Nov. 4, 2011
Contact: Renee Adam
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Behind a Cleveland State record 35 kills from Kara Koch and a school record 39 digs from Amy Grabiec, the Vikings were able to grind out a five-set victory against UIC Friday night in Woodling Gym. With the record-setting performances, the Vikings improve to 17-7 overall and 10-3 in the Horizon League, while the Flames fall to 14-12 overall and 7-7 in league play.
Koch's 35 kills against the Flames Friday night marked the most in a match by a CSU player since 1996 when Tenille Whiteside recorded 33 against Syracuse, and is now just 17 kills shy of reaching 1,000 for her career. Grabiec's 39 digs marked the most by a Viking since 1987 when Elisa Caraulia tallied 37 against Kent State. After tonight's match, Grabiec is just four digs shy of taking over second place on the all-time career digs list at CSU, and currently has 1,403.
Set scores against the Flames were 25-20, 26-28, 30-32, 25-18, 15-11.
After trading points during the first half of the opening set, the Vikings were able to post five straight points to gain a 20-15 advantage. During that span CSU got kills from Ally Beck, Megan Barhorst and Jackie Dabbelt and a service ace from Grabiec. The Flames were able to fight off one set point, but CSU was finally able to put the frame away with a Koch kill.
Despite dropping the next two sets by scores of 26-28 and 30-32, the Vikings were able to come back and earn a fourth set victory to force a deciding fifth set. CSU battled back from a 2-0 deficit to open the frame and tallied four straight points, earning a 10-6 lead and went on to hold at least a three-point lead for the remainder of the set. The Vikings were able to string together four straight points once again during the frame, and ended the set on a Koch kill and a Barhorst service ace.
CSU and UIC played a tight fifth set that including eight ties, until the Vikings were finally able to post four straight points to gain a two-point advantage at 12-10. The Flames could only rally one more point, before the Vikings closed the match with three straight points including kills from Koch and Marie Frease.
Along with Koch, the Viking offense was led by Beck who tallied a career-high 15 kills and Dabbelt who posted 10. Jordan Goad posted a career-best 62 assists against the Flames, while she also tallied 14 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Koch also notched a double-double against UIC, posting 13 digs to go along with her career-high 35 kills. Barhorst recorded a season-best six blocks Friday night, while Goad tied her season-high with four and Frease also tallied four.
The Vikings will continue their four-match homestand Saturday (Nov. 5) afternoon when they face Valparaiso in a 4:00 p.m. contest at Woodling Gym.
