March 3, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team, after posting two wins in Cincinnati, now makes a slightly longer road trip ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean continue a six-match road swing with a pair of dual matches in the state of California ... BGSU faces UC San Diego in Tuesday (March 4) action, before meeting Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday (March 6) ... the UCSD match is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (3:00 p.m. Eastern), with the Pomona contest slated for a 1:30 p.m. PT first serve.

THREE NOTES THAT NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR BG TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• The Falcons enter the UCSD match looking to tie a school record ... BGSU's 9-0 start to the dual-match season is the second best in school history ... the best start in BGSU annals was 10-0, by the Janet Parks-coached 1973-74 team.

• The longest winning streak in school history (at any time of the season) is 11 matches, set two seasons ago ... the 2005-06 squad, after a 2-4 start to the dual-match schedule, won 11 consecutive contests from Feb. 11 to March 25.

• BGSU is one win away from reaching 10 dual-match victories for a sixth consecutive season ... the current streak of posting double-digit win totals in five-straight seasons already is the longest in school history ... BGSU had had four-straight 10-win seasons twice before (1988-92 and 1996-2000).

ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons are 9-0 in dual-match action this season to date ... BGSU is coming off a pair of road wins in the Queen City, a 7-0 triumph over Cincinnati and a 6-1 win at Xavier (Feb. 23-24) ... in both matches, the Falcons swept the three doubles contests to take an early 1-0 lead ... BGSU captured all six singles matches at UC, and won matches at each of the top five singles flights vs. XU.

Individually, all eight Falcon competitors have posted at least 18 total wins this year to date ... freshman Christine Chiricosta leads the pack with 31 overall victories, followed closely by sophomores Samantha Kintzel (30) and Katia Babina (28) and juniors Kelsey Jakupcin and Stefanie Menoff (26 apiece).

In singles play, all eight Falcon players have winning records ... Menoff leads the way with a 15-2 mark, while Chiricosta is 14-4 and Kintzel 13-5 ... senior Andrea Volle has a singles record of 11-5 to date, while Jakupcin is 11-6 and Babina 10-6.

In doubles action, Babina has a stellar 18-3 mark, while Chiricosta is 17-3 and Kintzel 17-4 ... all eight Falcons have winning doubles ledgers, with seven of the eight posting at least 11 double-digit victories heading into the UCSD match.

In dual-match action, junior Kelsey Jakupcin has a mark of 8-1 at the top singles flight, while Chiricosta is 7-2 at the second level ... Babina has a 6-2 record at the third flight, while Kintzel (5-2), Volle (5-1 at flight five) and Menoff (5-0 at flight six, 2-0 at flight five) have played the bulk of the duals at the bottom three flights.

In doubles play, Chiricosta and Jakupcin have teamed up for an 8-1 record at the #1 flight in dual-match action ... the tandem of senior co-captains Volle and Jenna Nussbaum is 7-2 at the second level in duals, while the sophomore duo of Babina and Kintzel has gone 7-1 since the dual-match season began.

THE OPPONENTS
UC San Diego has an overall record of 5-3 in dual-match play this year to date ... the Tritons are coming off a 6-1 loss to UC Davis on Saturday (March 1), snapping a three-match win streak ... UCSD, a member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association in NCAA Division II, has won 43 consecutive league matches ... the Tritons' last CCAA loss was on April 19, 2003 ... last season, UCSD posted a 14-9 dual-match record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Championships.

BGSU and UC San Diego have never met in women's tennis.

Cal Poly Pomona, also a member of the CCAA, had a dual-match mark of 2-4 heading into a Monday (March 3) match at Azusa Pacific ... the Broncos are coming off a 9-0 win over Occidental, breaking a three-match losing streak ... Cal Poly Pomona finished 8-14 overall last season, missing out on the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time in six years.

BGSU leads Cal Poly Pomona, 1-0, in the all-time series between the teams ... the only prior meeting came 13 years ago in Pomona ... Penny Dean's Falcons won a 5-2 decision on March 18, 1995.

A FEW MORE FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
• The Falcons are in the midst of a six-match road swing ... BGSU's next scheduled home competition is not until March 29.

• BGSU has swept all three doubles matches in each of the last four matches ... BGSU has gone 3-0 in doubles in six of the last seven duals.

• The Falcons have won the doubles point in eight of this season's nine dual matches to date ... the lone exception was the Indiana State contest of Feb. 10, and BGSU rallied to win four of the six singles matches for a 4-3 win.

• Junior Kelsey Jakupcin has made a successful jump to the top singles flight this year, to say the least ... Jakupcin began the dual-match schedule with six consecutive wins, before losing to Duquesne's Zena Williams ... she rebounded for two wins in the Queen City to improve to 8-1 in dual-match play at the top flight.

• Another junior, Stefanie Menoff, is a perfect 8-0 in singles play in the dual portion of the schedule ... Menoff now has a career singles record of 56-12 ... Menoff is BG's active career leader in singles wins, and is now tied for 14th on that school career list.

• Jakupcin's singles win at Xavier was the 50th of her career, tying her with Tisa Pacella (1989-92) for 16th place on the BG list.

• Senior co-captains Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle teamed up for a pair of wins at the second doubles flight in Cincinnati ... Volle now has 53 career doubles wins, while Nussbaum has 52 ... Volle has tied Susie Schoenberger (2002-05) for 14th place on that BGSU career list, while Nussbaum currently sits in 16th place.

• Jakupcin's four wins last weekend (one singles, two doubles) give her 97 in her career, tops among active Falcons ... she is 17th on the BGSU list ... Nussbaum now has 94 wins, ranking 18th, while Volle is now 19th in school history with 91 total wins in her career.

* Jakupcin and freshman Christine Chiricosta have an overall doubles record of 10-1 together this season, including an 8-1 mark in dual-match play ... sophomores Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel are 9-1 as a team this year, including a 7-1 record in duals.