April 2, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team, having closed the month of March with a home win against a Mid-American Conference foe, begins April by hosting a pair of conference matches ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean conclude a three-match homestand this weekend, hosting Buffalo on Friday afternoon (April 4) and Akron on Saturday (April 5) ... each match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. at BGSU's new tennis complex, located on the north side of Stadium Drive (across the street from Keefe Courts).

THREE (3) NOTES THAT NO SELF-RESPECTING MEDIA MEMBER OR BG TENNIS ENTHUSIAST SHOULD BE WITHOUT
• BGSU is coming off a 7-0 win over Northern Illinois in the team's lone match last weekend ... that win came at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Toledo, and continued the Falcons' recent run of success at the team's 'home away from home' ... BG has won 15 consecutive dual matches at Shadow Valley, and the team is 29-1 at the facility over the last three-plus years ... the Falcons went 6-0 at the venue in the 2004-05 season, 8-1 in '05-06 and a perfect 8-0 last year, and BG is 7-0 at the site this year to date.

• The Falcons' Friday meeting with Buffalo, weather permitting, would be BGSU's first-ever dual match at the program's new tennis complex ... the only other event for the Brown and Orange at the venue was the season-opening BGSU Invitational on Sept. 15-16, 2007 ... obviously, if the UB match is forced indoors, the Akron match then would have a chance to be the first dual match at the new courts.

• This weekend, the Falcons play the teams picked to finish first and last in the MAC regular-season race ... Buffalo was the choice to win the MAC title in the preseason coaches poll ... the Bulls advanced to the championship match of last season's conference tournament ... Akron was tabbed to finish ninth ... the Falcons were picked to place sixth in the conference in 2007-08.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons are 12-2 in dual-match action this season to date, and BGSU enters the weekend with a MAC ledger of 1-2 ... BGSU, after reeling off 11 consecutive wins to begin the dual-match schedule, suffered a pair of narrow losses to start MAC play, falling at Eastern Michigan and Toledo by identical 4-3 scores ... but, the Brown and Orange bounced back with a 7-0 win over Northern Illinois last weekend (March 29).

BGSU spent three weeks in the national rankings prior to the EMU and UT losses ... the Falcons broke into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings on March 4, debuting at 60th in the poll ... that is believed to be the first national ranking in program history ... the Falcons were 54th in the country in the March 11 rankings, and 56th in the March 18 poll.

BG has posted at least 10 dual-match victories for the sixth consecutive season, extending the school record ... prior to the current streak, the longest string of double-digit win totals was four-straight seasons, on two prior occasions (1988-92 and 1996-2000).

Individually, all eight Falcon competitors have posted more than 20 total wins this year to date ... sophomore Samantha Kintzel has 40 overall victories this year to date, while freshman Christine Chiricosta has 38 and sophomore Katia Babina 36 ... juniors Kelsey Jakupcin (33 wins) and Stefanie Menoff (30) and seniors Andrea Volle (29) and Jenna Nussbaum (28) are close behind.

In singles play, all eight Falcon players have winning records ... Menoff has a 17-4 mark, while Chiricosta and Kintzel both are 18-5 ... Jakupcin has a singles record of 15-7 to date, while Volle is 13-6 and Babina 13-8 ... Nussbaum has 12 singles wins (12-5) and junior Libby Harrison 11 (11-5).

In doubles action, Babina has a stellar 23-3 mark, while Kintzel is 22-4 and Chiricosta 20-5 ... all eight Falcons have winning doubles ledgers, with each of them having posted at least 11 victories heading into the UB match.

In dual-match action, Jakupcin has a mark of 12-2 at the top singles flight, while Chiricosta is 11-3 at the second level ... Babina has a 9-4 record at the third flight, with Kintzel 10-2 at flight number four ... Menoff (3-2 at flight five, 6-0 at flight six), Nussbaum (2-1 at #5, 3-1 at #6) and Volle (5-1 at flight five, 1-2 at flight six) also have seen time in the Falcons' singles lineup in dual-match play.

In doubles, Chiricosta and Jakupcin have teamed up for a record of 11-3 at the #1 flight in dual-match action ... the tandem of senior co-captains Nussbaum and Volle is 10-4 at the second level in duals, while the sophomore duo of Babina and Kintzel has gone a stellar 12-1 since the dual-match season began.

THE OPPONENTS
Buffalo is 7-5 in dual-match play this year to date, and the Bulls will take a 2-1 MAC record into Friday's match with BGSU ... last weekend, UB split a pair of home matches, downing Ball State by a 7-0 score before falling to Miami, 5-2 ... the Bulls' other MAC win came at Northern Illinois ... last year's edition of the Bulls went 17-3 overall and 7-1 in the MAC ... UB finished second in the MAC in the regular season, and advanced to the championship match of the conference tournament.

The Falcons lead Buffalo, 9-2, in the all-time series between the teams, but UB's two series wins have come in the last two meetings, after BG had won nine consecutive matches since UB had joined the MAC for the 1998-99 season ... two years ago, UB picked up a 4-2 win over BGSU in the quarterfinal round of the MAC Championships the following month (April 27, 2006) ... last season, the host Bulls pulled out a 4-3 win in late March (March 30, 2007).

Akron has an overall dual-match record of 5-8, and the Zips are 0-3 in MAC action heading into a Friday match at Western Michigan ... four of UA's eight losses have come by 4-3 scores, including the team's last time out, vs. Ball State on Saturday (March 29) ... UA's other MAC matches have come at the hands of Miami (7-0) and NIU (4-3) ... a year ago, the Zips finished 9-13 overall and 0-8 in the MAC.

BGSU holds a 24-2 series advantage over Akron, and the Falcons have won 15 consecutive matches vs. the Zips ... the Falcons captured last year's match, 6-1, in the Rubber City (March 31, 2007) ... UA's two series wins came in back-to-back seasons, 1991-92 and 1992-93.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
In Saturday's Northern Illinois match, BGSU won the doubles point for the 12th time in this season's 14 duals ... the Falcons have swept all three doubles matches on eight of those occasions • Senior Jenna Nussbaum surpassed the 100-win mark for her career on Saturday ... with wins at both singles and doubles vs. NIU, Nussbaum now has a total of 101 combined career wins ... she ranks 18th on that list • Junior Kelsey Jakupcin is the Falcons' active career leader in overall wins ... Jakupcin's two victories vs. the Huskies give her a total of 104 career wins, moving her into a tie for 15th on the BGSU list ... she is deadlocked with Andrea Meister (2003-06) and Tisa Pacella (1989-92) on that chart • Jakupcin picked up her 50th career doubles win on Saturday, tying her for 18th on the BG list ... she has 54 career singles wins, ranking her 16th in school history • Junior Stefanie Menoff returned to the lineup on Saturday, after suffering an injury the previous weekend ... Menoff's singles win against NIU was the 58th of her career, moving her into sole possession of 13th on the BGSU career singles wins list ... she is 58-14 in her career • Menoff now has 89 overall wins, putting her just one victory shy of cracking the BGSU top-20 • Sophomore Samantha Kintzel's two Saturday wins improve her record to a BG-best 40-9 this season ... she has moved into a tie for 11th place on the school single-season list ... in just her second year with the Falcons, Kintzel now has a total of 77 career wins • Senior Andrea Volle, BGSU's active career leader in doubles wins, picked up her 56th such win vs. NIU ... she ranks 12th and Nussbaum 13th (55 doubles wins) in BG history.