Nov. 13, 2009
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State clinched no worse than a tie for the regular season title and earned the No. 1 seed in the Horizon League Championship with a 3-0 sweep over Youngstown State on Friday night in Woodling Gym.
CSU improved to 25-7 overall and concluded play in the league at 13-3, meaning the Vikings can finish tied for first place with Valparaiso. However, CSU defeated the Crusaders twice during the regular season, giving the Vikings the advantage for the No. 1 seed.
Valpo is playing at Green Bay and Milwaukee this weekend and should they lose once, the Vikings would win the title outright.
"We have worked really hard to accomplish this, but we know that we still have some unfinished business," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We are excited to be hosting the Horizon League Championship next weekend, but we know that we have to continue to play within our system and stay mentally tough if we want to accomplish the rest our of goals."
The win tonight was extra special for Voss as it was the 200th of his career.
"It's a special accomplishment, but that just means I have been coaching for a long, long time," Voss joked.
Match scores were 25-19, 25-18, 25-13.
It was only fitting that the senior duo of Liz Fazio and Beth Greulich led the Vikings on Senior Night with Fazio collecting 11 kills and Greulich adding nine.
In addition, senior Kayla Lefeld, who injured her knee just days before the preseason began and hadn't played all season, started and was on the floor for the first point just moments after being honored.
Fazio added nine digs, coming up just short of a double-double, while Jordan Goad added 37 assists and six digs. Amy Grabiec made 14 digs.
CSU started out strong in the first set, racing out to an 8-2 lead. However, YSU closed to within 12-11, not allowing the Vikings to run away. A 4-1 run by CSU pushed the lead to 16-12 and the Penguins would get no closer than two points the rest of the way.
Set two featured four ties and three lead changes before the Vikings pulled away late. Leading 17-15, the Vikings used a kill by Greulich and a YSU attack error to push the lead to four points (19-15), eventually pushing the lead to as many as six points.
CSU left little doubt about the sweep, using a 6-1 run midway through the set to extend a three point lead (11-8) to 17-9 en route to their 18th sweep of the season.
CSU's 25 wins are tied for the sixth most in program history and the most since the 1983 squad won 29 times. In addition, the 13 league wins are tied with the 2007 team for the most in program history.
The Vikings will be back in action next Saturday (Nov. 21) when they begin play in the league tournament with a match in the semifinals against an opponent to be determined.
