The volleyball team finished their season a little over a week ago, again in a tough five game loss to Ball State in the Mid-American Conference Semifinals Match.
“We had a tremendous season,” said head coach Denise Van De Walle. “It was disappointing to lose to Ball State when we had such an exciting win over Western a few days earlier.”
The Falcons finished out the season 21-8 overall and 12-6 in the MAC. This record was good enough for a first place finish in the MAC East Division.
“I was happy to repeat as East Division champions by ourselves this year since last year we shared the title,” Van De Walle said. ?Midway through the season it didn’t look like we would win the division.”
The Falcons were 12-6 at one point in the season, but they stepped up and won eight games in a row.
This year the Flacons were led by senior Caty Rommeck who led the conference in kills per game with 4.59. She also ranked second in blocks (1.36) and eighth in hitting percentage (.304).
Yesterday Rommeck was named to the All-Mideast Region volleyball team, which is the same region as the Big Ten.
“Only 12 players are acknowledged, and their are eight regions, so only 96 players can receive this honor,” Van De Walle said. “It has been 10 years since someone from BG was won this.”
Rommeck is just the fourth Falcon player to earn all-region honors in the history of the program. Tammy Schiller and Lisa Mika were the most recent players honored from BG. They received this honor in 1991.
She was also named to the All-MAC first team for her second year in a row, while junior Kristin Gamby earned honorable mention.
“I was proud of Caty making first team,” Van De Walle said. “I was also proud of Gamby being honorable mention. I was a little disappointed that Natalie Becker’s talent went unnoticed. I thought she could have made first team.”
The Falcons have six seniors graduating this year: Rommeck, Becker, Amber Vorst, Shyann Robinson, Kate Yeo, and Karen Amstrutz.
“You can never replace seniors,” Van De Walle said. “Losing six players is a lot. We are going to miss the leadership of the seniors. Next year I hope the other players can step up.”
Next year the Falcons will move to the West Division in the MAC, which according to Van De Walle is a tougher division, but she said she’s up for the challenge.
“I hated to see the season end,” Van De Walle said. “I would have liked to see this team compete in the championship match against Northern Illinois.”
