May 2, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team, after advancing to the semifinal round of the Mid-American Conference Championships for the second-straight year, has seen the 2007-08 season come to an end ... the Falcons of head coach Penny Dean concluded the campaign with an overall dual-match record of 16-5 and a MAC mark of 4-4.

LAST WEEK
The Falcons split a pair of matches at the MAC Championships ... fifth-seeded BGSU posted a 4-2 win over #4 seed Eastern Michigan in last Friday's (April 25) quarterfinal round, before falling to top-seeded Western Michigan in semifinal action the next day ... the win over EMU avenged a 4-3 loss in the MAC regular-season opener ... the 2008 tournament marked the second-straight season BG had advanced to the semifinals, after bowing out in the quarterfinal round in each of the six previous tournaments (2001-06).

FIRST SERVES
• The Falcons, as mentioned, ended the season with a dual-match record of 16-5 ... BGSU tied the school's single-season record for wins ... Penny Dean's 1998-99 team originally set the record, going 16-7 that season.

• The 2007-08 Falcons ended the season with the highest winning percentage in three decades ... BG's .762 win rate marks the program's highest since the 1977-78 team finished 8-2 (.800) in dual matches ... the school record is .909 (10-1), by the Janet Parks-coached 1974-75 squad.

• The win over Eastern Michigan on Friday (April 25) marked the 200th victory of Dean's BGSU tenure ... she now has a dual-match record of 200-182 in 18 seasons at the Falcon helm ... overall, Dean's record is 246-226 in 22 years as a collegiate head coach.

• The Falcons' senior class of Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle concluded their careers as the winningest class in program history ... Nussbaum and Volle helped the Falcons to a total of 55 dual-match wins, the most victories in a four-year span in BGSU annals ... prior to this season, the record was 51 wins (from the 1996-97 to 1999-2000 seasons).

• Nussbaum and Volle also became only the third class in BGSU women's tennis history to post a winning dual-match record in all four of their seasons.

• BGSU won the doubles point 17 times in this season's 21 dual matches ... the Falcons swept all three doubles matches vs. 10 opponents, and took two of the three matches on seven occasions ... BG was never swept in doubles play this season.

• Junior Kelsey Jakupcin was named to the All-MAC First Team, while freshman Christine Chiricosta earned all-conference second-team honors ... sophomore Katia Babina represented the Falcons on the MAC's All-Tournament Team.

JAKUPCIN, CHIRICOSTA NAMED TO ALL-MAC TEAM
As mentioned, a pair of BGSU standouts were named to the 2008 All-MAC Team ... junior Kelsey Jakupcin was voted to the first team, while freshman Christine Chiricosta earned all-league second-team honors ... both players earned all-league accolades for the first time in their respective Falcon careers ... the all-conference team and specialty-award winners were announced last Thursday night (April 24) at the MAC Championships Banquet in Buffalo ... Jakupcin, a native of Dublin, Ohio (Bishop Watterson HS), becomes the second Falcon in as many years - and just the third BGSU tennis standout in the last decade - to be named to the All-MAC First Team ... Jakupcin's sister, Ashley, was a first-team choice last year.

BABINA EARNS ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Sophomore Katia Babina was named to the MAC's All-Tournament Team ... Babina was instrumental in the Falcons' win over Eastern Michigan, picking up wins in both singles and doubles ... in doubles play, she teamed with junior Stefanie Menoff for an 8-4 win at the third flight, helping BG win the doubles point ... then, in singles action, the teams split the first four matches which finished, giving BGSU a 3-2 match lead ... after losing her opening set to Tina Bestehorn by a 6-2 result, the Falcon soph battled back to win a second-set tiebreaker, and went on to a 6-4 victory in the third set ... Babina's victory at the third flight clinched the match and a trip to the semifinals for the Falcons.

CHIRICOSTA EARNS LEAGUE'S FINAL P-O-W AWARD OF 2007-08
Freshman Christine Chiricosta was named the MAC Player of the Week last Wednesday (April 23) ... she earned the honor after winning in both singles and doubles in the Falcons' regular-season match vs. Western Michigan ... she downed WMU's Priyanka Parekh in straight sets at the number-two singles flight, and teamed with junior Kelsey Jakupcin for a top-flight doubles win at well ... Chiricosta's award marked the third MAC P-O-W honor for the Falcons this year, as Jakupcin was recognized on both Jan. 23 and Feb. 13.

