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Friday, March 22
Perrysburg, OH
1:00 PM
Bowling Green State University
6
vs
1
Toledo
Eccleston, Falcons Break School Records in 6-1 win over Toledo
March 22, 2013 | Women's Tennis
BGSU wins 12th consecutive match; Eccleston becomes school's career leader in doubles wins
VIDEO LINKS
Lineups announced prior to match
Falcons sing Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba
Maddy Eccleston Interview | Penny Dean Interview
BGSU is now 12-1 on the season. The Falcons' lone loss came on the road against then 19th-ranked Notre Dame back on Jan. 18.
The Rockets fall to 6-8 on the year.
The Falcons won the doubles point for the 12th consecutive match, as BGSU's four seniors combined for a pair of wins. At the second flight, Eccleston and Katie Grubb made quick work of UT's Katelyn Nguyen and Pia Rygh, bursting out to a 5-0 lead en route to an 8-1 victory.
For Eccleston, the victory was the 90th doubles win of her BGSU career, breaking the record of 89 originally set by Christine Chiricosta (2008-11). Eccleston and Christine Chiricosta teamed up for 44 wins during their two years as BG teammates.
The third-flight match saw seniors Mary Hill and Jade Johnson rally from an early deficit for an 8-3 win over Chrissy Coffman and Mackenzie Bowman. Hill and Johnson were down, 3-2, but won six consecutive games to close out the victory and give BGSU the doubles point and the early lead.
The top-flight match was tight throughout, but saw the UT duo of Lexy Pitt and Emily Mazzola defeat Falcon juniors Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland, 8-6. The Chiricosta/Reuland duo had won eight consecutive matches together prior to Friday's narrow setback.
Singles play saw the Falcons win five of the six matches, although Friday's dual was much closer than the final score would indicate. One match that was every bit as lopsided as the score would indicate, however, came at the top flight. Reuland, after suffering that narrow doubles defeat, lost only three total games in a quick and efficient 6-2, 6-1 win over Nguyen.
Mazzola got the Rockets' lone point, winning a fifth-flight match against Hill. After the UT freshman won the first set, 6-3, the two battled through a narrow second set, splitting the first six games before Mazzola captured the tiebreaker.
Mazzola's win cut BGSU's overall lead to 2-1, and for a few moments, it looked as if the Rockets might tie the match. But, as it turned out, UT would not get another point, as the Falcons won each of the remaining four contests.
First, Eccleston closed out a straight-sets win over Coffman at the third flight. The BGSU senior captured a first-set tiebreaker before winning a 6-3 decision in the second set.
Then, Falcon freshman Katie Brozovich closed out a fourth-flight battle with Pitt, giving BGSU the necessary four points for the match victory. Brozovich trailed Pitt on multiple occasions in the opening set before rallying back to win in a tiebreaker, and the BG freshman won a 7-5 second set.
Brozovich has won 12-straight singles matches, and the Falcon freshman has won 18 overall (singles and doubles combined) matches since her last loss, which came in singles on Jan. 18. In fact, Brozovicih has not lost a set in singles since that Jan. 18 match.
Brozovich now has a 21-8 singles record this season, and has lost a match in straight sets only once in her collegiate career.
Chiricosta and Grubb each won three-set matches. Chiricosta defeated Rygh by a 6-2 count in the opening set, only to see the UT sophomore surge to a 5-3 lead in the second. The BG junior battled back to force a tiebreaker, but Rygh was able to pull it out to force a third set.
After dropping the opening game in that third set, however, Chiricosta roared back to capture each of the next six games, along with the set and the match.
Chiricosta has won 12 consecutive singles contests since her last loss on that Jan. 18 Notre Dame match. Despite her doubles loss on Friday, the junior has won 21 of her last 23 overall matches since a doubles loss on Jan. 19.
The final match on the court was at the sixth flight, where Grubb lost her first set to Bowman by a 7-5 score, and fell behind by a 5-2 count in the second set. With Bowman needing to win just one more game to clinch the victory, Grubb fought back into the match, tying it at 5-5. After Bowman won the next game, Grubb answered to force a second-set tiebreaker, and the BG senior proceeded to win that 'breaker and force a third set.
That third set saw Grubb gain control early, as she surged to a 5-2 lead en route to a 6-3 win.
In all, Friday's match took roughly three hours and 45 minutes.
BGSU is now a perfect 9-0 at home this season, with all nine of those matches taking place at the Perrysburg Tennis Center. The Falcons have won 10-straight matches at the venue, with the last loss coming to Akron on March 31, 2012.
BGSU returns to action, and returns to the PTC, on Saturday afternoon (March 23). The Falcons will host Eastern Michigan in a 1:00 p.m. start, and admission is free. BGSU was picked to finish third in the nine-team league in the preseason coaches poll, while EMU was tabbed for fourth.
BGSU 6, Toledo 1
Fri., March 22, 2013 – Perrysburg Tennis Center – Perrysburg, Ohio
SINGLES
1 – Emily Reuland (BGSU) def. Katelyn Nguyen 6-2, 6-1
2 – Nikki Chiricosta (BGSU) def. Pia Rygh 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-1
3 – Maddy Eccleston (BGSU) def. Chrissy Coffman 7-6(4), 6-3
4 – Katie Brozovich (BGSU) def. Lexy Pitt 7-6(3), 7-5
5 – Emily Mazzola (UT) def. Mary Hill 6-3, 7-6(2)
6 – Katie Grubb (BGSU) def. Mackenzie Bowman 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3
DOUBLES
1 – Mazzola/Pitt (UT) def. Chiricosta/Reuland 8-6
2 – Eccleston/Grubb (BGSU) def. Nguyen/Rygh 8-1
3 – Hill/Jade Johnson (BGSU) def. Bowman/Coffman 8-3
RECORDS
BGSU 12-1, 1-0 MAC
Toledo 6-8, 0-1 MAC
ORDER OF FINISH
Doubles: 2,3,1
Singles: 1,5,3,4,2,6
UP NEXT FOR BGSU
Sat., March 23, vs. Eastern Michigan
1:00 p.m. - Perrysburg Tennis Center
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BG Tennis : Ioanna Tsadari Post-Match 2.13
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