BGSU Opens Up Road Schedule At EIU Panther Classic This Weekend

BGSU HITS THE ROAD FOR FIRST TIME IN 2016
After opening the 2016 season with six-consecutive home matches, the Falcons will finally hit the road this weekend. BGSU will travel to the EIU Panther Classic in Charleston, Illinois for a three-match invitational. The Falcons will open the weekend with a Sept. 9 match against Louisiana Tech at 5 p.m. On Sept. 10, the Orange and Brown will conclude the invitational with contests against host Eastern Illinois at 2 p.m. and another neutral site match versus Drake at 5 p.m.

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

TOMIC'S THOUGHTS
After playing our first six matches at home, the EIU Panther Classic will be the first road test for our team. Good teams find ways to win on the road, and this is going to be our first opportunity to earn some wins away from the Stroh Center. Playing two matches back-to-back on Saturday against hosts EIU and then Drake will be challenging. However, I believe learning how to overcome a short time between matches will prepare us well for the MAC Tournament in November, and hopefully the NCAA Tournament. Our focus continues to be on improving our own game by maximizing our ability in each position and each rotation.

SCOUTING THE LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS
The Bulldogs went 3-3 over their first two weekends of the season, as they went 1-2 at the Redhawks Invitational and 2-1 at the Memphis Tiger Invitational. Most recently, Louisiana Tech beat Eastern Illinois and Jackson State, but lost to Memphis at the Memphis Tiger Invitational. On Wednesday (Sept. 7), LA Tech swept Arkansas-Pine Bluff to improve to 4-3 on the year. The Bulldogs are hitting .202 as a team, and averaging 12.6 kills/set, 11.7 assists/set, and 16.6 digs/set. The Lady Techsters went 10-20 last season, and finished 3-13 in Conference-USA play.

SCOUTING THE EASTERN ILLINOIS PANTHERS
Hosts Eastern Illinois dropped its first six games of the season, but have since picked up back-to-back wins over Jackson State and Western Illinois. Eastern Illinois is coming off a strong year in 2015. The Panthers went 16-15, but finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 11-5 record. EIU returns five letterwinners from last year's team, while also losing five. The Panthers are returning three starters, and welcoming eight newcomers into the fold. Through the first eight matches, EIU is hitting .128 and averaging 9.6 kills/set. The Panthers have posted 9.0 assists/set, and 15.0 digs/set.

SCOUTING THE DRAKE BULLDOGS
Drake is off to a nice 6-2 start in 2016, and will enter this weekend's tournament having won five of its last six matches. Last weekend, the Bulldogs went 2-1 at the Omaha Classic, which included a win over Ball State. North Florida and UMKC are the two schools to have beaten Drake this year. The Bulldogs, who are averaging 11.5 assists/set, 18.0 digs/set, while hitting .183 with 12.2 kills/set, finished the 2015 season with a record of 15-20. Drake went 6-12 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

FALCONS FINISH BGSU INVITATIONAL WITH PERFECT 2-0 RECORD
BGSU swept both Fort Wayne and Northern Kentucky at the BGSU Invitational over Sept. 2-3. Bowling Green was the only team at the invitational that went undefeated, as Northern Kentucky went 1-1, and Fort Wayne finished 0-2. The Orange and Brown now own a 3-2 record on the year after going 1-2 at the Hampton Inn Invitational across opening weekend. The Falcons fought off a set point in the final two sets to down Fort Wayne – 25-15, 27-25, 26-24. In the match versus Northern Kentucky, the two teams played a thriller of a first set, before BGSU won the match – 32-30, 25-9, 25-14.

BOWLING GREEN VOLLEYBALL #MakesHistoryNow
Bowling Green swept both Fort Wayne (Sept. 2) and Northern Kentucky (Sept. 3) this past weekend at the BGSU Invitational, marking the first time that BGSU has earned two-consecutive wins via the sweep since September of 2012. Furthermore, all three of Bowling Green's wins in 2016 have been sweeps. Since sets were played up to 25 points, which began in 2001, BGSU has never won its first three matches via the sweep.

GARDA NAMED MVP OF BGSU INVITATIONAL, SUNJIC PLACED ON ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
In Friday's victory over Fort Wayne, Garda registered 17 total digs (5.57 digs/set). On Saturday, there was virtually no drop off, as she registered 15 digs (5.00 digs/set) in a victory over Northern Kentucky. The senior also notched three aces and one kill against NKU. Garda recorded two assists in each match. Sunjic had 15 kills (5.00 kills/set) in the Fort Wayne triumph, and hit a staggering .433. On Saturday, the senior hit .217 with seven kills (2.33 kills/set). For the weekend, Sunjic picked up 22 kills (3.67 kills/set) and hit .340.

MARCINIAK MAKES FIRST SIGNIFICANT IMPACT IN FALCON UNIFORM
After making her Falcon debut in the Sept. 2 match versus Fort Wayne, freshman setter Isabelle Marciniak came on late in the first set against Northern Kentucky (Sept. 3), and went on to serve as BGSU's primary setter for the remainder of the contest. Marciniak did a nice job of setting up the Falcon attack, as she racked up a career-high 25 assists. The Lambertville, Michigan native also tallied four digs in the victory.

SEVEN-FOR-SEVEN FOR NUMBER SEVEN
Sophomore outside hitter Isabel Kovacic, who wears No. 7, had quite the third set in Saturday's (Sept. 3) victory over Northern Kentucky. She hit a perfect 1.000, as she notched seven kills on seven attempts to secure the sweep for the Falcons. Kovacic hit .632 (12-0-19) for the match, and also added eight kills in the Sept. 2 victory over Fort Wayne. The Littleton, Colorado native is averaging 3.29 kills/set, and is hitting .283 for the season.

MALONEY'S MAGNIFICENT MATCH
Alyssa Maloney, a senior middle from Homer Glen, Illinois, had a career match in the Falcons' loss on Sept. 7 to Marshall. Maloney registered 13 kills and hit .600 (13-1-20). For Maloney, the number of kills and the attack percentage were career bests. The senior has tallied double-digit kills in four of BGSU's six matches. Maloney posted 12 kills each in games versus Oakland, Louisville and Northern Kentucky, prior to her 13-kill effort versus Marshall. Maloney was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Hampton Inn Invitational (Aug. 26-27) earlier this season.

THE 41ST YEAR OF FALCON 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 676-567-3 (.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 is in her fifth year at the helm of the program. She owns a 51-62 record at BGSU, and a 209-133 (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.

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.

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