Oct. 5, 2007
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kayla Lefeld and Beth Greulich each set career highs for kills and combined for 42 kills as Cleveland State rallied from a two-game deficit to stun UIC, 27-30, 28-30, 30-25, 30-27, 15-8 on Friday night in Woodling Gym.
The victory, Cleveland State's sixth in a row, improved the Vikings to 13-5 on the year and propelled them into a first place tie with Milwaukee in the Horizon League standings with a 6-1 record. UIC dropped to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in league play.
After opening the season by dropping four of the first five matches that went to five games, the Vikings have won two straight home contests in five matches, including last week's victory over Milwaukee that snapped the Panthers' 14-match win streak.
"This was an awesome win for us tonight," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We played very well in the first two games but went down 2-0 because UIC played that much better. We can expect to get everybody's best shot the rest of the year which means that no match will be an easy one.
"During the break between games two and three, I told our players that we had to go out and create some doubt in the minds of the UIC players. We started out the third game strong and although we had to scrap and fight the rest of the night, that was enough to open the door and allow us to come back."
Lefeld led the Vikings with a career-high 22 kills, bettering her previous best of 14 set against Xavier this season. She had just five errors in 44 attempts for a .386 hitting percentage.
Greulich was equally as impressive, hitting .395 in the contest. She had just 20 kills and five errors in 38 attempts to break her previous career high of 19 set earlier this year vs. Southern Illinois.
"Kayla and Beth were outstanding tonight," Voss said. "They attacked every point and when they play like that, we become a very good team."
All five Viking starting hitters finished the match in double figures in kills as Jenni Ramminger and Alexis Korovich had 14 kills each and Amy Benz had 10. Setter Mel Snyder set a season high with 64 assists while libero Jordan Bateman posted a match-high 28 digs.
Christin Hunt led UIC with 19 kills while Epiphany Davis added 15 kills and eight blocks.
The first two games were nearly identical as both teams fought throughout before UIC would ultimately go on a deciding run late in each game to break open a tied contest. Game one was tied at 26-26 before kills by Katerina Hanackova and Lana Lobdell helped the Flames to win, 30-27.
The Vikings had a 28-27 lead in game two before a kill by Davis and and back-to-back hitting errors by CSU let the Flames escape with a 30-28 win.
Game three was tied at 22-22 before Maggie Bonomini served eight straight points to give the Vikings a 29-23 lead enroute to a 30-25 win.
CSU led for the majority of game four before the Flames rallied to even the game at 27-27. With the match on the line, UIC suffered two offensive miscues that gave CSU the lead and Lefeld forced a game five when she banged home the game point from the right side.
CSU never trailed in game five as the Vikings built a slight 5-3 lead before Korovich served the Vikings to six straight points to put CSU comfortably ahead, 10-4 on their way to a 15-8 win in the deciding contest.
The Vikings have little time to celebrate the win as CSU returns to action on Saturday when they host Loyola beginning at 4:00 p.m. in Woodling Gym.
