Oct. 29, 2011
Contact: Renee Adam
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. - For the first time this season the Cleveland State volleyball team fell on the road in league play, as the Vikings dropped a four-set decision at Milwaukee. With the loss CSU falls to 16-7 overall and 9-3 in league play, while Milwaukee improves to 21-4 overall and 14-0 in the Horizon League, and claims the regular season title.
Set scores against Milwaukee were 23-25, 15-25, 25-11, 14-25.
"We had our chances tonight and we had a great third set, but we just weren't able to pull out the win," head coach Chuck Voss said. "Milwaukee did a great job of getting us off balance on our offensive attack tonight, and against a team like that you need to have options which we weren't able to do tonight. Jackie had a great match for us, both offensively and defensively which needs to continue as we close out the regular season. Finishing the regular season at home is huge and we need to take advantage of that and play aggressively throughout the next four matches."
During the opening frame the Vikings controlled the momentum for the majority of the set, but Milwaukee was able to fight back and claim a 25-23 victory. CSU held a lead, or kept the set tied from the 8-8 mark through the 20-20 mark when the Panthers were able to post two straight points to gain a 22-20 advantage. The Vikings fought off one set point before allowing a Panther kill to end the set.
Milwaukee claimed a 25-15 victory during the second set, but the Vikings came out firing during the third set, earning a 25-11 victory. During the third set CSU allowed the Panthers to post two straight points just once, while forcing them into seven hitting errors. Jackie Dabbelt led the Vikings during the third frame, posting five kills and two blocks.
The fourth set was almost the exact opposite, as the Panthers claimed a 25-14 victory to earn the 3-1 match win. The Vikings only managed 10 kills during the fourth frame, while they allowed the Panthers to collect 18.
Dabbelt and Kara Koch posted a team-high 12 kills against the Panthers, while Jordan Goad recorded 43 assists marking her seventh match with 40 or more assists this season. Amy Grabiec tallied a match-high 24 digs, her fourth 20-plus dig match of the season to lead the Viking defense, while Koch tallied her eighth double-double of the season with 12 digs.
CSU will now close out the regular season with a four-match homestand, beginning with UIC next Friday (Nov. 4). The Vikings will host the Flames in a 7:00 p.m. contest in Woodling Gym.
