Volleyball Opens 2016 Season By Hosting Hampton Inn Invitational

COMPLETE MATCH NOTES (.PDF)

FALCONS HOST HAMPTON INN INVITATIONAL TO OPEN 2016 SEASON
To open the 2016 season, the Falcons will be welcoming VCU, Oakland and Louisville to the Stroh Center for the Hampton Inn Invitational. In total, six matches will be played between the four schools. On Friday (Aug. 26), BGSU will take on VCU at 2:30 p.m. and Oakland at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Orange and Brown will conclude the invitational with a 2 p.m. first serve against Louisville.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
The Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) will be broadcasting all three BGSU matches at www.falconradio.org/listen-live/. Additionally, all six matches will have live stats, which can be found at www.BGSUFalcons.com. Fans are also encouraged to follow BGSU volleyball on Twitter at @BGSUVolleyball for in-match updates.

SCOUTING THE RAMS
First up for the Falcons will be the VCU Rams on Friday (Aug. 26) at 12:30 p.m. The Rams finished the 2015 season with a 14-17 record, including an 8-6 mark in Atlantic-10 play. VCU's offensive attack returns three of its top five leaders in kills last season, which includes sophomore Sahbria McLetchie, who led the squad in 2015 in kills with 383. McLetchie also led the team in points (439.5). Rebekah Strange, who led VCU in digs (417) last season, also returns, as does Tori Baldwin – the team leader in 2015 with 109 blocks. Indigo Thompson, however, who led the Rams with 1,169 assists, is one of VCU's bigger losses from last year's team.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Bowling Green will face Oakland in the night cap on Friday, with the match slated to start at 7 p.m. The Golden Grizzlies made it all the way to the Horizon League Championship Game last year, but lost, 3-1, to Valparaiso. Oakland went 8-0 on the road in conference play in 2015, and finished with an overall record of 18-13 (12-4 Horizon). Oakland returns two all-league selections from last year's squad, including Sammy Condon, who led the 2015 Golden Grizzlies in blocks/set (0.96). Also returning to Oakland this season are Melissa Deatsch and Alli Gutschow, who led OU in kills/set (3.17) and digs/set (3.49), respectively.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
The Louisville Cardinals went 25-7 in 2015 and captured the ACC title. The Cardinals also went 18-2 in conference play during the regular season. Louisville defeated Belmont in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but fell to Illinois in round two. The Falcons and Cardinals will conclude the Hampton Inn Invitational on Saturday (Aug. 27) at 2 p.m. Louisville returns a handful of impact players from last season. The ACC's Freshman of the Year, Molly Sauer, returns to the fold. Along with Sauer, Janelle Jenkins and Tess Clark were named to the ACC's Preseason Team.

FALCONS SET TO BEGIN 41ST YEAR OF VARSITY VOLLEYBALL
Bowling Green State University volleyball dates back to 1967, when the program started as a club team. In 1976, BGSU started competing at the varsity level. The Falcons have racked up a program record of 675-565-3 (.544), including an overall MAC record of 273-246 (.526). The Orange and Brown last won the MAC Tournament and appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 – Danijela Tomic's first year at the helm of the program. The Falcons have won two MAC Tournament titles (2012, 1991), two East Division titles (2001, 2000), and have won the MAC regular-season title three times (1992, 1991, 1989).

TOMIC ASSEMBLES NEW STAFF FOR 2016
Danijela Tomic enters her fifth year at the helm of the program. She owns a 50-60 record at BGSU, and a 208-131 (11 seasons) overall record as a head coach. She guided the Falcons to a MAC Tournament title and a win in the NCAA Tournament in her first year at BGSU in 2012. Tomic has assembled a completely new staff for the 2016 season. Alex DelPiombo and Efrain Negron join the program as assistant coaches, while Evan Atal begins his first season as the director of operations. DelPiombo was recently an assistant at Samford, while Negron was the volunteer assistant at Appalachian State in 2015.

SUNJIC NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-MAC TEAM
Senior Jelena Sunjic was named to the East Division's seven-member Preseason All-MAC squad, the league announced on Aug. 22. Sunjic continues to rack up accolades as she prepares for her final season in the Orange and Brown. She was named to the MAC's All-Freshmen Team in 2013, before being named First Team All-MAC in 2014, and Honorable Mention All-MAC last season. Sunjic led BGSU in kills last season with 398, and enters this season with a career total of 865. Her 454.0 points also led the squad in 2015, and she is also nearing the 1,000-point milestone as she currently sits with 986.5 points.

BGSU SET TO HOST MOST HOME MATCHES SINCE 2005
Not only will the Falcons host back-to-back tournaments inside of the Stroh Center to open the 2016 season, but BGSU is set to host a total of 15 home matches, which is the most in program history since 2005. After playing three matches in the Hampton Inn Invitational (Aug. 26-27) and two matches in the BGSU Invitational (Sept. 2-3), the Falcons will play non-conference matches against Marshall (Sept. 7) and Valparaiso (Sept. 13) before opening conference play versus Miami (Sept. 22).

BOWLING GREEN COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL EUROPEAN TOUR
The Falcons toured Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Italy spanning May 15-24. Coach Danijela Tomic was able to introduce her team to her family, as she is from Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Jelena Sunjic and Isabel Kovacic hail from Croatia and had the exact same opportunity. BGSU was able to visit a number of beautiful and historic cities on the tour, including Sarajevo, Kraljeva Suteska and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Metkovic, Split, Zadar, Pag, Rovinj and Porec in Croatia; and Venice, Verona and Milan in Italy. The team was also able to gel on the court, playing a total of five matches.

ORANGE AND BROWN BOOST A YOUNG AND EXPERIENCED ROSTER
The Falcons return six starters, plus a libero, from the 2015 squad that did not have any seniors. This year's version of the Falcons have just four seniors on the 16-member roster, but the team is still very experienced, given that a lot of the younger players have picked up match experience over the past few seasons. Only two of the returning starters are seniors, while three are sophomores. Jelena Sunjic, Alyssa Maloney, Madeline Brandewie, Nicole Slimko, Katie Scholten, Isabel Kovacic and Kallie Seimet (libero) return as starters from the 2015 team.

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