For the BG tennis team, it’s all about second chances in tomorrow’s Mid-American Conference Championships opening round.
The fifth-seeded Falcons (15-4, 4-4) will look to avenge an early-season loss to fourth-seeded Eastern Michigan (9-12, 5-3) in the quarterfinal round in Buffalo, N.Y.
BG and EMU met to open conference play with the Eagles winning 4-3, ending the Falcons’ 11-game winning streak and dropping them out of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings.
Coach Penny Dean’s Falcons are excited about the rematch.
“I’m looking forward to playing EMU,” Dean said.
“I felt that despite losing to them 4-3 during the regular season, we are a better team and we get a second chance to prove it.”
“It’s always nice to play a team for a second time because you already know going into the match how you want to play them and what you’re going to get from them,” Andrea Volle said.
The Eagles have had the Falcons’ number as of late.
EMU has won nine straight matchups against the Falcons, including a 4-1 victory in the 2005 MAC Championships quarterfinal round.
BG is 1-3 against EMU in championship play, with the Falcons’ lone win coming in 1997.
Since the MAC Championships moved to its current format – teams advancing rather than individuals, BG is 8-13.
Both teams have been hot as of late, with BG winners of 4-of-6 and EMU winners of 4-of-5.
The Falcons will look to get off to a quick start by winning the doubles point – something they’ve done in 16 of the 18 dual matches.
Leading the way for the Falcons are the duos of Kelsey Jakupcin/Christine Chiricosta and Jenna Nussbaum/Volle, both of whom went 14-5 and 5-3 in the MAC at the first and second flights, respectively.
At the third flight will be Katia Babina and possibly Stefanie Menoff, if Sam Kintzel and Libby Harrison aren’t back from injuries.
In singles play, the Falcons are led by Jakupcin and Chiricosta with identical records of 14-5 at the first and second flights, respectively.
Babina is 12-6 at the third flight, while Kintzel is 10-3 at the fourth flight. Rounding out the Falcon netters are Menoff (12-3), Nussbaum (7-6) and Volle (8-5).
Volle, who will be making her final MAC Championships appearance along with Nussbaum, plans on leaving it all out on the court in her final collegiate match.
“When I come off the court after my last match, I don’t want to have any energy left, mentally or physically,” she said. “I want to know that I left it all there.”
Like Volle, the Falcons will give it their all, in hopes of winning a championship, starting tomorrow in the quarterfinal round against the Eagles at 10 a.m. at Ellicott Tennis Center on Buffalo’s campus.
With a win the Falcons will likely get a second chance to avenge another loss – last weekend’s 5-2 loss to Western Michigan – in the semifinal round on Saturday.