Sept. 20, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State rolled to an easy first set win and then earned close wins in sets two and three to sweep UIC in Horizon League action on Saturday afternoon in Woodling Gym.
CSU improved to 2-9 overall and 1-1 in league play, while snapping a seven-match losing streak. UIC, which won at Youngstown State last night, fell to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
"I thought we played a good match today," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We had a lot of energy and intensity and did a great job blocking the ball. It was great to finally be able to win some close sets and hopefully that will carry over as the season goes on. We are continuing to learn how to win and I think we took a step toward that today."
Jenni Ramminger led the Vikings with 10 kills, while Beth Greulich and Kayla Lefeld finished with six kills each. Jordan Goad totaled 32 assists, six digs and four kills, while Jordan Bateman had a match-best 11 digs.
The Vikings started quickly in set one, racing out to a 10-4 lead on a Goad service ace. CSU never had the set in doubt, hitting .667 (13-1-18), while forcing UIC into eight attack errors and a .000 hitting percentage. Lefeld finished with four kills in the opening set, while Amy Benz had three blocks.
Set two was much closer, featuring 15 ties and seven lead changes. The Vikings were trailing 20-18, but a Benz kill and a UIC attack error evened the score at 20-20. A CSU attack error and a kill by Christin Hunt gave the Flames a 22-20 lead, but the Vikings scored the final five points to take a 2-0 lead.
"That was a pretty big set for us to win," Voss said. "To be able to come back and close out the set showed a lot of character on our part."
The Flames appeared poised to send the match to a fourth set, racing out to a 14-8 lead in the third and forcing CSU to exhaust both of its timeouts. However,the Vikings slowly battled back, evening the score at 19-19 on a Liz Fazio kill.
A UIC attack error and another Fazio kill gave the Vikings a 21-19 lead before CSU took a 24-21 lead on another Flame attack error. UIC did not go quietly, however, as they fended off two match points before a Hunt attack error ended the match.
Casie Sullivan had nine kills to lead UIC, while three players chipped in five each, including Katerina Nedeljkovic, who also led the team with 10 digs.
CSU will return to action for just one match next week when the Vikings travel to Wright State on Friday (Sept. 26) night for a 7:00 p.m. match.
