Final Stats
Sept. 29, 2007
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State snapped Milwaukee's 14-match win streak and defeated the Panthers for the first time since 2004 with a 30-24, 28-30, 21-30, 30-27, 15-11 victory in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon in Woodling Gym.
"It's a great feeling to get that win," head coach Chuck Voss said. "Milwaukee has set the standard in the league for several years and to hold them to a .134 hitting percentage in incredible.
"We did a great job of figuring out what they were running early on," Voss continued. "And we were able to make a lot of in-game adjustments that helped us get the win."
The Vikings improved to 11-5 (4-1 HL) with the win, while Milwaukee fell to 14-2 overall and 5-1 in league play.
Junior Jenni Ramminger paced the Vikings with a career-best 23 kills, while sophomore Liz Fazio added 15 kills and six digs. Senior Mel Snyder recorded a double-double with 54 assists and 15 digs and junior Jordan Bateman totaled a career-best 36 digs, which was one shy of tying the school-record.
Game one featured eight ties and three lead changes with the final one coming when a Liz Fazio kill gave the Vikings a 19-18 advantage. From there, CSU closed out game one by scoring 11 of the final 17 points to stake claim to a 1-0 lead.
However, the Panthers responded by winning the next two games to open up a 2-1 lead. In game two, Milwaukee earned the two-point win, but was aided by seven Viking service errors.
"After game two, I asked the team if we were tough enough," Voss said. "That was really the only thing I said to them during the break."
The Vikings responded the Voss' message early as they were even with Milwaukee (6-6) through the first 12 points. However, the Panthers used an 8-1 run to open up a 14-7 advantage and CSU could get no closer than four points the rest of the game as the Panthers opened up a 2-1 lead.
In game four, CSU broke a 6-6 tie with three straight points. The Vikings were able to extend the lead to 29-22 on a kill from Ramminger, but things got a bit dicey from there as Milwaukee rattled off five straight points before a block by freshman Amy Benz pushed the match to a decisive fifth game.
CSU was able to use the momentum from game four and race out to an 8-3 lead in game five before the Panthers sliced the lead to 11-9 with a 6-3 run. But the Vikings scored the next three points to take a 14-9 lead en route to the win.
"We battled back from a 2-1 deficit and proved that we had a lot of heart," Voss said. "The team proved that they were tough enough."
Milwaukee received 19 kills and 16 digs from Jamie Gabrielson, while Leanne Felsing added 52 assists, 13 kills and nine digs.
The Vikings will return to action on Tuesday night when they travel to Valparaiso for a 7:00 pm match.
