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Vikings Host Youngstown State In Regular Season Finale

Vikings Host Youngstown State In Regular Season Finale
Posted: Nov 06, 2006

Nov. 6, 2006

Contact: Alan Ashby

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Upcoming Match:
Match #26
Nov. 10 vs. Youngstown St., 7:00 p.m. EST
Woodling Gymnasium -- Cleveland, Ohio

Quick Sets: Cleveland State (17-8, 7-6 HL) wraps up the regular season with a Senior Night affair against Youngstown State on Friday (Nov. 10) at 7:00 p.m. in Woodling Gymnasium. Cleveland State will recognize the accomplishments of Margot Frederick and Danielle Siefker prior to the match with the Penguins. The Vikings, who swept YSU on Oct. 13, can assure themselves of at least a fourth-place finish in the Horizon League with a victory over the Penguins, with the possibility of finishing as high as a tie for second.

Championship Seedings Up In The Air: With just one weekend left to play, only the first (UW-Milwaukee), seventh (Butler) and eighth (Youngstown State) seeds in the upcoming Horizon League Championship are set. With a win on Friday, Cleveland State will be no lower than the fourth seed thanks to a season series sweep of UW-Green Bay. At 8-6, the Vikings could also finish in a four-way tie for second, with the tiebreaker going down to games won and lost in head-to-head competition between the four schools. If CSU finishes tied with only UIC, the Flames own the tiebreaker due to a 223 to 219 advantage in points.

Repeat Performance: At 17-8, the Vikings have matched last year's record after 25 matches -- not a bad feat considering CSU graduated six seniors off of that team. In addition, the Vikings' nine-match winning streak earlier in the year was the longest since the 2002 team won 10 in a row.

This Week's Opponent: The Penguins are Cleveland State's most frequently played opponent, with the Vikings holding a 38-13 advantage in the series, including 11 consecutive wins dating back to 2001. As a matter of fact, CSU has dropped just two games in the last eight meetings including sweeps in each of the last four contests.

Recapping Last Week: For the sixth consecutive time, Cleveland State split a pair of Horizon League matches last week. Here's a brief recap of the contests:
Match #24: WSU def. CSU, 39-37, 30-25, 21-30, 17-30, 15-13 (Nov. 3, Cleveland, Ohio)
CSU rallied from two games down to force a fifth game, before falling 15-13 to the Raiders. The Vikings had 21 more kills and out-hit WSU .200 to .127, but it was not enough. Beth Greulich and Danielle Siefker both had a career-high 19 kills, while Mel Snyder tallied 65 assists and a career-best 19 digs. Jordan Bateman added a team-high 24 digs.
Match #25: CSU def. Butler, 30-27, 30-13, 33-31 (Nov. 4, Cleveland, Ohio)
The Vikings rebounded from Friday's emotional loss to record their 14th sweep of the season to take the season series from the Bulldogs for the first time in 12 tries. CSU took advantage of huge margins in kills (58 to 36) and hitting percentage (.279 to .134). Liz Fazio had a match-high 18 kills, while Beth Greulich ripped 15 kills on .538 hitting.

A Little More On Friday's Match: The match against Wright State started with CSU's second-longest game in the six years since rally score was initiated (39-37) -- a frame that featured 23 ties and 10 lead changes. The only longer game came in the 2004 Horizon League championship match when Loyola took game three, 41-39. In addition, the match with the Raiders ended in a fitting manner as all three of the Vikings' five-game losses this year have been by a 15-13 score.

Vikings' Run Of Success Continues: Cleveland State's impressive 17-8 record means the Vikings are assured of completing their fifth consecutive winning season, the second-longest run in school history. The skein trails only the seven straight winning campaigns from 1972-78.

Get Out The Brooms: Cleveland State's whitewashing of Butler on Nov. 4 marked the 14th sweep for the Vikings this season. CSU, which recorded 12 sweeps in 2005, did not lose a game from Sept. 9-22, blanking five straight opponents to tie the 1982 squad's school record for consecutive three-game sweeps. The 14 blankings are the most since the 1983 team posted 19 sweeps.

Can You Dig Her?: Sophomore libero Jordan Bateman has spearheaded the Vikings' back row efforts this season, leading the team and ranking third in the Horizon League with a 4.59 digs per game average -- upping that mark to 4.96 in league play. She has recorded double-digit digs in all but three matches this year, including eight with 20 or more, en route to earning the league's defensive player of the week honor twice (Sept. 18 & Oct. 2). Last weekend, she had 24 digs against Wright State (Nov. 3) and 20 the next day in a sweep of Butler.

