Nov. 18, 2002

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THIS WEEK

The Bowling Green volleyball team (4-12 MAC; 9-19 overall) goes into the final week of regular season play as they travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan on Friday, October 22, to face Western Michigan (7:00 p.m.) and then return home on Saturday, October 23, to host Central Michigan in an afternoon match that will begin at 3:00 p.m.

In the first match of the weekend, the Falcons will face Western Michigan. Head coach Cathy George and her Broncos hold a 12-17 overall record and a 6-10 MAC mark. In the first meeting of the two squads earlier this season (Oct. 4), the Broncos defeated BG in four games, 30-23, 30-23, 27-30, 30-20. Leading the BG attack was Kristin Gamby who recorded 20 kills and 11 digs for her first double-double of the 2002 season. Sophomore Bridget Protas also notched double digits in the kill department with 11.

Western's offense is led by junior Carman Malone who is averaging 3.55 kills-per-game. Malone currently ranks eighth in the league in kills. WMU leads the all-time series 23-16.

In the final regular season match of 2002, the Falcons will host the Central Michigan Chippewas. The Chips are 12-18 overall and 7-9 in the league. BG was victorious in the first meeting earlier this season (Oct. 25) in three games, 30-22, 30-21, 30-21. The Orange and Brown was again led by Gamby who tallied 15 kills on 30 attempts for a .400 efficiency. Junior Susie Norris also helps the BG attack as she recorded 9 kills on 25 attempts for a .320 average. Bowling Green leads the all-time series 18-16.

Offensively, CMU is led by sophomore Emily Lovejoy who is averaging 3.87 kills-per-game, a mark good enough for fourth in the MAC. Junior setter Shaleene Glombowski is also posting good offensive numbers as she averages 11.85 assists-per-game. The Chips are also putting up good numbers in the backcourt with freshman Ali McCrite recording 4.14 digs-per-game, a mark good enough for third in the league.

LAST WEEK

Over the weekend, BG saw the best of both worlds. On Friday (Nov. 15), the Falcons defeated Buffalo in three sets, 30-28, 31-29, 30-21, however, on Sunday (Nov. 17), the Falcons dropped a four-game match to NIU, 24-30, 30-20, 31-33, 23-30.

BG's match against Buffalo was the first meeting of the two teams this season. Emily Manser and Kristin Gamby posted 12 kills apiece for the Falcons and each tallied double-doubles after impressive performances in the backcourt as well. Manser recorded 10 digs while Gamby totaled 12. This was Manser's fourth D&D of the season and Gamby's fifth.

In BG's s match against Northern Illinois, the Falcons were handed their 19th loss of the season. Despite this, there were some positives. Gamby posted 22 kills and a season-high .486 hitting efficiency. Manser again tallied a double-double, her fifth of the season, with 12 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Taylor Twite also recorded good numbers at the net with 13 kills.

NEARING A MILESTONE

Senior Kristin Gamby is three kills away from a major career milestone. The Mt. Victory, Ohio native owns a total of 997 kills thus far in her career. By notching 1,000, Gamby will rank 11th in the BGSU record books, nudging out former Falcon Nicky Mudrak. With an additional 15 kills, Gamby could also move into 10th place in the books, edging out former letterwinner Heather Murphy who tallied 1,015 during her career at BG.

NORRIS MOVIN' ON UP

Junior Susie Norris moved up the school records list in three separate categories over the weekend. Norris is now ranked 10th in BG history in attack attempts with a total of 2,585. This total edged out former Falcon Caty Rommeck who tallied 2,582 in her career. In the digs-in-a-season column, Norris now sits at 10th with 360, passing Melissa Lewis and Jessica Andrasko who each totalled 359 during their respective careers for BGSU. With four more digs, Norris could move into ninth place in the same category to pass by Lisa Mika who recorded 364. The Bascom, Ohio native also recently moved into seventh place in the career digs category (1,109), nudging out Carlyn Esslinger who racked up 1,107 during her time with the Orange and Brown.

DOUBLES PARTNERS

Freshman Emily Manser tallied her fourth and fifth double-double performances of the season last weekend in matches against Buffalo (Oct. 15) and Northern Illinois (Oct. 17). The Westerville, Ohio native posted 12 kills and 10 digs in the Falcon's win over Buffalo and recorded 12 kills and 12 digs against NIU. Kristin Gamby also tallied a double-double, her fifth of the season, with 12 kills and 12 digs in the three-game win over UB.

MAC TOURNAMENT DREAMS FADE

With the Falcon's loss to Northern Illinois on Sunday (Nov. 17), BG's hopes for a Mid-American Conference tournament berth have faded. BGSU has advanced to the MAC tournament 12 times during Denise Van De Walle's 20 years as the Falcons' head coach. Over the past 10 seasons, eight of Van De Walle's squads have moved to post-season play with four of those teams advancing to the semi-final round.

VAN DE WALLE 365th, 170th

Falcon head coach Denise Van De Walle earned her 365th career victory and her 170th Mid-American Conference victory with a win over Miami University on Saturday, October 19. The dean of MAC mentors is in her 20th season at the helm of the BG program and has compiled an overall record of 368-246 (.600).

Van De Walle became the first-ever coach to amass 350 career wins at a MAC school, reaching that plateau in the Falcons' Oct. 20, 2001 win over Marshall...the team's 21 wins last season enabled her to become the winningest coach in league history...Van De Walle's total of 171 MAC wins through last week's matches ranks her third all-time on that list.

FALCON STAFF

Jeff Belmonte (Aquinas '89) is in his first season with the Falcon program...Belmonte was named assistant coach in March of 2002...Sean Huiet is in his third season with the BG volleyball program, and his second as an assistant coach.