Volleyball Continues Tournament Action at NKU Invitational

>>FALCONS HIT THE ROAD FOR FIRST TIME OF 2017 CAMPAIGN
After kicking off the 2017 season with the Hampton Inn Invitational, followed by hosting the BGSU/Toledo Invitational, the Falcons will hit the road for the first time this season. Bowling Green will first face Sacramento State on Friday, Sept. 8 at 3:30 p.m., followed by Seattle on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. The Falcons will then round out competition against host-school Northern Kentucky Saturday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m.

>>FOLLOW THE FALCONS
The Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) will be broadcasting all BGSU matches at http://www.bgrso.net/falcon-radio.html. Additionally, all 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 HORNETS (3-5, 0-0 Big Sky)
First up for the Falcons will be the Sacramento State Hornets on Friday (Sept. 8) at 3:30 p.m. The Hornets opened the 2017 season at the Jack Kaiser Classic in Queens, N.Y. and went 3-1. Sacramento State has had a single match at home in which they dropped a 3-1 score to Pacific, prior to competing in the Boise State Invitational and going 0-3, for a current season record of 3-5.

By averaging 3.24 kills per set and totaling 107 thus far, senior Shannon Boyle leads the Hornets offensively. Additionally, Boyle's six service aces are second most of the team, three shy of senior setter Kennedy Kurtz' nine on the year. Defensively, junior Lana Brown has accounted for 34 total blocks on the season, while senior libero Brigitte Murdock has averaged 4.24 digs per set for 140 on the year.

>>SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS (1-5, 0-0 WAC)
Bowling Green will face Seattle on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in their first of a doubleheader to round out the NKU Invitational. The Redhawks opened the 2017 campaign with a 3-1 victory over Loyola-Chicago in the Cal Molten Classic, although Seattle has since dropped five consecutive matches. In this weekend's tournament, Seattle will open competition against host-school Northern Kentucky on Friday, Sept. 8 at 4 p.m., prior to facing the Falcons.

Offensively, the Redhawks are led by Katarina Marinkovic by 62 kills and a 3.10 kills per set average. Marinkovic also boasts four service aces thus far, while Rachel Stark holds five on the year. Behind the ball, Tijana Milojevic has dug 63 balls for a 3.32 digs per set average. At the net, Maja Stojanovic has jumped for 16 total blocks for 0.89 blocks per set.

>>SCOUTING THE NORSE (3-0, 0-0 Horizon)
To round out the NKU Invitational, the Falcons will take on host-school Northern Kentucky at 7 p.m. Saturday evening (Sept. 9). The Norse were set to open the season at the Barcelona HBU Classic, but the tournament was cancelled due to Hurricane Harvey. The team then officially opened the season on Sept. 1 when it competed in the Duquesne Invitational and went undefeated against Robert Morris (W, 3-0), Duquesne (W, 3-1), and Canisius (W, 3-0). Prior to facing the Falcons, Northern Kentucky will take on Seattle on Friday evening (Sept. 8) at 6 p.m. and Sacramento State on Saturday (Sept. 9) at 12:30 p.m.

Returning to the Norse offense is sophomore Haley Libs, who tallied 340 kills and 3.24 kills per set last season. Libs also led the team in service aces with 28 on the year, while senior Georgia Childers returns to the net after marking 72.0 total blocks in 2016.

>>BRANDEWIE NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Junior Madeline Brandewie led the Bowling Green squad in kills in both matches of the weekend; tallying six against ACC powerhouse Notre Dame, as well as eight in a dominate sweep of Southeastern Louisiana. With a season-high hitting percentage of .727 in the three sets Saturday night, Brandewie was named to the 2017 BGSU/Toledo Invitational All-Tournament Team. Additionally, Brandewie topped the Falcons defensively by marking a solo block and three block assists on the night against the Lions to help round out the tournament with a sweep at home.

>>SEIMET STANDING OUT
Junior libero Kallie Seimet set a season-high marker on Saturday night against Southeastern Louisiana when she tallied a total of 26 digs through three sets played. It marked Seimet's third 20-plus dig match of the year thus far, and is her most digs in a match since Nov. 7, 2015 (27, at Akron).

>>FALCONS SET TO BEGIN 42ND 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 698-578-3 (.547), including an overall MAC record of 283-252 (.529). 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'S STAFF FOR 2017
Danijela Tomic enters her sixth year at the helm of the program. 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 returns assistant coach Alex DelPiombo for a second season, while Alison Cooke joins the program for her first season as an assistant coach for the Falcons. Evan Antal begins his second season as the director of operations. Cooke was previously the volunteer assistant at Duke University since March 2015. The Falcons are also assisted by first-year volunteer assistant coach Andrew Sydow, who was a men's volleyball student-athlete at Mount Olive.

>>BGSU SET TO HOST 13 MATCHES FOR 2017 CAMPAIGN
Not only will the Falcons host back-to-back tournaments inside of the Stroh Center to open the 2017 season, but Bowling Green is set to host 13 home matches in total. After playing three matches in the Hampton Inn Invitational (Aug. 25-26) and two matches in the BGSU Invitational (Sept. 1-2), the Falcons will head directly into Mid-American Conference action versus Northern Illinois (Sept. 23) at home.

>>ORANGE AND BROWN BOOST A YOUNG AND EXPERIENCED ROSTER
The Falcons return 11 players from the successful 2016 season, which includes just one senior on the 15-member roster. Joining senior outside hitter Nicole Slimko on the court this season will be four juniors, six sophomores and four freshmen. Freshmen saw significant action on the court this past weekend, and accounted for 24 of the Falcons 75 kills, as well as 6 of 10.5 blocks through 6 sets played.

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Madeline Brandewie

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