Nov. 11, 2003
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This Week: Nov. 14 at Youngstown State, 7:00 p.m.
Quick Sets: Cleveland State closes out the regular season by traveling to instate rival Youngstown State for a 7:00 p.m. match on Friday (Nov. 14). A win over the Penguins would assure the Vikings of consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1982 and '83. CSU will be looking to build up a little momentum before heading to Butler for the Horizon League Championship the following week.
Series Notes: CSU leads the all-time series with Youngstown State by a 31-13 margin. The Vikings have defeated the Penguins four consecutive times, including a sweep on Oct. 17 in Cleveland.
Head Coach Chuck Voss: In his fourth year at the helm of the Vikings, head coach Chuck Voss has a 53-64 (.453) mark and an 86-100 (.462) overall record in six seasons. Last year, he guided the Vikings to their first winning season since 1983. In addition, the 18 victories were the most since the 1988 team won 20 contests.
Crain Flies Past Season Mark: After coming up 16 assists short of the school season record last year, junior setter Kelly Crain made sure over the weekend that history wasn't going to repeat itself. The Perrysburg, Ohio native dished out 122 helpers against Wright State and Butler, giving her 1,318 assists on the year. Stacie Cunningham previously held the record with 1,287 assists in 1996.
National Recognition: In NCAA rankings as of Nov. 3, Jamie Bouyer stood fourth in blocks per game and 28th in hitting percentage. What makes her blocking numbers so impressive is that she has played in 12 more games than anyone else in the top 20, meaning she's had to work a little harder to stay in the rankings. As a matter of fact, her 174 total blocks are 11 more than anyone else in the nation has recorded.
Game Five Spells Trouble For Vikings, But Three Is Nice: In head coach Chuck Voss' first three seasons, CSU 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 seven consecutive matches that have gone the distance, including league contests against Butler (twice), Loyola, UW-Green Bay & UW-Milwaukee. On the other hand, CSU has swept its way to 11 victories this season while only being blanked three times. Last year, the Vikings recorded just eight sweeps while being whitewashed seven times.
Bouyer's Milestone Kill Part Of Impressive Campaign: Junior middle hitter Jamie Bouyer ended CSU's sweep of Robert Morris on Oct. 7 by becoming the eighth player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. She currently leads the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.370) and blocks per game (1.58) and is second in points per game (5.13). In addition, she is 26 kills shy of reaching 500 - a feat accomplished by only one other player in school history: Chris Pozega in 1983 (661) and 1984 (570).
Vikings Rule Non-Conference...Again: With their sweep of Toledo on Oct. 21, the Vikings finished their non-conference schedule with a solid 13-5 mark. That comes on the heels of a 13-4 performance in 2002.
A Little On Last Week: The Vikings split a pair of matches over the weekend. On Friday, sophomores Jenna Maddocks and Nickole Kennedy both posted 17 kills as CSU defeated Wright State in four games. The Raiders out-hit the Vikings .304 to .286, but CSU countered with 13 aces and 11 blocks. Unfortunately, the Vikings closed out their home slate with a five-game loss to Butler the next day as seniors Anne Yost and Megan Burgdorf played their final match in Woodling Gymnasium. CSU actually had two swings to win the match, but the Bulldogs blocked the first attempt and dug the other and went on to prevail 18-16. Junior Jamie Bouyer led the Vikings with 23 kills and seven blocks.
Great Wall Of Cleveland: It's no wonder that Viking opponents are hitting just .190 this year - they're having trouble getting the ball across the net. At 2.79 blocks per game, Cleveland State currently leads the league, well ahead of second-place Youngstown State (2.71). Individually, Jamie Bouyer (1.58) and Danielle Siefker (1.14) rank first and sixth among the league's blocking leaders. This season, the Vikings have been out-blocked only eight times and ranked 25th in the nation in the Nov. 3 NCAA statistics.
Triple Your Pleasure: Junior 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. Junior middle hitter 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.
Bouyer, Crain Climb Career Charts: Juniors Jamie Bouyer and Kelly Crain are already leaving their mark on the Cleveland State career lists. Bouyer ranks sixth in kills (1,168), first in block assists (349), fifth in solo blocks (69) and second in total blocks (418). Crain is currently second on the assist rankings with 3,509 and trails only Erinn Kingman (4,077).
Loose Ends: It's safe to say that Catholic Youth Organization Night was a success - 763 fans turned out to watch the Vikings sweep Youngstown State on Oct. 17, making it the biggest crowd for a CSU match since head coach Chuck Voss arrived on campus four years ago...with victories over Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech, 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...unfortunately it took just a little over the month to do it again, this time against UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee (Oct. 24-25).
Up Next: The Vikings will be seeded either sixth or seventh in the upcoming Horizon League Championship at Butler and will face Illinois-Chicago in the opening round. CSU split with the Flames this year as both teams won at home. The match will be played at either 10:00 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. in Hinkle Fieldhouse.
