On the night of April 23, senior Bowling Green tennis player Nikki Chiricosta was awarded the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year.
Chiricosta becomes the first MAC Player-of-the-Year-Award winner in BGSU women’s tennis history.
She was practicing her serve the night the award was announced.
“Who else but Nikki would be out practicing her serve on her own, during the last week of her senior season, when she found out about her award?” head coach Penny Dean said. “That’s why she is where she is, and I couldn’t be happier for both Nikki and Emily for earning these honors.”
Chiricosta and the Falcons travel to Oxford, Ohio to participate in the MAC championships this weekend.
The Falcons will enter the tournament as the sixth seed and will face third-seeded Eastern Michigan Friday. Last weekend the Falcons saw their season long four game match winning streak come to an end when they fell to Ball State last Friday and then they fell to Miami University the last time they were in Oxford.
Last year the Falcons had a successful run at the championship as last year’s team won 4-2 over Akron before advancing to the championship match for the first time in program history. In the championship match the Falcons faced Miami and unfortunately lost by a score of 4-3.
Eastern Michigan enters Friday’s match with an overall record of 13-8, and the Eagles finished the MAC regular-season schedule with a 6-2 MAC record.
The Falcons are seeking to avenge their 7-0 loss to Eastern Michigan earlier in the year on March 29. That day saw the Eagles take all three of the doubles matches and then they took all five of the singles matches. Sophomore Katie Brozovich made things interesting in her singles match as she forced a third set against Nino Mebuke but she dropped that last set against her 7-5 as the Falcons did not get the point.
On the season, senior Nikki Chiricosta leads the Falcons with 41 overall wins, while sophomore Katie Brozovich has 38 and senior Emily Reuland has 32. Chiricosta leads the team with 19 singles wins this season, and Brozovich and Reuland are right behind her with 18 wins. In doubles Nikki Chiricosta leads the team with an overall record of 22-10 while Brozovich her partner has an overall doubles record of 20-9 this season.
It has indeed been a successful season for Chiricosta as she earned the Falcon Medal of Honor for females, which was announced at the BGSU Department of Athletics’ annual Athletics Honors Night at the Stroh Center. The Falcon Medal of Honor is the highest award given by the department. The award is given to the male and female student-athlete who represents the spirit of the qualities BGSU Athletics and is prestigious for all student-athletes, scholarship, athletics, leadership and service.
Reuland along with Chiricosta also earns all-league honors for the second time. She was an All-MAC Second-Team selection during her sophomore year.
“I am thrilled for both Nikki and Emily,” Dean said. “They came to BGSU together, have worked very hard and have been amazing for four years. This is just the icing on the cake.”
The Falcons match against Eastern Michigan is set to start at 2 p.m. April 25.