TENNIS FALCONS EARN PUBLIC RECOGNITION AWARD FROM NCAA
Three BGSU teams - including the tennis Falcons - were honored with public recognition awards by the NCAA for their latest Academic Progress Rate scores ... the announcement was made last Thursday (April 24) ... BG was one of just three MAC institutions to have three teams on the list ... these teams, which included the Falcons' women's golf and volleyball teams, posted multi-year APR scores in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports ... it marked the second-straight season that each of the three BG programs had been so recognized.

THE FALCONS IN THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Falcons now have a record of 9-14 since the MAC Championships went to the current format (teams advance rather than individuals) prior to the 1996-97 season ... last season, BGSU posted a come-from-behind win over Miami in the quarterfinal round, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since the 2000 season ... this year, obviously, the Falcons made another trip to the semifinal round.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
The Falcons, as mentioned, concluded the 2007-08 season with an overall dual-match record of 16-5, and BG finished with a 4-4 league ledger, good for a tie for fifth place in the nine-team race ... BGSU tied the school single-season record for wins, and the Falcons' winning percentage (.762) was the program's best in three decades.

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 to win the next three contests, downing Northern Illinois, Buffalo and Akron ... Miami snapped that streak with a 6-1 win over the Falcons, but BG bested Ball State by a 6-1 result before falling to Western Michigan, 5-2, to end the regular season.

In the MAC Championships, the Falcons, seeded fifth, avenged the regular-season loss to EMU with a 4-2 win over the Eagles ... top-seeded WMU downed the Falcons by a 4-0 count in the semifinals.

BGSU spent three weeks in the national rankings in March ... 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 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) ... the Falcons, as mentioned, matched the school single-season record with 16 victories.

Individually, all eight Falcon competitors posted more than 20 total wins this year, with seven of the eight having surpassed 30 victories ... freshman Christine Chiricosta led the way with 46 overall wins, while sophomores Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel recorded 44 and 41 victories, respectively ... junior Kelsey Jakupcin had 39 wins and senior Andrea Volle 36 ... junior Stefanie Menoff won 35 times this year, while senior Jenna Nussbaum closed the season with 33 overall wins.

In singles play, all eight Falcon players had winning records ... Chiricosta had a 21-7 mark, while Menoff was 20-6 and Kintzel 18-6 ... Kintzel missed the last six duals of the season due to a stress fracture ... both Babina and Jakupcin had singles records of 17-11, while Volle was 16-9 ... Nussbaum finished 13-10 in singles play, with junior Libby Harrison going 12-6.

In doubles action, Babina had a stellar 27-5 mark, while Kintzel was 23-4 and Chiricosta 24-8 ... Jakupcin had 22 doubles wins (22-11), while Nussbaum (20-12) and Volle (20-14) each had 20 ... in fact, all eight Falcons had winning doubles ledgers, with each of them having posted at least 14 victories (Menoff 15-6, Harrison 14-7).

In dual-match action, Jakupcin had a mark of 14-6 at the top singles flight, while Chiricosta went 15-5 at the second level ... Chiricosta had a team-best record of 5-3 in MAC dual-match action ... she was 1-0 in the MAC Championships, and was a game away from being 2-0, before her singles match vs. WMU was halted ... Babina had a record of 13-7 at the third flight, with Kintzel finishing 10-3 at flight number four.

Menoff was 5-3 at flight five and 7-0 at flight six in dual-match play, with Nussbaum (1-4 at #4, 3-2 at #5, 3-1 at #6) and Volle (6-1 at flight five, 3-5 at flight six) having been in the starting lineup at multiple flights as well throughout the dual portion of the schedule ... as mentioned, Kintzel missed the last four regular-season matches and the two contests in the MAC Championships ... in her absence, Nussbaum stepped up to play at the fourth flight for the remainder of the regular season, with Menoff seeing action at the fifth singles flight in three of those contests ... Volle played at the sixth flight in three of the last four regular-season duals, and at the fifth flight in the other ... Menoff went 4-2 in MAC play, while both Jakupcin and Babina were 4-4 vs. conference foes ... in the conference tournament matches, Menoff played at the fourth flight, with Nussbaum at the fifth and Volle in the number-six spot.

In doubles, Chiricosta and Jakupcin teamed up for a record of 15-6 at the #1 flight in dual-match action ... the tandem of senior co-captains Nussbaum and Volle was 14-6 at the second level in duals ... both teams went 5-3 in MAC action ... the sophomore duo of Babina and Kintzel was a stellar 13-1, including 4-0 in MAC play, during the dual-match season ... in Kintzel's absence, Babina teamed with Harrison in the Miami and BSU matches, and with Menoff in the regular-season contest vs. Western and in the two MAC Championships matches ... overall, Babina went 6-1 in MAC doubles play during the regular season and 1-1 in the conference tourney ... both losses came to WMU.

