Nov. 5, 2007
Contact: Greg Murphy
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Match 28
Date: Nov. 10, 2007
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Woodling Gym - Cleveland, Ohio
Series: CSU leads, 38-13
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, @YSU 1 (9/21/07)
Quick Sets: Cleveland State (19-8, 12-3 HL) concludes the regular season when the Vikings host Youngstown State at 2:00 pm on Saturday (Nov. 10) in Woodling Gym.
Last Time Out: The Vikings were in action twice last week. Following are quick recaps of those matches.
Match #26 - CSU 3, Valparaiso 1 (Nov. 3 - Cleveland, Ohio)
Beth Greulich tallied 15 kills and Alexis Korovich added a double-double of 14 kills and 12 digs to lead the Vikings to a 3-1 win over Valparaiso. Mel Snyder added 45 assists, while Jordan Bateman chipped in 15 digs.
Match #27 - #17 Dayton 3, Cleveland State 0 (Nov. 4 - Cleveland, Ohio)
Dayton hit .400 (51-7-110) and had three players tally double-digit kills to claim a 3-0 nonconference win over Cleveland State. Beth Greulich led the Vikings with a match-best 12 kills, while Liz Fazio added nine.
Series History: The Vikings are 38-13 all-time against Youngstown State and have won 11 straight against the Penguins, including a 3-1 win at YSU on Sept. 21. CSU has won six consecutive home matches against the Penguins.
Head Coach: In his eighth year at the helm of the Vikings, head coach Chuck Voss has methodically built the Viking 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 the Vikings to an 18-16 mark. Since then, CSU has recorded six straight winning seasons (2002-07), the most since the program opened with seven straight (1972-78). Voss has a 127-105 (.547) mark at CSU and moved into second place on the all-time wins list at CSU in a Sept. 21 win at Youngstown State. Voss, who has a 160-141 (.532) overall record in nine seasons, has mentored the only two All-Americans in school history, the 2005 Horizon League Player of the Year, 10 first team all-league picks, seven all-newcomer team members and three league Co-Newcomer of the Year picks.
Senior Sendoff: CSU will honor its two seniors, Mel Snyder and Seanna Steinle, prior to Saturday's match against Youngstown State as it will be the final home match of their careers. The duo has helped lead the Vikings to 72 wins over the last four years.
Mel Snyder: Ranks third in all-time assists at CSU (3,836) and eighth in service aces (122). Has played in 110 career matches and was a first team All-Horizon League selection last season after leading the league in assists (12.27).
Seanna Steinle: Has appeared in 70 career matches and totaled 70 kills, 20 aces and 223 digs.
More on Snyder: The Amherst native is in her third season directing the Viking offense and has guided CSU to the best hitting percentage in the conference this season (.219). Snyder leads the league in assists this season (11.70 apg) and her 1,229 assists are the sixth most in a single season at CSU. She holds three of the top seven spots on that list, including second place with 1,302 assists in 2005.
A Look at the Standings: The Vikings win over Valparaiso on Nov. 3 ensured that CSU would finish no worse than second place in the Horizon League regular season standings. CSU is 12-3 in conference play with one match to play, while Milwaukee is in first place at 13-1. The Panthers, who have clinched at least a tie for the regular season title, have two matches left and can clinch first place outright with one more win.
Make it a Dozen: CSU's triumph over Valparaiso also set a single season school record for league wins in a season (12). The mark bettered the previous record of 11 league wins set by the 2005 squad, which went 11-3 in league play. The Vikings played two more conference matches this season with the addition of Valparaiso to the Horizon League.
Efficiency Breeds Success: CSU has outhit its opponents by 50 points (.219-.169) this season and has posted a better hitting percentage than their opponent all but six times in 2007. CSU is 0-6 in those matches. The Vikings hit a season-best .357 (54-13-115) in an Oct. 26 win at Loyola, marking their best day at the net since hitting .359 against Indiana State on Sept. 9, 2006. Individually, Amy Benz (.327), Beth Greulich (.303) and Jenni Ramminger (.270) rank first, third and eighth in the conference in hitting percentage.
Succss Continues: With its win over Butler on Oct. 12, CSU clinched its sixth consecutive winning season, which is the second longest streak in school-history (2002-07). It trails the seven straight winning campaigns from 1972-78.
Home Sweet Home: CSU will have a chance for another program first on Saturday as a win over Youngstown State would give the Vikings a perfect 8-0 mark at home in league play this season. The previous best home mark in conference play was 6-1 in 2005 when the Vikings were swept by Milwaukee for their only loss in Woodling Gym.
