Oct. 13, 2003
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This Week: Oct. 14 vs. Bowling Green (9-9), 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 21 vs. Youngstown State (8-9, 1-5 HL), 7:00 p.m.
Quick Sets: Cleveland State kicks off a five-match homestand this week with matches against long-time in-state rivals Bowling Green and Youngstown State...the Vikings are just 3-7 in their last 10 matches, but four of those losses have been in five games...CSU has swept its way to nine victories this season while only being blanked twice.
Vikings Kickoff Stay At Home With In-State Rivals: The Vikings return to Woodling Gym on Tuesday to face Bowling Green. CSU owns a 15-11 lead in the all-time series despite the fact that the Falcons have won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including a three-game sweep last season. The Vikings then welcome Youngstown State to Woodling on Friday. CSU leads the series with the Penguins by a 30-13 margin and has won eight of the last 11 matches, including a pair of victories last season. This will be the 44th meeting with YSU, more than any other opponent.
Head Coach Chuck Voss: Head coach Chuck Voss is in his fourth year at the helm of the Vikings. Voss has a 49-59 (.454) mark at Cleveland State and an 82-95 (.463) overall record in six seasons. Last year, he guided the Vikings to their first winning season since 1983. In addition, the 18 victories the 2002 squad posted were the most since the 1988 team won 20 contests.
Bouyer Closes Match With Milestone Kill: Junior middle hitter Jamie Bouyer ended Tuesday's sweep of Robert Morris by becoming the eighth player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. On the night, she finished with 21 kills, a .621 hitting percentage and seven digs. Bouyer currently leads the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.397) and blocks per game (1.51) and is second in points per game (5.13). In NCAA rankings as of Oct. 5, she stood 18th in hitting percentage and 13th in blocks per game.
Game Five Spells Trouble For Vikings: In head coach Chuck Voss' first three seasons, Cleveland State posted an impressive 7-3 record in five game matches. However, that stat has done an about-face in 2003. Since defeating Indiana State in five on Sept. 6, the Vikings have dropped four consecutive matches that have gone the distance, including league contests against Loyola and Butler.
Great Wall Of Cleveland: It's no wonder that Viking opponents are hitting just .181 this year - they're having trouble getting the ball across the net. At 2.84 blocks per game, CSU currently leads the Horizon League, well ahead of second-place Youngstown State (2.64). Individually, Jamie Bouyer (1.51), Danielle Siefker (1.23) and Nickole Kennedy (1.04) rank first, fourth and ninth among the league's blocking leaders. This season, the Vikings have been out-blocked only four times and ranked 21st in the nation in the Oct. 5 NCAA statistics.
Triple Your Pleasure: Setter Kelly Crain had a career night on Oct. 3 against Loyola. She posted 10 kills, 63 assists and 13 digs for her first collegiate triple-double. Jamie Bouyer, who had a match-high 23 kills, almost matched Crain's feat, finishing two digs and a block short of what would have been her first career triple-double.
A Little On Last Week: After defeating Robert Morris at home on Tuesday, the Vikings fell to 0-4 on the road in the league with losses at Butler and Wright State. Junior middle hitter Jamie Bouyer dominated in Tuesday's sweep of the Colonials, finishing with 21 kills, a .621 hitting percentage and seven digs. On Friday against the Bulldogs, sophomores Emily Clark, Nickole Kennedy and Julie Stover combined for 44 kills, but Bouyer was held to her lowest hitting percentage of the season (-.038) as CSU dropped to 1-4 in five-game matches this season. Despite 19 kills, a .429 hitting percentage and five blocks from Bouyer, the Vikings' struggles continued the next day with a four-game loss at Wright State.
Clark Energizes Lineup: In the seven matches since stepping in after a back injury forced sophomore Alisa Hatcher out of the lineup, sophomore Emily Clark has provided a spark at outside hitter. In that span, she has 60 kills and 82 digs including career-highs in both categories, posting 14 kills versus Butler and 20 digs against Loyola.
Bouyer, Crain Climb Career Charts: Now two-thirds of the way through their junior years, middle hitter Jamie Bouyer and setter Kelly Crain are already leaving their mark on the Cleveland State career lists. Bouyer ranks first in block assists (298), sixth in solo blocks (58) and third in total blocks (356). Crain is currently third on the assist rankings with 2,981 and has a good shot of passing Stacie Cunningham (3,320) for second place by the end of the year.
Not To Be Negative, But...: Not only was Jamie Bouyer's -.038 hitting percentage a first for this season, but it was just the second time she has posted a negative hitting percentage in her career. The other came during her freshman season when she hit -.115 at Illinois-Chicago (10/12/01). Not to worry though, her career hitting percentage is still .326 - which would tie her with Michelle Smith atop the CSU record book.
New-Look Woodling Equals Same Result: The court may have looked different but the outcome was the same. When Cleveland State swept Oakland on Sept. 12, it marked the eighth consecutive home-opening victory (six of which have been sweeps) for the Vikings dating back to 1996.
Loose Ends: Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Maddocks entered the Loyola match on Oct. 3 with career-highs of seven kills and 21 attempts, a little over two hours those numbers were upgraded to 16 kills and 48 attempts...the Vikings finished 3-0 against the Big East this year...in losses to Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois, CSU was on the losing end of back-to-back five game matches for the first time since 1989.
Up Next: The Vikings host Toledo on Tuesday, Oct. 21, then close out their five-game homestand with league matches over the weekend against UW-Green Bay (Oct. 24) and UW-Milwaukee (Oct. 25).
