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Vikings Play Wright State In Horizon League Quarterfinals

Vikings Play Wright State In Horizon League Quarterfinals
Posted: Nov 17, 2008

Nov. 17, 2008

Contact: Greg Mruphy

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QUICK SETS: Sixth-seeded Cleveland State begins defense of its Horizon League Championship when the Vikings open play in the league tournament against third-seeded Wright State on Friday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Woodling Gym. The Vikings are serving as hosts of the four-day, eight match tournament that will run from Thursday, Nov. 20, through Sunday, Nov. 23. The winner of the CSU-WSU match will advance to Saturday's (Nov. 22) second semifinal and play the winner of another quarterfinal match between second-seeded Valparaiso and seventh-seeded Green Bay.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: CSU played its final regular season match of the 2008 campaign. Following is a synopsis of that match.

Match 27: CSU 3, YSU 1 (Nov. 14, Youngstown, Ohio) - 22-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-22
Kayla Lefeld had her fifth double-double of the season with 11 kills and a career-high 17 digs and after losing the first set, CSU rallied to win the next three for a 3-1 win at Youngstown State. Liz Fazio added a match-high 13 kills as the Vikings hit .277 for the match.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Cleveland State begins defense of its Horizon League Championship as the sixth seed. The Vikings are hosting the tournament for the first time since 2000 when they were swept by Milwaukee in the first round. Freshman Jordan Goad (9.88 ast/s, 1.69 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 248 kills and a .257 hitting percentage. Senior middle hitter Jenni Ramminger (2.27 k/s, 0.82 blk/s) and sophomore middle blocker Amy Benz (2.16 k/s, .273, 1.02 blk/s) are CSU's top players in the middle of the court. A talented group of experienced outside hitters is led by juniors Kayla Lefeld (2.41 k/s, 1.84 d/s) and Liz Fazio (2.16 k/s). This year's squad may be the best defensive squad in Voss' tenure, led by libero Jordan Bateman (4.18 d/s), the CSU record holder for career digs (1,488). She is joined in the backrow by junior Maggie Bonomini (2.53 d/s), sophomore Meghan Mental (1.03 d/s) and freshman Amy Grabiec (1.70 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 139-125 (.527) mark at CSU, ranking second on the all-time wins list. Voss, who has a 172-160 (.518) 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.

2007 TOURNEY: CSU captured its first-even Horizon League Championship last season, knocking off Youngstown State, Wright State and Valparaiso in Milwaukee. The Vikings are attempting to become the first team since Loyola in 2004 and 2005 to win back-to-back league tournament championships.

VS. THE RAIDERS: The Vikings were 1-1 against Wright State this season with each team winning 3-2 on its own court.

Match 12: Wright St. 3, CSU 2 (Sept. 26, Fairborn, Ohio)
CSU won the first two sets, but Wright State rallied to claim the final three for a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Vikings. Amy Benz had a match-high 15 kills and nine blocks.

Match 21: CSU 3, Wright State 2 (Oct. 25, Cleveland, Ohio)
The Vikings erased a 2-0 deficit, winning the final three sets to claim a five-set win over Wright State. Five players tallied double-digit kills, including Kayla Lefeld who finished with a double-double effort of 13 kills and 11 digs.

SUCCESSFUL VS. PENGUINS: CSU has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success on the volleyball court against Youngstown State, claiming an all-time mark of 44-13 following Friday's 3-1 win. The 44 victories are the most by CSU over any opponent in program history as the Vikings have won 17 straight matches over YSU.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Freshman setter Jordan Goad has done an admirable job of getting each of CSU's hitters involved in the offensive scheme as five players have topped the 400 attack attempt mark. Kayla Lefeld leads the way with 670 swings, while Beth Greulich (606), Amy Benz (557) and Jenni Ramminger (523) also have more than 500 attempts this season. Liz Fazio is closing in on 500 attack attempts, having totaled 498 swings this season.

BATEMAN ADDS TO RECORD: With 13 digs at Youngstown State last Friday, Nov. 14, senior libero Jordan Bateman raised her career school-record dig total to 1,488. Her total is also the seventh highest in Horizon League history and with 12 more digs, she will become just the sixth player in league annals to reach 1,500 career digs.Bateman, who has eight 20-dig matches this season, ranks fifth in the conference in digs (4.18) this season.

400 ... 400 ... 400: Jordan Bateman leads the team with 418 digs this season, her third consecutive season with at least 400 digs. The first player in school history to record at least 400 digs in three straight seasons, Bateman had 457 digs as a sophomore and a school-record 599 last season.

SWEEPING SUCCESS: Five of CSU's eight wins this season have come via 3-0 sweeps as the Vikings are 5-6 in three-set matches this year. In fact, CSU, which has won four of its six league matches 3-0, is just 3-12 in matches that go more than three sets this season.

ROAD WINS: CSU dropped its first 10 road contests of the season before picking up road wins over Green Bay (Nov. 8) and Youngstown State (Nov. 14) in the Vikings final two road matches of the season. The win at Green Bay on Nov. 8 marked the longest stretch that CSU has gone winless on the road to open a season in program history.

LEFELD EMBRACES STARTING ROLE: Junior Kayla Lefeld has picked up her game since being inserted into the starting lineup 12 matches ago. During that stretch, Lefeld has recorded six double-doubles and is averaging 11.8 kills and 9.8 digs per match, while also contributing 17 aces, 18 blocks and hitting .182. She made a career-high 17 digs in Friday's (Nov. 14) win at YSU.

JENNI ON THE BLOCK: Senior Jenni Ramminger has continued to climb up the all-time blocks list at CSU. Ramminger, who has made 75 blocks this year, is fourth on the all-time blocks list in CSU history (408) and third in on the block assists chart with 365 for her career.

ACE, ACE, BABY: The Vikings have dominated the serving statistic this season, holding a 144-101 advantage in service aces this season. Jordan Bateman leads the way with 29 while also ranking fourth in the Horizon League (0.29). Jordan Goad is sixth in the league (0.28).

GOOD RECEIVERS: One reason for the disparity in service aces between CSU and its opposition this season has been the Vikings serve-receive defense. Through 26 matches, CSU has totaled just 101 reception errors in 101 sets, ranking first in the league. They were the last squad in the league to go over the 100 reception error mark for the season.

FIVE ALIVE: Cleveland State's 3-2 win over Wright State on Oct. 25 marked the first time in eight matches this season that the Vikings won a five-set match. Even more impressive was that CSU lost the first two sets before coming back to win the final three.

UP NEXT: The Vikings will play a nonconference match at 2:00 p.m. at Kent State next Saturday, Nov. 29.