ANOTHER WINNING RECORD
The Falcons finished with a winning mark for the fourth consecutive year, tying the school record ... BG also had four-straight winning seasons from 1974-75 through 1977-78, as well as from 1996-97 through 1999-2000.

FASCINATING FALCON FACTS
(a few more interesting tidbits about the BGSU tennis program, in no particular order)
• The quarterfinal win over Eastern Michigan, as mentioned, avenged a 4-3 loss to the Eagles in the teams' regular-season meeting ... in fact, it snapped a nine-match series losing streak ... the last BG victory over EMU had come in the 1999-2000 season.

• The Falcons had a tremendous amount of success in doubles play this season ... BGSU captured the doubles point in 17 of this season's 21 duals, sweeping all three doubles matches on 10 of those occasions.

• BG doubles teams had an aggregate record of 83-34 this year ... Falcon singles competitors had a combined record of 135-66 on the season.

• Katia Babina finished the season with an eye-popping doubles record of 27-5 ... the sophomore's doubles win total is the third-highest in school history ... Devon Bissinger and Tracy Howitt share the record, with 32 doubles wins in the 1998-99 season.

• Freshman Christine Chiricosta closed her initial collegiate campaign in style ... Chiricosta won six of her last seven total matches, and was a game away from another win (her conference tournament singles match vs. WMU was halted with her leading, 6-3, 5-3) ... she ended the season with a team-leading total of 44 overall wins ... that total ranks her fifth on the BGSU single-season list ... Chiricosta had a team-leading 22 singles wins this year to tie for 12th on that BG list ... her 24 doubles victories placed her second on the team this season and tied her for fourth all time.

• Babina had 44 overall wins this year ... that total deadlocks her for seventh place on the school's single-season list ... Kintzel was 13th with 41 wins this year, and is tied for seventh on the seasonal doubles chart (23).

• Of the eight members of the 2007-08 Falcon squad, four are on the BGSU top-20 list for combined career wins ... junior Stefanie Menoff became the latest Falcon to crack the list, doing so in the Akron match on April 5 ... she ranks 20th with a career total of 94 victories.

• Junior Kelsey Jakupcin is the Falcons' active career leader in overall wins ... she now has 110 career victories, ranking 15th in BGSU annals ... senior co-captains Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle are on that list as well ... Nussbaum finished her BG tenure with 106 career wins, ranking her 16th in school history ... Volle ends her career ranked 19th, having amassed 103 victories in her storied Falcon tenure.

• Volle, the career leader in doubles wins among '07-08 Falcons, ended the year with 60, ranking her 10th on that BGSU list ... Nussbaum is right behind, finishing with 59 career doubles victories to tie for 11th in Falcon history.

• Menoff has 61 career singles wins, tops among active Falcons ... she ranks 13th in BG history ... Menoff is a stellar 61-16 in career singles play, including a 15-3 mark in MAC dual-match action.

• Jakupcin has 56 career singles wins to tie for 15th in BG history, while Nussbaum posted 47 such wins to rank 19th.

• Jakupcin earned three conference weekly awards this year ... the junior picked up a MAC Player-of-the-Week honor twice this spring, being recognized on both January 23 and February 13 ... additionally, Jakupcin was named a MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week on April 3 ... the award is presented to one male and one female each week, who has a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better and performs well during the previous week's competition ... Jakupcin has a 3.69 cumulative GPA as a communication disorders major.

• Chiricosta, as mentioned, also earned a conference weekly honor ... she garnered the final MAC Player-of-the-Week award of the season, being recognized on April 23.

THANKS, SENIORS
As mentioned, head coach Penny Dean and the Falcons lose the services of two seniors off the 2007-08 squad ... Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle co-captained the team, and helped the Falcons post a total of 55 dual-match victories - the most wins in a four-year span in program history - since they arrived on campus in the fall of 2004.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2008-09
Falcon head coach Penny Dean is slated to return six student-athletes from this year's team ... Libby Harrison, Kelsey Jakupcin and Stefanie Menoff will be seniors in 2008-09, while Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel will be entering their junior year when August rolls around ... Christine Chiricosta will be the team's lone sophomore ... Dean announced the signing of Jessica Easdale (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome HS) to a National Letter of Intent during the April signing period.