Final Stats
Contact: Renee Adam
Follow the Vikings on TWITTER
Follow Volleyball on TWITTER
CSU Athletics on YouTube
Become a Fan on Facebook
YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Cleveland State volleyball team remained perfect on the young season Tuesday evening, as the Vikings claimed a five-set victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles. With the victory CSU improves to 4-0 on the season, while the loss was the first of the season for EMU (4-1).
Set scores against the Eagles were; 25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 24-26, 15-11.
"The entire match was up and down tonight, both teams had the momentum going their way and then the other team was able to counter attack and take the momentum back. We were fortunate enough to have the momentum swinging our way when it came down to the crucial points," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We really fought during the fifth set and we were able to make plays when it absolutely counted. Eastern Michigan had all of the momentum going into the final set and we found ways to make plays that counted."
Kara Koch recorded the third 30-kill match of her career Tuesday evening, leading the Vikings with 31 kills, while Jackie Dabbelt posted 11 for her second double-digit kill performance of the season. Defensively, five Vikings notched double-digit digs against the Eagles, led by Amanda Medvetz who posted a career-best 28. Koch tied her career-high with 21 digs to notch her second double-double of the season, while Dayna Roberts added a personal-best 18, Brittany Holland chipped in 19 and Annie Djukic tallied 11.
The Vikings held a lead during the entire first set, and were able to distance themselves at the 17-13 mark after posting three straight points on a Koch kill and a pair of EMU errors. CSU held at least a three-point lead for the rest of the frame, and earned the 25-22 victory on two Marie Frease kills.
The second set was much like the first, with CSU holding the lead for the majority of the frame. The Vikings were able to once again distance themselves during the middle of the set, jumping out to a 14-10 lead with a pair of Dabbelt kills. The Eagles fought back to tie the set twice before CSU was able to close out the frame with five of the last eight points, including kills from Koch and Maggie Hannon.
After dropping the next two sets the Vikings claimed a 15-11 victory during the fifth frame to clinch the five-set victory. During the final set CSU got five points from Koch and four from Kerry Winchester who tallied two kills and three blocks.
"Tonight, Kara really made plays when we needed her to. She battled through everything today and really stepped up when we needed it," Voss said. "Annie is doing a really nice job of leading our offense and giving numerous attackers an opportunity to put some swings on the ball."
As a team, Cleveland State tallied a season-best 70 kills against Eastern Michigan, including 20 during the fourth set. The 70-kill performance against the Eagles marks just the fifth time over the past three seasons that the Vikings have posted 70 or more kills in a match.
Frease tallied six kills against the Eagles, while Hannon and Winchester both added four. Djukic recorded 50 assists for just the second time in her career, notching 53 along with eight kills and her 11 digs.
"Moving forward we just need to make sure that we are always playing aggressive. If we do that we can beat anyone and have a really exciting season," Voss said.
The Vikings will continue the 2012 season this weekend when they travel to the Indiana Invitational. CSU will face Georgia Tech, Bowling Green and the host Hoosiers during the two-day tournament (Friday, Aug. 31 and Saturday, Sept. 1). Live stats are available for all three matches on the volleyball schedule page on CSUVikings.com.
