Final Stats

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GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Cleveland State volleyball team opened Horizon League play Friday evening, earning a 3-1 victory over the Green Bay Phoenix. Friday's victory improved CSU's overall record to 9-5 this season, while it also extended CSU's win streak over Green Bay to 15 straight matches.

Set scores against the Phoenix were 25-19, 25-19, 18-25, 31-29.

The senior duo of Marie Frease and Kara Koch once again led the Vikings, Frease with 16 kills and six blocks and Koch with 19 kills, 24 digs and four blocks. The contest marked the sixth straight match that Frease has recorded double-digit kills and the sixth time this season that Koch has recorded a double-double. Dayna Roberts captained the offense for the first time this season, recording a career-best 43 assists, while also adding 10 digs and four blocks. Ally Beck also recorded a career-high for the Vikings, posting 11 digs, while Amanda Medvetz recorded her third 20-dig match of the season with 28 against the Phoenix.

"I thought we played extremely hard the entire match tonight which is progress from last weekend. We definitely improved on some things from last weekend and I like where we are playing right now to open the league schedule," head coach Chuck Vosssaid. "Dayna came in and had a great match for us leading the offense, while Ally and Nikki (Holmes) did a nice job in the back court for us playing as defensive specialists. Marie is playing with a lot of confidence right now and when she works hard on the court there is nobody that can stop her, which will make things difficult for all of our opponents." 

During the opening set the Vikings and Phoenix battled back and forth for the first half of the frame, before CSU was able to gain a seven-point lead at the 15-8 mark after winning seven of eight straight points. During that span the Vikings got kills from Marie Frease, Maggie Hannon and Kara Koch. CSU held at least a three-point lead for the rest of the set, closing the frame on kills fromDayna Roberts and Maggie Hannon.

The second set was much of the same, as neither team held more than a two-point lead until the 15-12 mark when CSU gained the three-point advantage on a Jackie Dabbelt kill. The Vikings held a lead for the rest of the frame, earning the 25-19 victory on aChristina Toth kill and a Green Bay error.

After dropping the third set, CSU came out firing during the fourth frame, gaining a six-point lead (12-6) midway through the set. Although Green Bay was able to take the lead at 19-18, the Vikings eventually pulled out the 31-29 victory. Green Bay and Cleveland State combined to fight off six set points at the end of the frame, before the Vikings were finally able to post three straight points on a Frease kill and two Phoenix errors.

"Tomorrow we are going to have to play our A-game to beat Milwaukee," Voss said. "The good thing is that we have been able to play at that level for a couple matches this season so we know it's possible, we just need to continue to believe in ourselves and come out strong."

The Vikings will continue their Wisconsin roadtrip tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 22), as they take on Milwaukee at 5:00 p.m. EST. Links for live stats and live video of the match are available on the volleyball schedule page at CSUVikings.com.