Aug. 25, 2006
Contact: Alan Ashby
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Temple Invitational
Aug. 25-26, 2006
McGonigle Hall -- Philadelphia, Pa.
Aug. 25 vs. Iona 5:00 p.m.
Aug. 26 vs. Lehigh 12 noon
Aug. 26 at Temple 5:00 p.m.
Quick Sets:
Coming off one of the most successful years in the past two decades, Cleveland State kicks off the 2006 campaign with its earliest season-opener ever. The Temple Invitational is the first of three early-season tournaments in which the Vikings will participate. CSU will feature new faces starting at both outside hitter positions, opposite and libero.
Tournament Tests: Cleveland State will face Iona, Lehigh and Temple this weekend in Philadelphia. The Vikings are 6-2 against the host Owls and a combined 3-0 against the Gaels (2-0) and Mountain Hawks (1-0). This will mark the first meeting between CSU and Temple since the 1985 season, while the Vikings have not met Iona in 13 years.
Head Coach Chuck Voss: In his seventh year at the helm of the Vikings, head coach Chuck Voss has an 89-88 (.503) mark and a 122-124 (.496) overall record in eight seasons. He picked up his 100th career win on Oct. 29, 2004 at Wright State and has mentored the only two All-Americans in school history (Jamie Bouyer, 2004 and Nickole Kennedy, 2005 were AVCA honorable mention selections), the 2005 Horizon League Player of the Year (Nickole Kennedy), eight first team all-league picks, five all-newcomer team members and the 2002 (Alisa Hatcher) and 2005 (Jenni Ramminger) Co-Newcomers of the Year. In 2002, Voss guided the Vikings to their first winning season since 1983 and the 19 victories in 2005 are the most since the 1988 team won 20 contests. In addition, the 11 league wins last year were a school record.
Voss On This Week: "I'm excited to get on the court and see what we can do. We have a lot of new faces and are really lacking experience on the outside, but at the same time we're pretty talented. These three matches should be a very good test and will show us what we need to work on."
Not All New: While it's true that Cleveland State will be young on the outside, the team's strength lies in the strong hands of junior setter Mel Snyder, senior middle hitter Danielle Siefker and sophomore middle Jenni Ramminger. The trio is a big reason why the Vikings led the Horizon League in both hitting percentage (.239) and blocks (2.71).
Road Warriors: For the first time in six seasons, Cleveland State will not be hosting the Medical Mutual Invitational. This year, the Vikings are traveling to Philadelphia, Pa. (Temple), Asheville, N.C. (UNC Asheville) and Rochester, Mich. (Oakland) for their early-season tournaments. CSU's only non-conference home match is on Sept. 16 against Robert Morris. Add in the fact that the Vikings play five of their first seven on the road in the Horizon League and CSU will take to the Woodling Gymnasium court just three times in their first 19 matches.
Non-Conference Mastery: The Vikings are a solid 41-18 (.695) in non-conference play over the past four seasons, including an 18-6 (.750) mark in Woodling Gymnasium. CSU posted a perfect 5-0 non-conference record at home in 2002 and a spotless 4-0 mark in 2004.
Young Guns: After graduating six seniors last season, the Vikings have just a pair of fourth-year players in 2006: libero Margot Frederick and middle hitter Danielle Siefker. CSU's roster boasts a whopping eight freshmen, three of whom redshirted in 2005: Liz Fazio, Alexis Korovich and Sarah Parker. The true freshmen are Natalie Bauer, Maggie Bonomini, Beth Gruelich, Kayla Lefeld and Courtney Ripley.
Block Party: Middle hitter Danielle Siefker enters her senior campaign needing 134 total blocks to become the school's all-time leader. An All-Horizon League selection in 2005, she has averaged 142 blocks in each of her first three seasons and begins 2006 trailing only All-American Jamie Bouyer (558) and Cass Dolhancyk.
QB Returns: Junior Mel Snyder handed out 1,302 assists last year in her first full season directing CSU's offense -- the second-best total in CSU annals. She ranks seventh on the school's career list with 1,380 assists. In addition, the Amherst, Ohio native directed the Vikings to a school-record .239 hitting percentage in 2005.
Repeat Performance: Sophomore middle hitter Jenni Ramminger will attempt to build upon a solid first-year campaign that saw her earn Horizon League Co-Newcomer of the Year honors after hitting .282 with 1.14 blocks per game, both of which were good for fourth in the league. She upped her production in conference matches, hitting .284 with 1.26 blocks.
Reunited: The Vikings will welcome back former players for Alumni Weekend on Nov. 3-4. Cleveland State is slated to play 2006 Horizon League Championship runner-up Wright State on Friday and Butler the next afternoon. A dinner for the alumni will be held following the match with the Bulldogs.
Milestones Fall By The Wayside: Cleveland State's best season in nearly two decades saw the Vikings topple records and snap streaks in emphatic fashion. A list of the team's 2005 accomplishments follows:
• Earned the highest regular season finish (2nd) in school history (topping the 4th-place finish in 2004)
• Established a new record for league victories with 11 (the 2004 team held the previous mark with six)
• Set the record for consecutive league wins with seven (Oct. 8 - Nov. 4)
• Broke eight-match skid in regular season league contests decided in five games dating back to 2002 with win over Wright State (Oct. 21) -- went on to pick up two more five-game wins
• Snapped 15-match losing streak against Loyola with sweep on Oct. 14, also earned first-ever win at Loyola on Nov. 12 (0-11 previously)
• Topped Butler for just fifth time in 25 all-time meetings (3-0 sweep on Oct. 22)
Vikings' Run Of Success Continues: Cleveland State enters 2006 having put together four consecutive winning seasons, the second-longest streak in school history. It trails only the seven straight winning campaigns from 1972-78.
CSU Successful In Classroom As Well: The Cleveland State volleyball team was one of 45 Division I schools to garner the Game Plan/AVCA Team Academic Award, which was released on Aug. 8. The Vikings put together a 3.30 GPA for the 2004-05 academic year in addition to advancing to their first Horizon League Championship match. The award, initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors college and high school teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a cumulative 3.30 GPA during the school year. At the Division I level, 311 schools sponsor women's volleyball.
Up Next: Cleveland State will travel to Bowling Green on Tuesday (Aug. 29) for a 7:00 p.m. match, before traveling to Asheville, N.C. for the UNC Asheville Invitational on Sept. 1-2. The Vikings are slated to face the host Bulldogs on Friday, before squaring off with East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro the following day.
