Bowling Green volleyball coach Denise Van De Walle thumbed through her team’s media guide. The 19-year veteran coach was trying to find a period during her coaching career when she had a bigger tournament win than this past weekend at the Hoosier Invitational.
“We had a big tournament win in 1990,” Van De Walle said. “That was the last time I think we won a big tournament. We beat Temple, Maryland, George Washington and Cincinnati. We’ve won some little tournaments like our tournament here (2000) and the Western Michigan Invitational (1997). But that was a great tournament in ’90. We were solid.”
It took a lot of searching, though, to find a bigger tournament win, which says a lot about the BG’s spikers victories over Tennessee, Indiana and Maryland this past weekend. All three opponents were strong including Tennessee, who went 23-10 last season and made it to the NCAA Tournament. The Volunteers also collected votes for the 2001 USA Today Preseason Top 25. Each match came right down to the wire. The Falcons won all three matches in five games.
“I don’t know if I can take five game matches the rest of the season,” Van De Walle said. “I would like to think we are good enough to beat somebody in three or four. It’s big to win in five against big teams like that.”
Senior captain Caty Rommeck continued on the same track as she did last year. The first-team All MAC middle hitter was named tournament MVP and MAC Offensive Player of the Week. Rommeck totaled 78 kills, 45 digs and 20 blocks for the weekend. In just over two seasons, Rommeck has been named MAC Player of the Week a school record seven times.
Rommeck and senior setter Natalie Becker were named to the All-Tournament team. Becker steered the offense, averaging 12.07 assists per game. Van De Walle also mentioned that junior middle-hitter Kristin Gamby and sophomore right-side hitter Laura Twyman played big roles in the Falcon wins. Twyman helped the cause against Tennessee with 11 kills and six blocks. Twyman was flawless in the match, without an error. Gamby slammed down 47 kills against the Volunteers and Hoosiers. Van De Walle called the middle, which includes Gamby and Rommeck, as unstoppable at times.
“Caty and I fed off each other,” Gamby said. “Becker kept feeding us the ball and we knew what to do with it. Caty was on fire and I was playing right off of it.”
Friday, the Falcons shocked Tennessee winning 24-30, 30-26, 29-31, 30-21, 19-17. Rommeck led the Falcons with a team high 21 kills and a career-high 19 digs. Gamby added 17 kills and two solo blocks. Sophomore Susie Norris had a career-high six service aces. Every BG player saw action in the game, including freshmen Melissa Mohr and Bridget Protas, who saw their first collegian action in a Falcon uniform.
“That was a huge win because we played steadily in that fifth game,” Van De Walle said. “There was never a lead of more than two points in that fifth game. It seemed like we were the ones always catching up and tying. They were ahead and serving for match point three times. But we fought back and won.
Saturday morning’s match against Indiana didn’t have the same back-forth theme of Friday’s marathon win. Although it did turn into a marathon. After winning the first two games 30-22 and 34-22, the Falcons dropped the next two games 28-30 and 24-30. The fifth game was once again on BG’s fortune. The Falcons rolled 15-11 in the final game to win the match. Gamby lead the team with a career-high 29 kills. Rommeck added 27. Senior defensive specialist Kate Yeo added 17 digs.
The Falcons found themselves with a two game lead against Maryland as well. Like Indiana, the Terrapins came back in game three and four to take BG to a final game. The Falcons came out strong jumping out to a 6-0 lead and winning the match a tournament after the 15-9 fifth game.
“We met and exceeded my expectations over the weekend,” Van De Walle said. “We knew that it was going to be a very challenging weekend. Our goal was to go in there and be competitive. We definitely wanted one win, and we’d would have felt good if we went 2-1. Going 3-0 feels extremely good.”
BG looks to continue its success this weekend at the MIchigan State Tournament against Idaho, Winthrop and the No. 27 Spartans.