Splitsville: CSU managed to pull off an odd feat in Horizon League play this year. The Vikings split all six league weekends featuring a pair of matches to currently stand fourth in the standings at 7-6. The seven league wins are the second most in school history, trailing just last year's squad that went 11-3.

Block Party: Middle hitter Danielle Siefker enters this week with 521 career total blocks -- 38 shy of becoming the school's all-time leader. A first team All-Horizon League selection in 2005, she averaged 142 blocks in each of her first three seasons and trails only All-American Jamie Bouyer (558) in Cleveland State annals and is the seventh player in league history to top the 500-block plateau.

Stop Her If You Can: As the season heads down the home stretch, freshman opposite Beth Greulich continues to struggle to adjust to the college game (wink, wink). All the Troy, Ohio native has done is lead the Horizon League with a .371 hitting percentage, while ranking among the national leaders the first two months of the season. Greulich had one of her best weeks of the season, hitting .444 (34-6-63) against Wright State and Butler on Nov. 3-4 to earn Horizon League Player of the Week accolades. She ripped a career-high 19 kills against the Raiders, hitting .378 with a career-best seven blocks. The next day against the Bulldogs, she tallied 15 kills on .538 hitting with four blocks.

QB At It Again: Junior setter Mel Snyder has put together her second consecutive standout season. Heading into this week, she leads the Horizon League in assists (12.36) and is fourth in aces (0.39), while ranking fourth on the school's career list with 2,480 helpers. The Amherst, Ohio native handed out 1,302 assists last year in her first full season directing CSU's offense -- the second-best total in CSU annals -- in addition to leading the Vikings to a school-record .239 hitting percentage.

Fab Freshmen: A trio of freshmen have acquitted themselves very nicely over their first season of collegiate action. After 25 matches, Liz Fazio is second in the league in kills (3.78) and is third on the squad in digs (2.24), Beth Greulich leads the league in hitting percentage (.371) and is third on the team in blocks (0.85) and Alexis Korovich is 10th in the league in kills (2.94) and second on the squad in digs (2.69).

Double Trouble: Five CSU players have combined on 21 double-doubles, led by freshman Alexis Korovich. The Geneva, Ohio native has eight, including three consecutive double-doubles at the Oakland Courtyard by Marriott Invitational (Sept. 8-9) -- highlighted by a career-high 24 kill, 17 dig effort against Bowling Green -- en route to earning MVP honors. Freshman Liz Fazio is second with six double-doubles, junior Mel Snyder has five and senior Danielle Siefker and freshman Kayla Lefeld both have one.

Head Coach Chuck Voss: In his seventh year at the helm of the Vikings, head coach Chuck Voss has a 106-96 (.525) mark and a 139-132 (.513) overall record in nine seasons. He picked up his 100th win at CSU on Sept. 22 at UW-Green Bay and has mentored the only two All-Americans in school history, the 2005 Horizon League Player of the Year, eight first team all-league picks, five all-newcomer team members and the 2002 and 2005 Co-Newcomers of the Year. In 2002, Voss guided the Vikings to their first winning season since 1983 and the 19 victories in 2005 are the most since the 1988 team won 20 contests. In addition, the 11 league wins last year were a school record.

Road Warriors: While the Sept. 16 win over Robert Morris was a welcome break from a season-opening 11-match road swing, Cleveland State has gotten used to life on the road this year. Even with a season-ending three-match homestand, the Vikings will have played 18 of their 26 regular season contests away from home. The travel schedule makes CSU's 17-8 record that much more impressive.

If They Were A Country, They'd Be Switzerland: CSU's perfect 6-0 mark on neutral courts this season is indicative of how the Vikings have fared outside of the league in recent years. CSU is a solid 50-19 (.725) in non-conference play over the past five seasons, including a 19-6 (.760) mark in Woodling Gym.

Weekend Warriors: In a bit of a scheduling oddity, Cleveland State's match on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at Bowling Green was the only time this year that the Vikings will not play on a Friday or Saturday. So far this year, CSU is 9-2 on Fridays, with the only losses coming against UW-Milwaukee (Oct. 20) and Wright State (Nov. 3) -- which happen to be the top two teams in the league.

CSU Successful In The Classroom As Well: CSU was one of 54 Division I schools to garner the Game Plan/AVCA Team Academic Award, which was released on Aug. 2. The Vikings put together a 3.42 GPA for the 2005-06 academic year in addition to finishing second in the Horizon League with a school-record 11 league victories. The award honors teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a cumulative 3.30 GPA during the school year. At the Division I level, 311 schools sponsor women's volleyball.

Up Next: Cleveland State will travel to Wright State for the 2006 Horizon League Championship on Nov. 17-19. The seedings will be determined at the conclusion of play this week.