ERIE, Pa. – The Cleveland State volleyball team closed out play at the Mercyhurst Invitational Saturday, picking up a 3-1 victory over the host Lakers.
Jazen DeBina led the Viking offense with 11 kills, while
Bryn VanVleet added 10, and the trio of
JeriLynn Koehler,
Julia Jozefov and
Addison Koppelman all chipped in nine.
Fiona Cooper recorded 38 assists and helped the Vikings to a .311 hitting percentage on the match.
The Vikings combined for 15 service aces, including four each from
Vayda Delventhal and Cooper.
Defensively, Delventhal posted 11 digs, while Cooper was just shy of a double-double with nine digs.
After dropping the first set, the Vikings quickly took control during the second frame, gaining an early 6-1 edge on a Jozefov kill. Mercyhurst responded with a 5-3 run to close the gap to 9-6, but a Cooper kill stopped the Laker run and gave CSU a 10-6 lead.
Back-to-back Koehler kills a few points later gave the Vikings a 13-7 lead midway through the frame, while two straight DeBina kills put the Vikings up 16-9. Cleveland State was able to control play throughout the rest of the frame then, with a Koppelman kill and Salazar service ace closing out the 25-14 second set victory.
The two teams then played an even third set until late in the frame, when back-to-back kills from Koppelman and Koehler gave the Vikings a 22-21 edge. The Vikings added to their lead with a Laker error on the next point, before a VanVleet kill two points later gave CSU set-point at 24-22.
The Vikings capitalized on a Mercyhurst error on the final point of the set, closing out the 25-22 frame to take a 2-1 edge in the match.
Cleveland State carried its momentum into the fourth set then, as a mini 3-0 run midway through the set put the Vikings on top 12-7 following a Koppelman service ace and a Koehler/DeBina block.
Although the Lakers were able to work their way back into the frame, Cleveland State responded by regaining control late in the set, with four straight points leading to a Koehler kill that put the Vikings on top 19-16.
Cleveland State then tallied four straight points to extend its lead to 23-17, before another Koehler kill gave the Vikings set point at 24-18. DeBina closed out the 25-18 set with a kill, clinching the match victory for CSU.
