Aug. 29, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
DeKalb, Ill. - Cleveland State dropped a 3-1 decision to Connecticut in the 2008 season opener for both teams on Friday night in the first match of the Northern Illinois Invitational.
Game scores were 21-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-23. This is the first year that collegiate volleyball matches are being played to 25 points in each set after being played to 30 points in previous seasons.
"I thought we had some good moments tonight, especially in that first set," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We didn't play our best volleyball in the final three sets, but we were still right in the match and had a chance to win two of those three. We'll rest up tonight and prepare to come out and play with a lot of intensity and mental toughness tomorrow."
Alexis Korovich led CSU with 12 kills and nine digs, while Beth Greulich also reached double-digit kills with 10. Natalie Bauer dished out 35 assists in her first career start, while Jordan Bateman had a match-high 21 digs as she continued her chase on the school-record for career digs.
CSU raced out to a 20-16 lead in set one on a kill from Kayla Lefeld and after the teams traded points, the Vikings won the opener on a service error by UConn's Annie Luhrsen.
The Huskies took a quick 3-1 lead in set two, but CSU responded with four straight points, capped by a Bateman service ace to take a 5-3 advantage. It remained close until UConn rattled off five straight points to turn a two-point deficit into a 17-14 lead.
But the Vikings were not done, coming back with a 6-2 run to reclaim a 20-19 lead on Jenni Ramminger's service ace. It remained close the rest of the way with CSU taking serving for the set after a Ramminger kill gave the Vikings a 25-24 lead. However, a kill from Luhrsen and two CSU attack errors evened up the match at one game apiece.
UConn broke open a 12-11 lead in set three by scoring four of the next five points en route to taking a 2-1 lead.
CSU started quickly in set four, racing out to a 13-7 lead, including a pair of kills from Greulich and a pair of aces from Bateman who finished with three. However, the Huskies slowly began to chip away at their deficit and took an 18-17 lead to force a CSU timeout.
Trailing by three (22-19), the Vikings rallied with three consecutive points on a Greulich kill and two Huskie attack errors to knot the set at 22-22. The teams traded points on a pair of kills, but UConn ended the match with back-to-back kills by Chauntay Mickens and Kate Seabaugh.
Mickens finished with a match-high 20 kills and Jordan Kirk added 10. Luhrsen dished out 49 assists, while Jessica Issac had a team-high 15 digs.
The Huskies outhit CSU (.263-.149), while also amassing more kills (56-47) and digs (54-50).
The Vikings will conclude their action at the UNI Invitational on Saturday (Aug. 30) when CSU plays a pair of matches. The Vikings will play the host Huskies at 2:00 p.m. EDT before concluding play in the tournament against Chicago State at 6:00 p.m. EDT.
