Final Stats

Contact: Renee Adam

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MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Behind a total team effort, the Cleveland State volleyball team dominated in a three-set sweep of Milwaukee Saturday evening at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee, Wis. Saturday's victory marked CSU's first win over the Panthers since the 2009 season, while it also snapped Milwaukee's 26-match regular season Horizon League win-streak which dated back to the 2010 season.

With the victory, the Vikings are now 10-5 on the season and 2-0 in league play, while the Panthers fall to 6-9 overall and 1-1 in the league.

Set scores against the Panthers were 25-20, 25-17, 25-19.

"We always talk about how we have to play in big matches, and everyone really stepped up tonight and played extremely well," head coach Chuck Voss said. "As a team, we played really consistent and aggressive throughout the entire match, which is a key component when you play a strong Milwaukee team and that is exactly what we did."

As a team, the Vikings notched 52 kills against the Panthers, on a .369 hitting percentage; the second highest percentage for Cleveland State this season. Offensively the Vikings were led by Kara Koch (17 kills), Marie Frease (14 kills, .545 hitting percentage), Jackie Dabbelt (7 kills) and Maggie Hannon (6 kills), while Amanda Medvetz led the defense with 15 digs. Koch also notched 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the year, while Frease extended her double-digit kill streak to seven matches. 

During the opening set CSU gained a three-point advantage at 14-11 on back-to-back kills from Dayna Roberts and Christina Toth. After a Milwaukee timeout, the Panthers brought the set within one point and stayed with the Vikings until the 18-17 mark when Cleveland State rattled off five straight points to gain a 23-17 lead. During that span the Vikings had three kills from Koch and a Medvetz service ace. The Vikings were then able to close out the frame on a Koch kill, earning the 25-20 victory.

The second set was much of the same, as the Panthers stayed with the Vikings until midway through the frame when CSU notched four of five points to extend their lead at 17-13. CSU gave up just four more points throughout the end of the set, once again closing the frame on a Koch kill for the 25-17 victory.

The Vikings dominated the final frame, holding at least a two-point advantage after the first eight points of the set. CSU posted three of the final four points in the frame, earning points off of two Frease kills and a Milwaukee error.

"Moving forward, we are going to go into every match trying to play the same way and with the same intensity that we had today," Voss said. "It doesn't matter who we are playing, and you can't look at any of the league opponents differently because any team could beat you on any given day in league play."

Cleveland State will return home for just the second homestand of the 2012 season next weekend, hosting Loyola (Friday, Sept. 28) and UIC (Saturday, Sept. 29) in Horizon League action.