Sept. 16, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State's four-week wait to play its home-opener was well worth it as the Vikings swept past Robert Morris, 30-25, 33-31, 30-19, on Saturday night in Woodling Gymnasium. CSU improves to 10-2 on the year with its eighth consecutive win and eighth sweep of the season, while the Colonials fall to 5-7.

The Vikings dominated at the net, out-hitting RMU, .315 to .154, while also holding an eight to four advantage in blocks.

CSU was really only tested in the second game, when the Colonials erased a 25-22 deficit to take a 27-26 lead. RMU served for the game at 29-28, but a kill by Danielle Siefker kept the Vikings alive. After the Colonials went back up, 31-30, CSU took advantage of three straight RMU hitting errors to pull out the game.

"It was great to finally play at home," said CSU head coach Chuck Voss. "We played with energy and resilience -- especially in the second game. I thought the difference tonight was our blocking. We got a lot of touches and forced them to hit some shots they weren't comfortable with and Jordan [Bateman] was great cleaning things up in the back."

Siefker paced the Vikings with a match-high 14 kills on .480 hitting, while Alexis Korovich tallied 13 kills and six digs. Beth Greulich hit .438 (8-1-16), Jenni Ramminger posted a .429 hitting percentage (6-0-14) and four blocks and Bateman notched a match-high 23 digs.

Cassie Lee led the Colonials with 12 kills, while Emily Wolthuis added 11 kills and six digs.

Cleveland State opens Horizon League play with a pair of matches next weekend on the road. The Vikings will travel to UW-Green Bay on Friday (Sept. 22), followed by a match at UW-Milwaukee the next afternoon.