Oct. 9, 2010
Contact: Greg Murphy
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Cleveland State moved into a first place tie in the Horizon League with a 3-1 victory over Valparaiso on Saturday night in the Athletics Recreation Center.
Match scores were 21-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-18.
The win improved the Vikings to 15-1 overall, continuing the best start in school history. It also moved CSU to 6-1 in the Horizon League, putting the Vikings into a first place tie in the league with Milwaukee and Butler.
Butler won at UWM earlier today, 3-2.
"We knew coming that it was going to be a tough match tonight," head coach Chuck Voss said. "Valparaiso is a well coached team and always plays tough defense. This is always a tough place to play and the atmosphere was great.
"We are going to continue to take things one match at a time. I feel that we are playing some good volleyball on both offense and defense and are doing a nice job of staying in system."
Kara Koch led the Vikings with 19 kills and 15 digs, while Amy Benz added 14 kills and eight blocks and Lindsay Griffith nine kills. Jordan Goad handed out 38 assists with Annie Djukic amassing nine to help the Vikings hit .250 for the match.
Amy Grabiec made 21 digs and Brittany Holland added 12.
The first set was the closest throughout, featuring 15 ties and a pair of lead changes. The final tie came at 20-20 before Valparaiso scored the next four points to assume a 24-20 lead and claim the first set.
CSU fell behind in the second set, 8-4, but would rally with a 7-3 run to tie the set at 11-11. From there, the Vikings scored six of the next seven points to take a 17-12 lead on a Goad service ace. The lead was still three points (23-20) before a 4-1 Crusader run tied the set at 24-24.
But back-to-back kills by Megan Barhorst and Griffith allowed the Vikings to even the match at one set apiece.
The Vikings raced out to an 11-6 lead in the third set and did not trail the rest of the set. However, Valpo did manage to knot things up at 18-18 before a pair of Crusader attack errors gave CSU a 20-18 lead. From there, the teams traded points until a Benz kill and Crusader attack error gave the Vikings the set and a 2-1 lead.
Valpo took control of the fourth set early, taking a 7-2 lead. However, the Vikings stormed back with a 14-2 run to assume 16-9 lead en route to the four set win. Djukic served CSU to 10 straight points during the run, turning a 7-4 CSU deficit into a 12-7 lead.
The Vikings will conclude the first half of the league schedule with a 4:00 p.m. contest at Loyola on Sunday (Oct. 10).
