Sept. 30, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State's bid to move into second place in the Horizon League came up short, as UIC handed the Vikings a 21-30, 30-22, 30-24, 30-26 loss on Saturday afternoon in Woodling Gymnasium. The loss drops CSU to 12-4 overall and 2-2 in the league, while the Flames move to 10-10, 4-0 with their fifth consecutive victory.

CSU controlled the opening game, hitting .279 to just .043 for UIC. However, the teams reversed roles for the remainder of the mach as the Flames out-hit the Vikings -- who at times featured five freshmen on the court -- en route to winning the next three games.

Game three was indicative of CSU's problems offensively. With the score knotted at 23-23, the Vikings committed four hitting errors down the stretch to put UIC in the driver's seat in the match.

"Give UIC credit, they're an excellent team, but we didn't play our best match today," CSU head coach Chuck Voss said. "I don't think we were able to match UIC's energy level after the first game and we were tentative at times as well. With such a young team, I hope we can learn and grow from this experience."

The stats for the contest were nearly identical with the exception of the Flames serving up 11 aces to the Vikings' eight, while CSU held a 75-63 advantage in digs.

Freshman Liz Fazio led the Vikings with 15 kills, while freshman Alexis Korovich tallied 13 kills and 12 digs for her team-leading seventh double-double. Freshman Beth Greulich chimed in with 14 kills on .370 hitting and four blocks. Sophomore Jordan Bateman recorded a match-high 24 digs for CSU.

Ambria Springer and Katarina Nedeljkovic led all players with a 16 kills each, with Nedeljkovic rounding out a double-double with 12 digs.

Cleveland State hits the road next week for a pair of league matches. The Vikings will travel to Butler on Friday (Oct. 6), followed by a contest at Wright State the next day.