Sept. 4, 2009

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Liz Fazio totaled 15 kills and Beth Greulich and Amy Benz added nine each, but Cleveland State dropped its first contest of the season, 3-1, to 20th-ranked Michigan State on Friday night in Woodling Gym.

It was the second match of the CSU Invitational Presented by the Crowne Plaza City Centre. MSU defeated Syracuse, 3-2, in Friday's opener.

The loss, which snapped CSU's six-match win streak, dropped the Vikings to 5-1 this season, while the Spartans remained perfect at 5-0.

Match scores were 15-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21.

"I thought we came out with a lot of agression and played well in that first set," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We did a lot of things right and hung tough with a very soild team. I thought we had a lot of chances, but just couldn't take advantage of some opportunities and that hurt us in the end.

Overall, I was happy with how we played tonight. We'll have to get some rest tonight because we have two tough matches coming back tomorrow against both Syracuse and Michigan State."

The Vikings got the match off to a great start, hitting .385 (11-1-26) in the first set. Holding a 12-9 lead, the Vikings went on a 10-3 run as four different players recorded kills during the run and Maggie Bonomini added a service ace.

A Fazio kill concluded the run and put the Vikings up 22-13.

The second set was close throughout with MSU taking the largest lead of four points at 12-8 on a CSU attack error. Still trailing by three (19-16), CSU scored four of the next five points to knot the set at 20-20 on a Fazio kill. It capped a string of three straight kills for her.

The teams traded points and with the set tied at 23-23, Megan Schatzle had a kill and Natalie Emro added an ace to give MSU the set.

Things were tight to start the third set as there were five ties early on with the last one coming at 10-10. However, the Spartans closed the set on a 15-4 run to take a 2-1 lead.

The Vikings had their shots in the fourth set, as there were 11 ties and 11 lead changes. With the match tied at 20-20 after a Benz kill, the Spartans went on a 5-1 run to close the match.

Bonomini recorded 15 digs, while Meghan Mental added 13 and Fazio 11 for a double-double. Benz chipped in seven blocks, while Jordan Goad finished with 37 assists, seven kills and five digs.

Schatzle led the Spartans with 16 kills, while Emro had 47 assists and Allyson Karaba contributed a match-best 23 digs.

The Vikings return to action with a pair of matches to close the invitational on Saturday (Sept. 5). CSU begins the day with an 11:00 a.m. match against Syracuse before a 7:00 p.m. match vs. Michigan State.