is open to all volleyball season ticket holders. For a complete listing of the Coach Tomic Chalk Talk sessions click here.

RES. LIFE CHALLENGE ON FRIDAY NIGHT
Throughout the academic year select BGSU Athletic home events will be designated as a Residence Hall Challenge Event (Schedule here). For Friday night's volleyball versus Akron be sure to claim your ticket using the new student ticketing website. By scanning your ticket at the match, the ticket department will track your attendance based by floor. The number of students from each floor will be counted, and the floor with the most students will win a chance to play volleyball on Bill Frack Court at the Stroh, as well as earn points to the year long competition.

FALCONS ALL-TIME VERSUS WEEKEND FOES
The Falcons are 34-16 overall versus Akron and have posted a record of 17-8 overall at home against the Zips. In fact, BGSU is a perfect 4-0 versus the Zips in the Stroh Center. BGSU is 25-6 all-time versus Buffalo in volleyball action and is 15-2 overall versus the Bulls at home in Bowling Green, Ohio. The Falcons are 3-1 at home against the Bulls since the Stroh Center opened in 2011. Bowling Green split its two regular season match ups with both Akron and Buffalo last season, winning both home matches over the Zips and Bulls.

HOME SWEET STROH
BGSU will play at home for just the third and fourth times this weekend when they host Akron and Buffalo in MAC East play. The Falcons last played at home on Sept. 4-5 when they hosted the Hampton Inn Invitational. BGSU has covered a lot of miles thus far this season, as 12 of its 15 matches have been either on the road or at neutral sites away from the Stroh Center.

BGSU IN MAC PLAY IN 2015
The Falcons opened up their 2015 MAC slate on the road last weekend with losses at Ohio and at Kent State. BGSU picked up double digit kills from Jelena Sunjic in both matches, yet struggled to find its offensive rhythm in each contest. The Falcons hit just .098 in the loss to Ohio, the defending MAC Champions, and recorded an attack percentage of .154 at Kent State the following night. Libero Kallie Seimet totaled 33 digs over the two conference matches, while setter Katie Scholten recorded 60 set assists. BGSU did improve across the board statistically from the MAC opener at Ohio to the second bout at Kent State.

FALCONS AT HOME UNDER TOMIC
Since head coach Danijela Tomic's first season with the Falcons in 2012, BGSU has gone 21-14 overall at home in the Stroh Center. Under Tomic's leadership, BGSU is 17-7 overall in MAC play at home and have finished each year at .500 or better at home in conference play in each of the last three years.

FOCUS ON THE FALCONS
BGSU will be playing at home for the first time since Sept. 4-5 this weekend with conference contests versus both Akron and Buffalo. The Falcons are looking to snap a two-match skid and pick up their first MAC win of the young conference season. Offensively, Bowling Green is led by the duo of Jelena Sunjic and Nicole Slimko, who each have over 170 kills apiece on the year, while Sunjic ranks fourth in the MAC with an average of 3.73 kills per set. Setter Katie Scholten is fifth in the MAC with an average of 9.45 assists per set with her total of 529 assists, while junior Alyssa Maloney is fifth in the MAC in blocks at 1.09 per set and sixth in service aces with an average of 0.36 per frame. Libero Kallie Seimet leads BGSU with 207 digs, while defensive specialist Madeline Garda has totaled 173 digs on the year.

ANALYZING AKRON
Akron enters play this weekend at 7-8 overall and 1-1 in MAC play having split with Buffalo and Ball State last week. The Zips, who won five straight matches from Sept. 4-12, have four players with over 93 kills each on the year led by Amanda Bedell and her team-high 155 kills. Bedell ranks fourth in the MAC with a .322 hitting percentage overall and is sixth with an average of 3.37 kills per set on the season. Akron as a team leads the MAC in total service aces with 123 overall, 36 more aces than the next MAC team. Dragana Micic and Kelsey Wilson sit at No. 1 and No. 2 in the MAC in service aces with 29 and 25 each, respectively. Akron and the Falcons have two common foes thus far this season in Cleveland State and Wright State. BGSU defeated CSU 3-2, but fail to WSU 0-3, while the Zips lost 1-3 to the Vikings and split two matches with Wright State, 3-2 and 1-3.

BREAKDOWN OF BUFFALO
Buffalo, who will play at Miami on Friday, Oct. 2, is 2-12 on the season overall and 1-1 in MAC play having defeated Toledo 3-1 in its last match. The Bulls, who lost to Akron 3-1 on Sept. 24, are ranked 12th in the MAC in hitting percentage, kills, assists, aces and digs. However, Buffalo is second in the MAC in blocks, with an average of 2.28 per set. Cassie Shado leads the Bulls and is ranked ninth in the MAC with a .298 attack percentage and is fourth in the MAC in blocks with an average of 1.20 per set. Senior Megan Lipski has recorded a team-best 145 kills on the year, which puts her 10th in the MAC with an average of 2.90 kills per set, while freshman Valisha Watkins and Shado have totaled 110 and 104 kills apiece, respectively, on the year.

COACH'S COMMENTS
"We are excited to finally be playing at home after three tough weeks on the road. Even though the opening weekend of MAC play did not go the way that we wanted, our team is ready to bounce back against Akron and Buffalo. Akron is another significantly improved team from last year that is playing with a lot of confidence right now. They run a 6-2 offense which means that we will have to defend against three front row hitters in every rotation. They also lead the MAC in aces per set, so our serve receive will be one of the keys for our success against them. We will have to be very disciplined in executing our game plan against both teams, but also play with a lot of heart and intensity. Even though we are only in the second week of the MAC play, our team needs to start playing with a sense of urgency, so we can build momentum for the rest of the season which goes very fast."

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: 20 digs vs. CSU & Loyola; 2 aces vs. Indiana
   * Isabel Kovacic: 9 kills vs. Indiana; 6 blocks vs. CSU; 3 service aces (twice); 11 digs at Pitt
   * Jelena Sunjic: 22 kills vs. CSU; 13 digs vs. Loyola
   * Katie Scholten: 49 assists vs. CSU & IPFW; 3 aces vs. IPFW
   * Delaney Arkeilpane: 5 assists vs. CSU
   * Alyssa Maloney: 10 blocks vs. Notre Dame; 3 aces (twice); .529 attack percentage vs. NAU
   * Madeline Brandewie: 8 kills at Pitt;7 blocks vs. CSU

FIVES SETS ... NO PROBLEM
The Falcons are 2-1 this season in five set thrillers. BGSU came back from down 2-1 versus Cleveland State at the Blue Raider Bash on Aug. 29 and at home versus IPFW on Sept. 5 to win 3-2 by taking both the fourth and fifth sets in each contest. The Falcons' lone five set loss came in the season opener against Indiana on Aug. 28.

SLOW STARTERS
The young Falcons have been notoriously slow starters this season having been victorious in the first set to start a match just twice out of their 13 matches. BGSU took the opening set versus IPFW 27-25 in the Falcons' 3-2 win over the Mastodons and most recently took set one versus Lehigh 25-15 in a 3-0 sweep at the Panther Invitational. In fact, the Falcons have been outscored 370-298 over the first set of play thus far on the year.

POWER 5 PLAY IN 2015
BGSU played a total of five matches versus teams out of the Power 5 conferences 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 Falcons 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.

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.

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 .631. At 205-120 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 her first three seasons heading into the 2015 slate.

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 trek back on the road for MAC contests at Miami and Western Michigan next week. BGSU will play at Miami on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. before heading north to face off with Western Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m.

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