Sept. 12, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Cleveland State rallied to win the first set, but UAB came back to win the next three and defeated the Vikings, 3-1, in the first match of the Wyoming Cowgirl Invitational on Friday afternoon at the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Match scores were 26-28, 28-10, 25-21, 25-19.

The Vikings fell to 1-6, while UAB improved to 4-2 with the win.

Jenni Ramminger led the Vikings with 12 kills and two blocks, while Liz Fazio had nine kills and Beth Greulich added eight. Alexis Korovich tallied eight kills and 11 digs and Jordan Goad handed out 32 assists.

The first set featured five lead changes and 14 ties with the final tie coming at 26-26 on a kill by UAB's Andrea Lilic. But the Vikings used back-to-back kills by Ramminger and Amy Benz to win set one.

The Blazers broke things open in the second set by scoring 14 of the first 18 points (14-4) to even up the match at one set apiece. UAB hit .545 (13-1-22) in the set, while limiting the Vikings to a seven kills and seven errors in 24 attempts (.000).

CSU was on the verge of taking a 2-1 lead, claiming a 19-16 lead in the third set after a kill by Fazio. However, UAB closed the set on a 9-2 run, using five kills as well as a CSU service error and three Viking attack errors.

UAB rode that momentum right into the fourth set, taking a quick 10-4 lead and forcing the Vikings to call a timeout. The Blazers pushed their lead to 19-9 before a UAB service error, two Blazer attack errors and a kill by Natalie Bauer sliced the CSU deficit to 19-14. But that was as close as the Vikings would get the rest of the afternoon.

Lalic led the Blazers with 17 kills, while Ivana Bozic had 15 kills and 10 digs. Nevena Stefanov handed out 46 assists and tallied eight digs.

The Vikings will continue play at the Cowgirl Invitational on Friday night when CSU plays Kansas at 7:30 p.m. EDT.