Sept. 17, 2005

Niagara Stats | San Diego State Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State's bid for its third Medical Mutual CSU Invitational title in five years was halted by San Diego State in four games on Saturday night. After dropping the first game 30-21, the Aztecs recovered to sweep the next three (30-25, 30-27, 30-25) en route to claiming the tournament title.

The loss dropped the Vikings to 7-4 on the year, and 15-3 in the event's five-year history, while SDSU improved to 8-4 overall.

"Credit San Diego State with playing well," CSU head coach Chuck Voss said. "I was disappointed with the way we played -- I thought we were hesitant at times and that was the difference in the match. It's hard enough to beat a team like that [SDSU] playing well, much less when we're tentative."

Tournament MVP Melanie Green paced the Aztecs with 20 kills and 12 digs and was joined on the all-tournament team by Aime Cordeiro, who led all players with 21 digs. Brandie Molnar added 15 kills for SDSU.

All-tournament team member Nickole Kennedy tallied a season-high 21 kills and six blocks for CSU. She was joined on the team by Jenna Maddocks, who posted a season-best 16 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Jenni Ramminger notched a career-high 10 blocks to lead the Vikings.

The teams had nearly identical numbers in the final stats, with CSU holding a slight advantage in hitting percentage (.231 to .228) and the Aztecs leading in digs (60-57). The Vikings did claim a distinct edge in blocking (16.5 to 7.0), but it was not enough.

CSU hit .385 in dominating much of the first game. However, its hitting percentage declined in each of the next three frames as SDSU slowly claimed control of the match.

The Vikings swept Niagara in their first contest earlier in the day, 30-15, 30-17, 30-21. Kennedy paced the CSU attack with 14 kills and a .481 hitting percentage to help the team hit .336 overall. In the third game, Emily Clark took over the CSU career lead in digs, passing Megan Wandersleben, who notched 1,138 from 1989-92.

Cleveland State is in action again next weekend as it opens Horizon League play on the road. The Vikings will travel to Butler on Sept. 23, followed by a match the next afternoon at Wright State.

Saturday, September 17
San Diego State def. Binghamton 30-19, 30-12, 30-24
Cleveland State def. Niagara 30-15, 30-17, 30-21
Binghamton def. Niagara 30-20, 30-23, 26-30, 25-30, 15-11
San Diego State def. Cleveland State 21-30, 30-25, 30-27, 30-25

All-Tournament Team
Melanie Green (MVP) -- San Diego State
Aime Cordeiro -- San Diego State
Nickole Kennedy -- Cleveland State
Jenna Maddocks -- Cleveland State
Karen Simpson -- Niagara
Katie Brody -- Binghamton

Final Tournament Records
San Diego State 3-0 (Champions)
Cleveland State 2-1
Binghamton 1-2
Niagara 0-3