Avon Lake’s Christine Chiricosta continues to break records in her senior season at Bowling Gree. Chiricosta and teammate Maddy Eccleston each won at both singles and doubles vs. Ball State, leading the Falcons to a 6-1 win over Ball State University Saturday afternoon at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.

Chiricosta, who already held the BGSU career records for singles wins and combined wins, teamed up with Eccleston for an 8-3 victory at the top doubles flight, moving into sole possession of first place on the doubles list as well. Chiricosta now has 85 career doubles wins, breaking the mark of 84 originally set by Jenny Cheung (1995-98).

Chiricosta made quick work of Georgina Thomson at the top singles flight, increasing her career totals to 85 singles wins and 170 overall victories at BGSU. The senior co-captain did not lose a single game in her sweep of Thomson.

Christine now has 21 singles wins and 21 doubles wins this season to date ... in her career, she has 85 singles victories and 85 doubles wins.

Eccleston and freshmen Nikki Chiricosta (Christine’s sister) and Emily Reuland each won their respective singles matches in two sets.

In third-flight action, Hill and Nikki also won by an 8-4 score, topping Ball State’s Sarah Hebble and Lauren Pickrel.

With the victory, the Falcons improved to 11-5 overall and 2-2 in MAC matches on the season. The Cardinals dropped to 6-12 and 0-4, respectively.

While Christine has broken all three BGSU career wins records, Nikki currently tops the Falcons in wins this season, combining for 44 wins in just her freshman season. That total ties her for seventh on the school’s records list.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Avon Lake’s sisters Christine and Nikki Chiricosta, and the rest of Bowling Green’s tennis team returns to action this weekend, heading to Louisville, Ky., for a pair of dual matches as the ‘spring’ portion of the season begins. The Falcons will face the University of Louisville today, and then have a match against West Virginia University on Saturday.

The Falcons had a successful fall schedule, competing in a total of four non-scored tournaments. BGSU players had a combined record of 61-24 in singles and an aggregate 28-13 doubles mark during the fall schedule.

Christine, a senior, is expected to play at the top singles and doubles flights again this spring. She went 11-2 in singles action in the fall, and teamed with sophomore Maddy Eccleston for a doubles ledger of 8-4.

Christine had a total of 20 wins in the fall, second on the team behind only her sister Nikki. Christine had 21 victories, going a team-best 12-2 in singles and posting a 9-4 doubles mark.

Following this weekend’s matches, the Falcons will return to Northwest Ohio to begin the home portion of the dual schedule. BGSU will face Cleveland State on Friday evening, Jan. 28. That match will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Perrysburg Tennis Center.
Stay tuned for updates.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Avon Lake’s Nikki Chiricosta won the back draw of her singles flight on Sunday (Oct. 24), as Bowling Green completed play in the three-day ITA Second Chance.

Nikki picked up a pair of singles wins, losing a combined total of just seven games in her four sets. She topped a pair of NIU players, downing both Kelly Phillips and Haley Dekkinga en route to the consolation-round title.

Senior Christine Chiricosta and sophomore Mary Hill also picked up victories in singles action. Christine defeated Chicago State’s Peggy Moore, losing only three total games.

With three total wins on the weekend, Christine is moving closer to multiple school records. Christine ends the fall portion of the schedule with 75 singles wins in her career. She is now tied for seventh place on that BGSU career list, and is just six wins away from matching the school record of 81 singles victories.

Christine now has 73 doubles victories, tying her for fourth in school history. The school record is 84.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Avon Lake’s Nikki Chiricosta won a singles flight title as the Falcons completed play at the Spartan Invitational.

Chiricosta defeated Louisville’s Amelia Harris in the championship match of singles draw C, winning a three-set match. The freshman won the opening set, saw Harris even the match, and then captured the third set. All three sets were decided by the same 6-3 score.

Chiricosta defeated opponents from Chicago State, Cleveland State, Marquette and Louisville en route to her title. She now has a 6-1 singles record this year to date.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Avon Lake's Nikki Chiricosta, a four-time state qualifier and a state champion her freshman year, has made it official, signing to join her sister Christine at Bowling Green State University.

Chiricosta made it official on Wednesday in Avon Lake's Media Center.

She will be joining her sister, who will be a senior next season.

The pair won a state championship in doubles when Nikki was a freshman and Christine was a senior at Avon Lake.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

For Avon Lake's Christine Chiricosta, she couldn't be more ready for her junior season at Bowling Green State University.

After just two years at BG, Chiricosta has 42 singles wins, which is just three shy of 24th place in Falcon school history. Her total of 85 overall wins puts her just two away from joining the Top 25 all-time in school history.

