Sept. 20, 2003

Box Score

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Cleveland State volleyball team went 1-1 Saturday at the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va. The Vikings opened play in the morning with a five-game loss to Northern Illinois (10-1) -- CSU's second straight defeat in five games. However, the Vikings rebounded in the afternoon to defeat the host Hokies by a 3-1 margin.

"Even with a couple of losses, I thought we played well in all three matches this week," said CSU head coach Chuck Voss. "In a month we'll win those [five-game] matches because the kids have stepped up and done what we asked them to."

The Huskies won the first and third games (30-27, 30-24) but CSU rallied to win the second and fourth frames (30-28, 30-27) to force the deciding game. With the score knotted at 10-10, NIU ran off five of the final six points thanks in large part to three kills from Megan Markowski.

Viking junior middle hitter Jamie Bouyer (Bedford Heights, Ohio/Chanel) set a new career-high with 26 kills and matched her previous career-best with 10 blocks in addition to hitting .449 (26-4-49) for the match. Sophomore opposite Nickole Kennedy (Sunbury, Ohio/Big Walnut added 15 kills while sophomores Katie Calhoon (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison) and Alisa Hatcher (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) both finished with 14 digs.

Brooke Dodson led the Huskies with 17 kills and 15 digs.

After Virginia Tech (6-8) won the first game 30-27, CSU rallied to take the next three games (30-19, 30-25, 30-25) to earn a split on the day. With the victory, the Vikings improved to 10-5 overall and 3-0 this year against Big East schools, having already defeated Boston College and Syracuse in the Western New York Tournament (Aug. 29-30).

Bouyer once again proved to be unstoppable, as she matched her not even five-hour old career-high with 26 more kills. She also hit .622 (26-3-37) and posted eight more blocks, giving her 52 kills a .523 hitting percentage and 18 blocks in the two matches. Sophomore outsides Emily Clark (Bolivar, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) and Julie Stover (Northwood, Ohio/Northwood) both tallied double-doubles for the Vikings (11K, 13D & 10K, 10D).

"Jamie was phenomenal today -- there's no other way to put it," noted Voss. "She willed us to win the second match. Virginia Tech tried everything, but they couldn't stop her."

Jenny Hill paced the Hokies with 19 kills.

Bouyer was joined on the all-tournament team by junior setter Kelly Crain (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg).

Cleveland State is not in action again until next weekend when the Vikings open Horizon League play in Wisconsin. Friday (Sept. 26) CSU battles UW-Milwaukee, followed by a match the next day at UW-Green Bay.