Vikings Continue Non-League Slate At Hampton Inn Bowling Green Invite

The Cleveland State volleyball team will continue the 2019 campaign on the road this weekend, traveling to Bowling Green for the Hampton Inn Bowling Green Invitational. The Vikings will open the weekend with a pair of matches against Butler and Charlotte on Friday, September 6, and will then face the host Falcons on Saturday, September 7.

 

Cleveland State will face one of its hardest non-league schedules in recent years during 2019, as the Vikings will face four teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the Preseason Top-25 poll, six teams that made a postseason appearance last year, and five teams that posted 20 or more wins a year ago. This weekend's Hampton Inn Bowling Green Invitational features one of these teams, as the host Falcons made a postseason appearance last year, earning a bid into the NIVC.

 

The 2019 Vikings welcome back four Horizon League postseason honorees, as Trinniti Hall (First Team), Emily DeGeorge (Honorable Mention), Hannah Greene (Honorable Mention), and Christina Grecol (All-Freshman Team) were all honored last fall. DeGeorge enters the 2019 campaign as the only Viking to earn multiple #HLVB postseason honors, as she was also named to the All-Freshman Team in 2017.

 

After leading the Viking offense with 33 total kills last weekend, senior middle hitter Trinniti Hall was named to the Panther Challenge All-Tournament Team. Hall, who averaged 3.00 kills per set, posted a season-high 17 kills against South Carolina and eclipsed the 600-kill mark for her career. Hall also posted 11 total blocks on the weekend, entering this weekend's tournament averaging 1.00 blocks per set.

 

The 2019 edition of the Cleveland State volleyball team features seven true freshmen, marking the highest number of rookies for the Vikings over the last seven seasons. Four of these newcomers played a significant role for the Vikings at the Panther Challenge last weekend, including Lydia Latimer who is averaging 1.40 kills per set after the first weekend of play, and Audrey McConihe who enters the weekend averaging 2.50 digs per set.

 

Entering the 2019 campaign two Vikings are closing in on the 1,000-dig mark, as senior Jordan Verbiak has 805 career digs and junior Emily DeGeorge has 791 digs on her career. Verbiak and DeGeorge would become the 20th and 21st Vikings to reach the 1,000-dig plateau, while it would mark the fifth straight year that a Viking joined the 1K dig club. Last weekend, DeGeorge posted 29 total digs at the Panther Challenge, including back-to-back double-digit dig efforts against Pittsburgh (11 digs) and South Carolina (12).

 

The Vikings are picking up right where they left off last season as one of the best blocking teams in the Horizon League, averaging 2.45 blocks per set as a team after the first three matches of the year. Cleveland State opened the season with back-to-back double-digit team blocks against Pittsburgh (10.0) and South Carolina (12.0), while Hannah Greene (1.18 blocks/set) and Trinniti Hall (1.00 blocks/set) led the team's blocking efforts at the Panther Challenge. Greene and Hall both enter this weekend's tournament with 200+ career blocks, as Greene owns 221 and Hall has 206.

 

So far this season the Cleveland State defense has been filled with new faces, as three of CSU's primary passers entered the year with limited or no collegiate experience. Sophomore Lindsey Tout served as the Viking libero at the Panther Challenge last weekend averaging a team-high 3.64 digs per set, while freshmen Audrey McConihe (2.50 digs/set) and Julia Piccolino (1.09 digs/set) appeared in all but one set on the weekend as part of the CSU defense. This youthful trio was joined by junior Emily DeGeorge, who anchored the defense with 29 total digs on the weekend, including a pair of double-digit dig efforts against Pittsburgh and South Carolina.

 

After leading the Viking offense as a freshman last year, Christina Grecol returns for her sophomore season with 1,182 career helpers, after combining for 91 at the Panther Challenge last weekend. Last year, Grecol earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team after averaging 9.92 assists per set last season, and was the first rookie to lead the Viking offense since the 2008 campaign. Entering this weekend's Hampton Inn Bowling Green Invitational, Grecol is just shy of earning a spot on the top-10 career assists list at Cleveland State.

 

Chuck Voss is in his 20th season at the helm of the Vikings, and owns a 354-218 (.618) overall record at Cleveland State. Under Voss the Vikings have recorded 16 winning seasons, including 10 straight entering the 2019 season. Cleveland State has eclipsed the 20-win mark eight times since Voss took over the program, and has captured Horizon League Tournament titles five times (2007, 2012, 2015, 2016 & 2017) under his guidance. During the 2016 season Voss became the all-time winningest coach in program history, and then last season became the only active Horizon League coach to reach the 350-win mark at their current school.

 

The Vikings will continue their preseason tournament lineup at Kentucky next weekend, taking part in the Bluegrass Battle on Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14. Cleveland State will face Indiana, FGCU and the host Wildcats throughout the two-day tournament.