Her overall record of 39-16 last season, which was best on the Falcons, earned her a selection on ESPN The Magazine Women's At-Large Academic All-District Team and Academic All-MAC honors. She also earned a second-straight All-MAC Second-Team selection.

"There's going to be some new challenges this year, but I'm definitely looking forward to it," Chiricosta said. "I have a lot to build on, because I set the bar pretty high."

She is focused on this year, but knows it will tough.

"I definitely want to come in and play No. 1 singles," Chiricosta said. "We have a really tough schedule with some Big Ten teams and some top teams in the NCAA. I'm hoping to maintain a winning record and playing well with my new doubles partner."

Winning the MAC is a team goal after coming close last season.

"I'm hoping to win the MAC this year," Chiricosta said. "We were two games away from winning it last year. We have a chance to do that. I think we can have a winning record. We just hope to play strong tennis and stay healthy."

Chiricosta, who played second singles for most of the year, went 3-0 in dual matches at the No. 1 flight and was 9-4 at the No. 2 flight in dual-match play. In doubles, Chiricosta had a record of 19-9.

In the classroom, Chiricosta maintains a perfect 4.00 GPA as an adolescent/young adult/secondary education major.

The Falcons ended the 2008-09 season with an overall dual-match record of 12-7 and a MAC regular-season mark of 5-3. BGSU finished with a winning record in MAC play for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Chiricosta kept busy this summer, playing the College summer circuit tournaments, including one at the University of Pittsburgh and one at University of Michigan. She also played two national mother-daughter tournaments, winning both of them. Her and her mother Sheila won the "gold ball" in Vancouver, Washington and in Rhode Island, which makes four mother-daughter "gold balls" for her and her mother. Sheila has six total after winning two others with her son during mother-son tournament play.

"That was an amazing experience," Chiricosta said. "The one we won in Rhode Island was at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, so that was really something. It was an awesome experience. She is fun to play with."

Christine also mentioned how important her parents are. Her parents Rick and Sheila met while playing collegiate tennis at Toledo.

"She's made all the difference, both my parents have," Chiricosta said. "She's realistic and doesn't put pressure on me. My parents have been really supportive. They've made all the difference in all our careers. They've been great."

Christine is excited about her sister Nikki, a senior at Avon Lake, who will be joining her at BG next season.

"It's huge," Chiricosta said. "We both were hoping all along that we would have the opportunity to be on the same team again. Playing at a Division I strong tennis program like BG is awesome. My mom used to coach there so we have a lot of family history there. My coach and my teammates can't wait for her to get there."

Winning an elusive state championship in doubles her senior year with her freshman sister Nikki will always be unforgettable.

"It was the highlight of my career hands down," Chiricosta said. "It was really awesome. There's no way to describe what an accomplishment that felt like. I still remember it so well. It brought me tears, it was unbelievable. It was everything that she and I ever worked for. We both always wanted a state title and the fact that we got to win it together in front of all of our family and friends was the neatest thing in the world."

swalker@MorningJournal.com

PERRYSBURG, Ohio - Avon Lake’s Christine Chiricosta is living up to the hype at Bowling Green.

The former #1 ranked high school tennis player in Ohio (2007), Chiricosta has made the adjustment to college tennis a quite successful one.

So far in her sophomore season she is currently 10-2 in singles play and 9-2 in doubles action.

Last year, in just her freshman season, she led the team in singles wins and overall wins. Her record was 46-15, which includes 22-7 in singles play and 24-8 in doubles. She also notched All-MAC Second Team honors and was the MAC Player of the Week during the season. In her first weekend playing college tennis, she went an impressive 6-0. And to add to her impressive start, she had a perfect 4.0 GPA in her first semester.

At Avon Lake, she was a state qualifier all four years. Her senior season, she teamed up with her freshman sister Nikki Chiricosta to win the state doubles title. The Chiricosta sisters defeated another pair of sisters - Christie and Katie Pleiman, of Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, 6-4, 6-1.

In her four years at Avon Lake, the Shoregals won the Southwestern Conference title and never lost a match - going 68-0.

The Chiricosta family are all great tennis players. Both her parents, Rick and Sheila Chiricosta played collegiate tennis at Toledo, while her brother Matt Chiricosta is having a superb senior season at Allegheny College. Her younger sister Nikki was a state-qualifier last season and has a bright future in tennis also.

Two years ago, Christine teamed with her mother to win the title at the National Mother-Daughter Clay Court.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post on her brother Matt's success at Allegheny.

swalker@MorningJournal.com