Oct. 11, 2009
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State improved to 18-5 overall and remained tied for first place in the Horizon League at 7-1 with a 3-1 victory over Green Bay on Sunday afternoon in Woodling Gym.
Match scores were 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-11.
The Vikings are tied with first place after the first round of league play with Valparaiso, who swept UIC this afternoon.
"We put ourselves in a good position after the first round of league play, but we know that we have a lot of work left to do," head coach Chuck Voss said. "There is a lot of volleyball to play and we can't get be satisfied with what we have accomplished yet because there are still goals that we have to attain.
"We didn't play our best today and you have to give Green Bay a lot of credit for the way they played and battled. After we lost the third set, I challenged the team to come out with fire and intensity in the fourth set and they responded."
The trio of Liz Fazio, Beth Greulich and Amy Benz carried the offensive load for CSU, combining for 51 kills and just three attack errors in 92 attempts.
Fazio finished with 17 kills and 13 digs, hitting .607 (17-0-28) for the match. Benz was nearly as impressive, hitting .542 (14-1-24), while Greulich finished with a match-best 20 kills, hitting .450.
Jordan Goad handed out 56 assists with 10 digs, while Maggie Bonomini added 18 digs.
The Vikings used an early 5-1 run to turn a two point lead (7-5) into a 12-6 lead after a Goad kill. CSU pushed the lead to 19-11 on a Benz kill, forcing a Phoenix timeout. Green Bay would battle back and pull within four points (22-18), but could get no closer.
The Phoenix jumped out in set two, taking a 9-6 lead, but the Vikings came back with a 13-2 run to assume a 19-11 lead in cruising to the win in set two.
With their backs against the wall, Green Bay came out swinging in the third set, taking a quick 13-9 lead. UWGB still held a four point lead (20-16), but four straight points from the Vikings evened the set at 20-20. The teams then traded points until Green Bay broke a 23-23, using a CSU service error and attack error to pull within 2-1.
However, the Vikings went on to dominate the fourth set in claiming the win.
Leading 8-5, CSU scored three straight points to open up an 11-5 lead. Green Bay stopped the bleeding with two straight points to pull within 11-7, but Fazio went on to serve the Vikings to seven straight points and a 17-7 lead.
The Vikings hit .368 (68-15-144) for the match, compared to .182 for the Phoenix. CSU also had more digs (71-54), assists (63-41) and kills (68-43).
CSU will be back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 13, when the Vikings travel to Bowling Green for a 7:00 p.m. match. The Vikings defeated BGSU, 3-2, earlier in the season at the Ohio State Invitational.
