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Volleyball Hosts UIC For Lone Contest of the Week

Volleyball Hosts UIC For Lone Contest of the Week
Posted: Oct 12, 2010

Oct. 12, 2010

Contact: Greg Murphy

Match 18

UIC (9-11, 4-4 HL) at Cleveland State (15-2, 6-2 HL)
Date: Friday, Oct. 15, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Woodling Gym (3,000) - Cleveland, Ohio
Series: UIC leads, 41-18
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, @UIC 0 (9/18/10)

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QUICK SETS: Following its busiest week of the season, the Cleveland State volleyball team has its quietest as the Vikings host UIC on Friday (Oct. 15) at 7:00 p.m. in CSU's lone contest of the week to begin the second round of league action. CSU enters the week at 15-2 overall and in second place in the Horizon League at 6-2, one match behind league leaders Milwaukee and Butler who are both 7-1. UIC is 9-11 overall and in fifth place in the league at 4-4. The Vikings won at UIC, 3-0, in the league opener for both teams back on Sept. 18.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings won three of their four matches last week. Following are brief recaps of those contests.

Match 14: CSU 3, Butler 0 (Oct. 5, Cleveland, Ohio)
Cleveland State handed Butler its first league loss of the season, defeating the Bulldogs, 3-0. Kara Koch had 14 kills and Lindsey Griffith added 12, while Amy Benz finished with six to become the 14th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills.

Match 15: CSU 3, Wright State 0 (Oct. 6, Cleveland, Ohio)
Kara Koch had 12 kills and Amy Benz had 10 to lead the Vikings to a 3-0 sweep over Wright State. Jordan Goad handed out 40 assists, while Amy Grabiec made a match-best 16 digs.

Match 16: CSU 3, Valparaiso 1 (Oct. 9, Valparaiso, Ind.)
CSU lost the first set, but rallied to win the next three and hand Valparaiso a 3-1 setback. Kara Koch notched a double-double with 19 kills and 15 digs, while Amy Benz had 14. Amy Grabiec recorded 21 digs.

Match 17: Loyola 3, CSU 1 (Oct. 10, Chicago, Ill.)
Loyola won the final three sets to hand CSU a 3-1 setback, the Vikings first road loss of the season. Kara Koch finished with 14 kills and 12 digs, while Jackie Dabbelt had 11 kills. Amy Grabiec made 18 digs.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Now in his 11th season at the helm of the Cleveland State volleyball program, head coach Chuck Voss has re-tooled the squad and has them off to the best start in school history. Headlining the list of returnees is junior setter Jordan Goad (10.76 aps, 1.76 dps), who was a first team All-Horizon League and honorable mention All-America pick last year after finishing 36th in the country in assists. Freshman Annie Djukic (4.56 aps) is Goad's backup after redshirting last season. Senior Amy Benz (.325, 2.52 kps, 1.00 bps) headlines a deep and talented group of middles that also includes junior Megan Barhorst (0.92 kps, 1.02 bps), sophomore Marie Frease (.268, 1.68 kps) and freshman Erin Turner. Sophomore Kara Koch (3.92 kps, 2.39 dps) and junior Lindsey Griffith (2.23 kps) are the most experienced outside hitters on the roster, while sophomore Kourtney Volkmer (0.17 kps) and freshman Kerry Winchester (0.71 kps) will also get opportunities. Freshman Jackie Dabbelt (.278, 2.77 kps), is the starter on the right side. The Vikings are once again be strong in the backrow with junior Amy Grabiec (5.23 dps) taking over the libero role. Senior Meghan Mental (1.57 dps), junior Whitney Dalessandro and sophomores Amanda Medvetz (2.38 dps) and Brittany Holland (2.32) all receive time as defensive specialists in the backrow.

CYO NIGHT: Friday's match against UIC will be the 9th Annual CYO Volleyball Sportsmanship Night at CSU. A total of 25 teams who were nominated for the Sportsmanship Award will be honored during the break between the second and third sets.

