Oct. 27, 2007
Contact: Greg Murphy
CHICAGO, Ill. - Alexis Korovich recorded a season-high 21 kills and hit a season-best .429, but it wasn't enough as the Vikings fell in five games at UIC, 25-30, 30-20, 30-21, 12-30, 15-9, in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon at the Flames Athletic Center.
CSU slipped to 18-7 overall and 11-3 in league play, while the Flames, who fell to CSU in five games earlier this season in Woodling Gym, improved to 13-11 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
The Vikings are now 1.5 games behind Milwaukee (12-1) for first place in the league. The Panthers, who won in five games over Valparaiso on Friday, were idle on Saturday.
"We played pretty well tonight, but UIC did a nice job and forced us into some errors," head coach Chuck Voss said. "They wanted the match and I thought they were more determined to get the win."
CSU started out slow against UIC as it fell behind 13-7. However, the Vikings scored seven of the next eight points, including back-to-back kills from Kayla Lefeld to conclude the run, and tie the game at 14-14. From there, the teams had six ties, including the final time at 25-25 when CSU closed the match with five straight points to take a 1-0 lead. The Vikings hit .462 in the opener.
UIC returned the favor in game two as they broke open a 23-20 lead with seven straight points to tie the match at 1-1 at the intermission. The run featured three service aces from Casie Sullivan.
Game three featured nine tie scores and four lead changes, but the Flames once again used a late run as they broke open a 20-18 lead with seven straight points.
"We played with a lot of energy in game one, but couldn't match that intensity in games two and three," Voss said. "We kind of went into a lull, but were able to break out of it in the fourth game."
It was in that fourth game that the Vikings earned one of its most lopsided wins of the season by racing out to an 8-1 lead, as Liz Fazio served six consecutive points. The Vikings scored eight consecutive points to push its advantage to as many as 18 points (25-7) as they held the Flames to a -.095 (7-11-42) hitting percentage in the fourth game.
The 12 points scored by UIC were the fewest allowed by CSU in a single game since Oakland scored 10 in game two on Oct. 11, 2005. Ironically, CSU allowed just 11 points to Oakland in the first game of the match.
Despite the low scoring output in game four, the Flames were able to rally to win the deciding fifth game. The Vikings jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but UIC rallied to knot the score at 5-5. A UIC service error gave the Vikings a 9-8 lead, but that was the last point the Vikings would score, as the Flames rattled off the final seven points of the match, including four via CSU attack errors.
Korovich added 13 digs and four aces for the Vikings, while Beth Greulich (14) and Kayla Lefeld (13) reached double-digit kills. Mel Snyder finished with 51 assists and 13 digs, while Jordan Bateman chipped in 16 digs.
UIC received 18 kills from Amanda Kenny, while Sullivan finished with 47 assists and 13 digs.
CSU will return to action on Saturday (Nov. 3) when it hosts Valparaiso at 4:00 pm in Woodling Gym.
