Nov. 19, 2010
Contact: Greg Murphy
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Third-seeded Cleveland State hit .299 and had 11 aces to advance to the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship with a 3-0 sweep over UIC on Friday evening in the Klotsche Center.
The Vikings will play second-seeded Butler on Saturday (Nov. 20) in the Klotsche Center at 4:30 p.m. EST (3:30 p.m. in Milwaukee). It will be the second semifinal of the day with top-seeded Milwaukee playing the winner of Friday's other match between fourth-seeded Valparaiso and fifth-seeded Green Bay first.
Match scores were 25-15, 25-23,25-17.
Kara Koch led the Vikings with 11 kills, six digs and six service aces, helping the Vikings to 11 for the match. Lindsey Griffith added eight kills and Amy Benz had seven with seven blocks.
Jordan Goad finished with 30 assists, seven digs and six kills, while Amy Grabiec made a match-best 15 digs and Brittany Holland had seven.
"I thought we came out with a lot of focus and great intensity tonight," head coach Chuck Voss said. "This was one of our most complete matches over the last few weeks. We played well in the backrow and really got some good offensive opportunities from our defense. We played within system and also did a great job at the net with our blocking."
UIC took its final lead of the opening set at 5-4 on a kill by Katie Eldred. From there, CSU used a 5-0 run to take a 9-5 lead. Koch concluded the run with a pair of service aces.
After a UIC point made it 9-6, the Vikings opened the set with an 8-3 run to make it 17-9 as four different players had at least one kill and Megan Barhorst capped the run with an ace. The Flames had one last run in them, closing to 19-14 on an Eldred kill, but the Vikings scored six of the final seven points to take a 1-0 lead as Amanda Medvetz served the final four points of the set.
Set two was much closer, featuring eight ties and three lead changes with no team leading by more than three points. UIC took a 9-6 lead on a Kelsey Safranek kill and led until a Flame attack error gave the Vikings a 12-11 advantage.
However, a 6-2 UIC run put the Flames ahead, 17-14 and the lead remained three (19-16) after a Janise Dismuke kill. Back-to-back kills by Barhorst and Koch and a UIC attack error brought the Vikings to even at 19-19.
The teams traded the next four points before a UIC attack error and Koch aces put the Vikings ahead, 23-21. UIC pulled within one at 23-22, but a Griffith kill gave the Vikings two chances at set point. Eldred recorded a kill to stave off the first one for UIC before Griffith ended things with her eighth kill of the match, giving CSU a 2-0 lead.
The third set was close for the first half of it, once again featuring eight ties and five lead changes. The final tie came at 16-16 after a CSU service error, but the Vikings went on to score nine of the final 10 points of the match to earn the sweep as Koch served eight straight points.
A UIC attack error started the Viking run before Koch served her first of four aces in the run, including three straight that made it 24-17.
"Kara was great serving tonight," Voss said. "She had some good movement on the ball and made it hard to return."
CSU improved to 22-6 with the win, while UIC concludes its season with a 13-18 mark.
