The Falcons are wrapping up their fall season by heading to Kalamazoo, Mich., for the Western Michigan University Super Challenge. The team will be facing its toughest competition of the season in the three-day, nine-team event, beginning Friday at the West Hills Athletic Club.
“This is a great opportunity for each individual on the team to play against top college teams,” said Head Coach Penny Dean. “It also shows how they can handle the success and frustration that might come along with that competition. Each person on the team has set their own goals knowing who was going to be there.”
The opposing field includes Depaul, Indiana, Iowa State, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Penn State and host Western Michigan.
“I think the big challenge for our team is to stay confident with our skills and level of play and not be intimidated by some of these big name schools,” said senior Maddy Eccleston. “We have good leaders on our team that I believe will help everyone with this. We need to play every match knowing that we can beat our opponents and that we are better prepared.”
Participants are scheduled to play one round of singles and doubles on both Friday and Saturday. Play will begin Friday morning with doubles matches at 10:00 a.m. followed by singles at 1:30 p.m. On Saturday, doubles will start at 9:00 a.m. with singles at noon. Sunday action will also be starting at 9:00 a.m.
The Falcons have now been away from competition for almost a month, with their most recent tournament being the Rocket Invitational on Oct. 12-13. But, the team has been staying prepared and focused on the upcoming invitational.
“During the last few weeks, we have been evaluating our games and working on what we need to improve,” Eccleston said. “We have been doing specific and individualized work depending on each person in order to best prepare each player. We have also been playing practice matches to make sure we are still mentally focused for match play.”
The Falcons are excited to be facing opponents they don’t typically see.
“I’m looking forward to playing different competition and playing against some big schools,” said junior Nikki Chiricosta. “We play Notre Dame and Marquette, so if we could get some big wins over them, it would be great momentum for the spring.”
Through the first three tournaments, all eight members of the team have winning records and the Falcons are a combined 35-16 in singles play and 23-5 in doubles play.
Juniors Emily Reuland and Chiricosta lead the way for BG. Reuland has an overall record of 18-2, while Chiricosta is 16-3. Freshman Katie Brozovich has also been impressive in her first year of collegiate competition, posting an overall record of 13-6. Brozovich ranks second on the team in singles wins, having gone 8-3 so far.
“We have a strong team this year, so we’re anxious and excited to see how we do,” said Assistant Coach Cindy Yonker. “I think BG has a lot to show this year.”
Following the WMU Super Challenge, the Falcons will be idle until their spring slate begins. To open up the spring season, the Falcons will travel to Notre Dame on Friday, January 18, 2013, where they will begin the dual-match portion of their schedule.
