Nov. 21, 2009
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Amy Benz had 15 kills and Beth Greulich added 13 as Cleveland State advanced to the Horizon League Championship match for the third straight season with a 3-1 victory over UIC in the first of two semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Woodling Gym.
Match scores were 25-11, 19-25, 25-18, 25-14.
The top-seeded Vikings, who improved to 26-7 overall, will play third-seeded Milwaukee in the championship match on Sunday (Nov. 22) at 1:00 p.m. in Woodling Gym. The Panthers knocked off second-seeded Valparaiso, 3-0, in Saturday's second semifinals.
The Vikings defeated Valpo in 2007 to win their first-ever league title and fell to Milwaukee in the finals last season.
Fifth-seeded UIC, which defeated Butler in four sets last night, concluded its season at 16-18.
Benz hit .444 (15-3-27) for the match, while Greulich was just as good, connecting on 13 of her 25 kills with just two errors (.440).
Liz Fazio added nine kills and a match-high 15 digs, while Amy Grabiec added 11 digs.
Jordan Goad handed out 46 assists with six digs and six kills, directing the Vikings to a .312 attack percentage.
"I thought we came out with a lot of passion and energy in that first set to set the tone early," head coach Chuck Voss said. "UIC did some things that we were not able to adjust to in set two, but we really came back strong in the final two sets and I was pleased with that.
"We are one match away from reaching a goal that we set this preseason," Voss continued. "We feel confident in ourselves and our play, but we know that we can't let up at all and have to continue to execute our system and limit mental mistakes. If we can keep doing that, the rest will take care of itself."
The Vikings, who had not played since a 3-0 sweep over Youngstown State last Friday (Nov. 13) came out on fire, racing out to a 9-2 lead behind the serving of Meghan Mental and two blocks each from Benz and Kara Koch.
CSU would not let up the rest of the set, pushing the lead to 21-9 on a Fazio kill en route to taking a 1-0 lead.
Set two proved to be the most exciting of the afternoon as it featured six ties, the final one coming when a Fazio kill evened things up at 9-9. However, the Flames used a 6-1 run, taking a 15-10 lead, and forcing a CSU timeout.
The Vikings managed to cut their deficit to three points (17-14) on a Flame attack error, but back-to-back UIC kills pushed the lead back to five points (19-14) as UIC evened the match at one set apiece.
Back-to-back attack errors by CSU opened the third set, but the Vikings came right back with five straight points to assume a 5-2 lead. Clinging to a one point lead (9-8), CSU used a 10-4 spurt to take a 19-12 lead on a UIC ball handling error. Goad highlighted the run with two service errors, while also distributing the ball to each of her attackers at the net, keeping the Flames off balance.
Casie Sullivan led the Flames with 14 kills, while Kelsey Safranek added 13.
The Flames hit .124 (44-28-129) for the match, holding a 54-49 advantage in digs. However, the Vikings had more blocks, 12-5 and aces, 9-3.
CSU left little doubt about the outcome of set four, as the serving of Megan Barhorst and Mental helped the Vikings run out to a 12-3 lead behind four kills by Benz.
