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Vikings to Host Bowling Green and Wright State This Week

Vikings to Host Bowling Green and Wright State This Week
Posted: Oct 20, 2008

Oct. 20, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

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QUICK SETS: Cleveland State begins its final regular season homestand of the 2008 campaign when the Vikings host a pair of matches this week. CSU will entertain Bowling Green on Tuesday (Oct. 21) at 7:00 p.m. in its final nonconference match of the season before welcoming Wright State to Woodling Gym on Saturday (Oct. 25) at 4:00 p.m. The Vikings begin the week at 4-15 overall and 3-7 in the Horizon League, tied for eighth place with Youngstown State. However, CSU is just 2.5 matches out of third place and two matches out of fifth place.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings made their annual trek to Chicago to face UIC and Loyola. Following are brief recaps of each match.

Match 18: UIC 3, CSU 1 (Oct. 18, Chicago, Ill.) - 25-14, 25-21, 21-25, 26-24
Kayla Lefeld had a season-high 19 kills and Jenni Ramminger added 10, but the Vikings fell in four sets at UIC. CSU avoided the sweep by racing out to a 16-10 lead in the third set, but the Flames came back to take a 22-18 advantage in the fourth set. The Vikings rallied to tie it at 23-23 and after the teams traded two points, UIC scored the final two to earn the win.

Match 19: Loyola 3, CSU 2 (Oct. 19, Chicago, Ill.) - 25-23, 19-25, 16-25, 25-16, 15-9
Loyola rallied to win the final two sets and claim its second five-set win of the season over Cleveland State. After combining to hit .359 in the first three sets, the Vikings hit just .111 over the final two sets, while the Ramblers combined for a .422 hitting percentage in the final two sets. Beth Greulich and Liz Fazio had 13 kills each and Jordan Goad dished out 42 assists.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State continues its second round through the Horizon League schedule in hopes of moving up the standings to improve its seed for the league championship. Freshman Jordan Goad (9.47 ast/s, 1.53 dps) has taken the reigns as the starting setter and continues to develop a good rapport with each of CSU's hitters. Junior opposite Beth Greulich, a two-time first team all-league selection, leads the team with 193 kills and a .273 hitting percentage. Senior middle hitter Jenni Ramminger (2.20 k/s, 0.83 blk/s) and sophomore middle blocker Amy Benz (2.04 k/s, .254, 0.99 blk/s) are CSU's top players in the middle of the court. A talented group of experienced outside hitters is led by three-year starter Alexis Korovich, who ranks fifth on the team with 85 kills and third with 105 digs. Juniors Kayla Lefeld (2.28 k/s, 1.54 d/s) and Liz Fazio (1.85 k/s) give CSU depth on the outside. This year's squad may be the best defensive squad in Voss' tenure, led by libero Jordan Bateman (4.07 d/s) who ranks second on the CSU career dig list. She is joined in the backrow by junior Maggie Bonomini (2.55 d/s), sophomore Meghan Mental (0.90 d/s) and freshman Amy Grabiec (1.57 d/s).

THE HEAD COACH: In his ninth year at the helm of the Viking volleyball program, head coach Chuck Voss has methodically built the program from the ground up. He inherited a team that had not enjoyed a winning season in 17 years and turned things around in his third season (2002) when he led CSU to an 18-16 mark. CSU recorded six straight winning seasons (2002-07), the most since the program opened with seven straight (1972-78). Voss has a 135-122 (.525) mark at CSU, ranking second on the all-time wins list. Voss, who has a 168-157 (.517) overall record in 10 seasons, has mentored the only two All-Americans in school history, the 2005 Horizon League Player of the Year, 13 first team all-league picks, eight all-newcomer team members and four league Newcomer of the Year picks.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: Fans of CSU volleyball will have another avenue to catch the Vikings this season as all nine home matches will be video streamed online via the Horizon League Network. To access the video, visit www.CSUVikings.com and click on the "Watch Live" link on the front page or the volleyball schedule page. In addtion, CSU's matches at Valparaiso, Butler, Loyola, Green Bay and Youngstown State will also be video streamed online.