Road Warriors: The Vikings finished 5-3 on the road in league contests this season, which tied the school-record for conference road wins in a season (2005). Even more impressive is that the Vikings have played 18 of their 27 matches away from Woodling Gym and are 12-6 in those contests.
Get That First One: Getting off to a good start has been a key to CSU's success this season as the Vikings have won game one in 19 of their 27 matches. CSU went on to win 15 of those matches, including 10 sweeps.
D-D-D-Defense!: The Vikings have been one of the most solid defensive teams in the league this season, surrendering just 64 aces in 61 league games, while amassing 168.5 blocks and limiting opponents to a .159 hitting percentage in conference matches.
20-20 Vision: The number 20 has been unkind to the Vikings recently as the 2005 and 2006 team's each won 19 matches, but could not reach the 20-win plateau before bowing out in the league tournament. With one more win this season - and CSU is guaranteed at least two more matches - the Vikings would record 20 wins for the first time since the 1988 team went 20-22.
She Can Dig It: Jordan Bateman ran her school-record dig total to 523 over the weekend and is seven digs shy of becoming the 11th player in school-history with 1,000 career digs. Bateman recorded a career-best 36 digs against Milwaukee on Sept. 29, which was just one shy of tying Elisa Caraulia's school record of 37 digs against Kent State in 1987. Ranking third in the conference in digs (4.98 dpg), Bateman is threatening the Horizon League single-season record of 579 digs set in 1992 by Stacy Gilligan of Duquesne.
Liking the League: Beth Greulich, who earned Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and first team all-league honors last season, has proven that her rookie season was no fluke by picking up her game during league play. After hitting a respectable .285 and averaging 2.68 kills and 0.85 blocks per game in 11 nonconference matches, Greulich has raised those numbers to .317, 3.26 kills and 1.02 blocks per game in 15 conference matches. Over the last seven matches, Greulich is averaging 15.4 kills and 4.1 blocks per game. She posted a career-best 21 kills and hit .514 (21-2-37) in a win at Green Bay on Oct. 20. She followed that effort by hitting .531 and totaling 19 kills in a win at Loyola six days later.
Double Up: Alexis Korovich has proven to be one of CSU's top all-around players this season as she is second on the team in kills (3.03 kpg) and digs (3.21 dpg). In addition, she leads the team with 16 double-doubles, including nine in the last 11 matches. Korovich is averaging 3.57 digs per game in 15 league matches and has reached double-digits in all but one match. She posted season-highs in kills (21) and hitting percentage (.429) in a loss at UIC on Oct. 26.
A New Mercedes: Freshman Amy Benz is one of the favorites to earn Horizon League Newcomer of the Year honors, which would make her the fourth Viking in the last six seasons to capture the award. Benz leads the league in hitting percentage (.327) and blocks (1.51) after a career-best 14 block effort Saturday against Valparaiso. Benz, who posted a career-best 20 kills in an Oct. 20 loss at Milwaukee, is slowly moving up the single season record books at CSU as she is second in block assists (141) and total blocks (159). Benz trails former Viking All-American Jamie Bouyer in both categories as Bouyer posted 166 block assists and 199 total blocks in 2003.
Leaping Lizard: Liz Fazio enjoyed one of her best weekends since early in the season as she totaled 16 kills and hit .292 as CSU split a pair of matches over the weekend. The sophomore had seven kills and no errors while hitting .500 in Saturday's win over Valparaiso before coming back with nine kills in Sunday's loss to 17th-ranked Dayton.
Spread the Wealth: Mel Snyder has quarterbacked the Viking offense to the best hitting percentage in the league this season (.219) and is getting each player involved as CSU is the only team in the Horizon League that has six players with at least 195 kills this season. Beth Greulich leads the way with 321 and is followed by Alexis Korovich (306), Jenni Ramminger (253), Amy Benz (229), Liz Fazio (223) and Kayla Lefeld (197). Snyder has added 81 kills of her own for good measure.
This Team is Smart: The Vikings have been honored for their exceptional performance in the classroom as a recipient of the Game Time/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the third straight year. CSU, which is just one of just 55 Division I schools to earn the award, carried a team grade point average of 3.646 during the 2006-07 school year. The award, which began during the 1992-93 academic year, honors college and high school teams that display excellence in the classroom by maintaining a cumulative 3.30 GPA or better during the school year.
Up Next: CSU will return to action in the Horizon League Championship in Milwaukee from Nov. 16-18. The Vikings will open with a quarterfinal round match on Nov. 16 as either the first or second seed. If CSU enters as the No. 1 seed, the Vikings will play at 11:30 a.m. If CSU is the second-seed, it will play at 2:00 p.m.
