Sept. 19, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - A pre-match ceremony to honor the 2007 Cleveland State volleyball team helped the Vikings play inspired volleyball, but Loyola rallied for a 3-2 victory over Friday night in Woodling Gym to spoil CSU's special night.
Match scores were 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-9.
CSU slipped to 1-9 overall (0-1 HL), while Loyola improved to 10-2 and 1-0 in league play.
The Vikings had a five-minute ceremony before the first serve to honor the 2007 team that won the first-ever Horizon League Championship in school history and advanced to the NCAA Championship. A banner was unveiled in the gym and players and coaches received rings to commemorate their accomplishements.
"It was definately a special night to be honored for what we accomplished last season," head coach Chuck Voss said. "But hopefully we can put last year behind us now and start to focus on what we need to improve upon this year.
"I thought there were a lot of good things out there tonight. We played with a lot of energy and were very good defensively. We had a lot of chances, but failed to capitalize on them. We need to learn how to win and start closing out some matches.
"I have to give a lot of credit to Loyola. They are a much improved team and really did some things to take us out of rhythm. There were also extremely good on defense tonight."
The first set featured six ties and three lead changes with the Vikings on the verge of closing out the set after an Alexis Korovich kill gave CSU a 23-20 lead. However, the Ramblers scored six of the final seven points, including the set point on an Alyse Serritella service ace, to take a 1-0 lead.
The Ramblers took a quick 4-2 lead in the second set, but five straight CSU points gave the Vikings lead (7-4) that they would not relinquish the rest of the set. CSU hit .325 (18-5-40) in set two and led by as many as six points (15-9) following a Jordan Goad kill.
CSU took a 2-1 lead by forcing nine Loyola attack errors in the third set. With the set tied at 15-15, CSU rattled off the next three points to take an 18-15 lead and would not trail the rest of the set.
However, the Ramblers stormed back in the fourth set, using sound attacks and scrappy defense to send the match to a decisive fifth set. Loyola raced out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth set before the Vikings closed their deficit to one point on two occasions. The final time came after a Korovich kill sliced the CSU deficit to 16-15. From there, Loyola scored the next five points to seize control of the set.
CSU took control of the deciding set, scoring four of the first five points, but the Ramblers proceeded to go on a 12-2 run, capped by a Mallory Curran kill for a 13-7 lead. A Beth Greulich kill stopped the Rambler run, but Katie Johnson's kill and a CSU attack error ended the match.
Greulich finished with a team-best 12 kills, while Korovich tallied 11 kills and 15 digs for her first double-double of the season. Jenni Ramminger added 10 kills and four blocks and Jordan Goad had 45 assists and eight digs. Jordan Bateman contributed a team-best 25 digs, while Maggie Bonomini totaled 17.
Johnson led Loyola with 15 kills, while Sarah Singer (13) and Dana VanDiggelen (11) also reached double-digits. VanDiggelen added 20 digs for a double-double and Alyse Serritella finished with a match-high 28 digs.
The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday (Sept. 20) afternoon when CSU hosts UIC at 2:00 p.m. in Woodling Gym.