SHE CAN DIG IT: Senior Jordan Bateman is once again leading the Viking backrow as she is first on the team with 301 digs, which has allowed her to move into second place on the career digs list at CSU (1,370). Bateman, who is 36 digs shy of breaking Emily Clark's school record, has tallied at least 20 digs in seven of CSU's last nine matches and is averaging 5.36 digs per set over that time.

99 MORE DIGS TO GO: Jordan Bateman is just 99 digs shy of reaching 400 for the third consecutive season. She is already the only player in program history to have two 400 dig seasons (2006, 2007) and is the only player to reach 500 digs, recording a school-record 599 last season.

LEFELD EMBRACES STARTING ROLE: Junior Kayla Lefeld has picked up her game since being inserted into the starting lineup seven matches ago. During that stretch, Lefeld has recorded four double-doubles and is averaging 12.7 kills and 9.6 digs per match, while also contributing nine aces, nine blocks and hitting .198. She tied her career-high with 14 digs versus Youngstown State (Oct. 7) and set a season-high with 19 kills at UIC on Friday (Oct. 17).

AND PROVES HER SMARTS: Kayla Lefeld was honored as the U.S. Army Horizon League Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of action ending Oct. 12. The St. Henry, Ohio, native averaged 13.3 kills and 13.0 digs per match in helping the Vikings to a 2-1 week. She carries a 3.78 grade point average as a middle childhood education major.

JENNI FROM THE BLOCK: Senior Jenni Ramminger continues to move her way up the career blocks chart at CSU, ranking fourth all-time in total blocks (391), third in block assists (349) and 10th in solo blocks (42). She is 41 blocks shy of taking over third place from Cass Dolhancyk who made 432 blocks from 1993-96.

GREULICH'S GOOD WEEK: Junior Beth Greulich put together her best week of the season two weeks ago, averaging 3.82 kills per set, while hitting .382 (42-10-91) in three matches to earn Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors. She continues to lead the team in kills (193) and hitting percntage (.273), while ranking third with 51 blocks.

ACE, ACE, BABY: The Vikings have dominated the serving statistic this season, holding a 103-76 advantage in service aces this season. Jordan Bateman leads the way with 22 with Kayla Lefeld (16), Jordan Goad (16), Maggie Bonomini (14) and Amy Grabiec (14) also having double-digit service aces.

BENZ LIKES PLAYING WITH BLOCKS: Amy Benz has continued her rapid ascent up the CSU career blocks list, ranking eighth in CSU history with 258 career blocks. She is also ninth on the all-time block assist list with 221, just 26 shy of neighth place. Benz ranks fifth in the league in blocks (0.99).

IT'S ALL GOAD: Freshman setter Jordan Goad has continued to develop good chemistry with CSU's hitters since taking over as the starting setter in the third match of the season. Goad, who ranks fourth in the league in assists (9.47 ast/s) just missed a triple-double on Sept. 29 at Wright State, finishing with 44 assists and career-highs in digs (13) and kills (7). She is second on the team in aces (16) and third in digs (112).

CSU SUCCESSFUL VS. IN-STATE RIVAL: The Vikings series with Youngstown State has been extremely lopsided during Chuck Voss' tenure at CSU. The ninth-year head coach claims a career record of 17-1 against the Penguins, including 16 straight wins following the Oct. 7 sweep. The Vikings conclude the regular season with a Nov. 14 match at YSU.

AWAY FROM HOME: The Vikings enter the week with a 1-13 mark away from home, including an 0-9 mark in true road matches and 1-4 in neutral contests. The last time CSU went winless on the road for a longer stretch to open the season came in 2001 when CSU won just one road game. That came on Nov. 4 in a five-set triumph at Green Bay.

UP NEXT: CSU concludes its regular season home schedule when the Vikings host a pair of matches next weekend. CSU entertains Butler on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7:00 p.m. before welcoming Valparaiso to town on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 4:00 p.m.