Oct. 18, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
CHICAGO, Ill. - Beth Greulich and Liz Fazio each had 13 kills, but Loyola rallied to win the final two sets and claim a 3-2 win over Cleveland State in Horizon League action on Saturday afternoon.
Match scores were 25-23, 19-25, 16-25, 25-16, 15-9.
The loss drops CSU to 4-14 overall and 3-7 in the Horizon League, while Loyola moved to 15-7, 5-5 HL.
CSU appeared on the verge of taking the first set, claiming a 23-19 lead on a Liz Fazio kill. However, the Ramblers scored the next six points to really and win the opening set. Sarah Singer led the comeback with three kills.
CSU responded in set two, breaking a 14-14 tie with four straight points to take an 18-14 lead. Greulich had a kill and block assist in the run as Loyola would not get closer than three points the rest of the set.
The Vikings rode that momentum following the intermission and raced out to a quick 11-3 lead in set three as Greulich had four kills during the stretch. Amy Grabiec recorded two service aces to help spark the run. Loyola did battle back to slice its deficit to 14-10, but back-to-back ball handling errors on the Ramblers pushed CSU's lead back to six points (16-10) as the Vikings to a 2-1 lead.
Faced with a must-win set, Loyola stormed out to a 9-1 lead in the fourth set. But the Vikings responded with a 10-4 run to slice the deficit to 13-11 and climb back into the set. However, the Ramblers came back with a run of their own, outscoring CSU 9-3 over the next 12 points to regain an eight-point lead to take a 22-14 lead and eventually win the set to force a deciding fifth set.
CSU scored the first two points of the fifth set on a Loyola service error and a Fazio kill. However, the Ramblers went on a 7-2 run to take a 7-4 lead and force a Viking timeout.
A Fazio kill after the timeout cut the Loyola lead back to two point (7-5), but the Ramblers scored four of the next five points to take an 11-6 lead. An Amy Benz kill and back-to-back aces by Jordan Goad sliced the lead back to two points (11-9), but that was as close as the Vikings could get as Loyola claimed its second five-set win over CSU this season.
Kayla Lefeld added nine kills for the Vikings, while Goad chipped in 42 assists and four digs. Jordan Bateman finished with 14 digs.
Singer led the Ramblers with 16 kills, while Alyse Serritella had a match-best 18 digs.
The Vikings will be back in action on Tuesday night when CSU hosts Bowling Green at 7:00 p.m. in Woodling Gym. It will be the final nonconference match of the season for the Vikings.