RPI WATCH: The NCAA released its second edition of the volleyball RPI on Monday (Oct. 11) with the Vikings checking in at No. 68. It is the highest ranking among the nine league schools with Milwaukee (No. 95) the second highest and only other Horizon League school among the top-100.

CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: The Vikings are well represented in the latest NCAA statistics that were released on Monday (Oct. 11) afternoon. As a team, CSU is 14th in the nation in winning percentage (.882), 40th in assists (12.90), 41st in kills (13.79), 52nd in digs (16.42) and 62nd in hitting percentage (.238). Individually, Amy Grabiec is 31st in digs (5.23), while Jordan Goad is 35th in assists (10.76) and Kara Koch 50th in kills (3.92) and 64th in points (4.36).

KOCH DOUBLES UP: Sophomore Kara Koch has notched seven of the team's nine double-doubles this season, including four last week in which she averaged 4.21 kills and 3.50 digs per set. She opened the week with 14 kills and 12 digs against Butler and followed that with 12 kills and 10 digs versus Wright State, 19 kills and 15 digs at Valparaiso and 14 kills and 12 digs at Loyola.

BENZ NOTCHES 1,000TH KILL: Senior Amy Benz became the 14th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills with a kill in the second set against Butler on Tuesday (Oct. 5). Benz needs 36 more kills to break into the all-time top-10 in career kills at CSU.

... AND CONTINUES CLIMB UP THE CHARTS: Amy Benz has her name plastered throughout the CSU career record book, ranking third all-time in hitting percentage (.318), total blocks (488) and block assists (422); and seventh in solo blocks (66). She is 12 blocks shy of joining Jamie Bouyer and Danielle Siefker as the only players in program history with 1,000 kills and 500 blocks for their careers.

PLAYING WITH BLOCKS: The Vikings have two players among the league leaders in blocks with Megan Barhorst fourth (1.02) and Amy Benz seventh (1.00). Benz did a ton of damage at the last week, totaling 30 blocks (2.14 bps) in four matches. She had four against Butler, eight at Valparaiso and nine each against Wright State and at Loyola.

SHE CAN DIG IT: Junior Amy Grabiec is continuing the strong tradition of the libero position at CSU, averaging 5.23 digs per set to rank second in the league and 31st nationally. Grabiec, who has reached double-digit digs in 25 of the last 26 matches dating to last season, has 324 digs this season and needs 73 more to move into 10th place on the CSU single season chart for digs.

AIR JORDAN: Jordan Goad, an honorable mention All-American last year, has picked up right where she left off a season ago, ranking second in the Horizon League and 35th in the nation in assists (10.76), helping the Vikings top the league in attack percentage (.238). Goad is ranked fifth on the all-time assist chart at CSU with 3,067.

ON THE ATTACK: When it comes to accurate hitters in the league, it doesn't get much better than CSU as a Viking has led the league in attack percentage in each of the last seven seasons. It began with Jamie Bouyer leading the league in 2003 (.361) and 2004 (.368) and continued with Nickole Kennedy in 2005 (.318), Beth Greulich in 2006 (.364), Amy Benz in 2007 (.334) and 2008 (.303) and Greulich (.328) last season. Benz is ranked second in the league this year at .325.

RECORD START: The Vikings won their first 10 matches of the season as part of the best start to a season in school history. The streak was snapped on Sept. 24 with a 3-2 setback to Milwaukee. The 1977 team held the old mark of seven consecutive wins to open a season. In addition, the 10 consecutive wins are tied for the fourth longest win streak in school history. The 1974 squad holds the record with 16 wins in a row.

UP NEXT: CSU plays three times next week, beginning with a 7:00 p.m. home contest against Bowling Green on Tuesday (Oct. 19). The Vikings then head to Wisconsin to face Green Bay on Friday (Oct. 22) at 8:00 p.m. EDT and Milwaukee on Saturday (Oct. 23) at 5:00 p.m. EDT.