Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Cleveland State University

The Official Home of the Cleveland State University Vikings

Volleyball Hosts Robert Morris; Heads to Youngstown State

Volleyball Hosts Robert Morris; Heads to Youngstown State
Posted: Oct 26, 2010

Oct. 26, 2010

Contact: Greg Murphy

Matches 22-23

Robert Morris (10-15) at Cleveland State (17-4, 8-3 HL)
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Woodling Gym (3,000) - Cleveland, Ohio
Series: CSU leads, 26-1
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, @RMU 0 (9/1/09)

Cleveland State at Youngstown State (2-22, 0-11 HL)
Date: Friday, Oct. 29, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Beeghly Center (6,300) - Youngstown, Ohio
Series: CSU leads, 47-13
Last Mtg.: @CSU 3, YSU 0 (10/1/10)

Complete Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

QUICK SETS: Cleveland State begins its stretch run toward the Horizon League Championship when the Vikings play two matches this week. The Vikings will host Robert Morris on Tuesday (Oct. 26) at 7:00 p.m. in the final nonconference match of the season before making the short trek east to Youngstown State for a 7:00 p.m. contest on Friday (Oct. 29) night. The Vikings are 17-4 overall this season and are in third place in the Horizon League with an 8-3 mark, two matches behind first place co-leaders Milwaukee and Butler who are both 10-1 in league play.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings went 1-2 in three matches last week. Here are brief recaps of those contests.

Match 19: Bowling Green 3, CSU 0 (Oct. 19, Cleveland, Ohio)
Cleveland State was swept for the first time this season as Bowling Green handed the Vikings a 3-0 setback. Kara Koch had 15 kills and nine digs, while Amy Grabiec made 10 digs.

Match 20: CSU 3, Green Bay 2 (Oct. 22, Green Bay, Wis.)
The Vikings won the first two sets, dropped the next two and won the fifth set for a 3-2 win at Green Bay. Jordan Goad recorded her first career triple-double with 43 assists, 13 digs and 10 kills, while Kara Koch added 15 kills and 14 digs. Amy Grabiec notched 29 digs.

Match 21: Milwaukee 3, CSU 1 (Oct. 23, Cleveland, Ohio)
Cleveland State won the first set, but Milwaukee won the next three to claim a 3-1 victory over the Vikings. Megan Barhorst finished with a career-high 12 kills, while Amy Benz added 10. Amy Grabiec made 19 digs and Jordan Goad handed out 39 assists.

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 the Vikings right back in the thick of the Horizon League race. Headlining the list of returnees from last year's regular season champions is junior setter Jordan Goad (10.66 aps, 1.81 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 (4.19 aps) is Goad's backup after redshirting last season and has made three starts this season to spare Goad at times. Senior Amy Benz (.308, 2.47 kps, 0.99 bps) headlines a deep and talented group of middles that also includes junior Megan Barhorst (1.15 kps, 0.92 bps), sophomore Marie Frease (.280, 1.56 kps) and freshman Erin Turner. Sophomore Kara Koch (3.79 kps, 2.58 dps) and junior Lindsey Griffith (2.08 kps) are the most experienced outside hitters on the roster, while sophomore Kourtney Volkmer (0.10 kps) and freshman Kerry Winchester (0.71 kps) have also received opportunities. Freshman Jackie Dabbelt (.264, 2.62 kps) has held down the right side. The Vikings are once again be strong in the backrow with junior Amy Grabiec (5.15 dps) continuing CSU's strong tradition of liberos. Senior Meghan Mental (1.44 dps), junior Whitney Dalessandro and sophomores Amanda Medvetz (2.28 dps) and Brittany Holland (2.22) all receive time as defensive specialists in the backrow.

RPI WATCH: The NCAA released its fourth edition of the volleyball RPI on Monday (Oct. 25) with the Vikings moving down 34 spots from last week to No. 98. CSU is one of just two Horizon League schools to be ranked among the top-100 with Milwaukee at No. 71st the highest rated league school.

CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: The Vikings are well represented in the latest NCAA statistics that were released on Monday (Oct. 25) afternoon. As a team, CSU is 21st in the nation in winning percentage (.810), 44th in assists (12.83), 46 in kills (13.67) and 55th in digs (16.38). Individually, Amy Grabiec is 32nd in digs (5.15), while Jordan Goad is 45th in assists (10.66) and Kara Koch is 67th in kills (3.79) and 79th in points (4.26).

GOAD TRIPLES UP: Junior Jordan Goad notched the first triple-double of her career in Friday's (Oct. 22) win at Green Bay, finishing with 43 assists, 13 digs and 10 kills. Her 10th and final kill gave the Vikings an 11-8 lead in the fifth set, helping CSU eventually win the final set, 15-10.

... AND CONTINUES TO DISH IT OUT: Jordan Goad continues to lead the Horizon League while also ranking 45th in the nation in assists per set (10.66). In addition, she has helped direct the Vikings to the best attack percentage in the league (.221). Goad is fifth on the all-time assist chart at CSU with 3,200 assists.

SHE CAN DIG IT: Junior Amy Grabiec is continuing the strong tradition of the libero position at CSU, averaging 5.15 digs per set to rank second in the league and 28th nationally. Grabiec, who has reached double-digit digs in 29 of the last 30 matches dating to last season, has 402 digs this season, the seventh highest total in a single season in school history. She needs to make 75 more digs to move all the way up to second place.

KOCH DOUBLES UP: Sophomore Kara Koch has notched nine of the team's 12 double-doubles this season, including in six of the last eight matches. Over that span, Koch is averaging 3.73 kills and 3.40 digs per set, tying her career-high with 15 digs in three of the matches. She ranks second in the Horizon League in kills (3.79) and points (4.26).

BENZ MOVES INTO 10th PLACE: Senior Amy Benz moved into 10th place on the all-time kills list at CSU in Saturday's match at Milwaukee. Benz, who earlier this year became the 14th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills, enters the week with 1,069 for her career.

... 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 (.317), total blocks (503) and block assists (437); and seventh in solo blocks (66). She is one of three players in program history to record 1,000 kills and 500 blocks in a career, joining Jamie Bouyer and Danielle Siefker.

FAMILIAR SETTING: Sophomore defensive specialist Brittany Holland will be playing in familiar surroundings on Friday at Youngstown State having played her freshman season with the Penguins. Holland, who is averaging 2.22 digs per set, finished with five digs in CSU's first meeting this year with YSU.

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 ranks third in the league this year at .308.

UP NEXT: CSU returns home to host its final two regular season contests of the year next weekend. The Vikings will play Loyola on Friday (Nov. 5) at 7:00 p.m. and Valparaiso on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 4:00 p.m.