Nov. 19, 2003
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This Week: Nov. 21-23 at Horizon League Championship (at Butler)
Quick Sets: CSU opens play in the new-look Horizon League Championship on Friday morning against Illinois-Chicago in Indianapolis. Seeded sixth, the Vikings will square off against the No. 7 Flames with the winner advancing to play No. 3 UW-Green Bay on Friday evening. CSU is 1-7 all-time in the tournament, including an 0-2 mark against UIC.
Series Notes: UIC has won 35 of the previous 43 meetings, although the schools have split the past two seasons, with each team winning at home. CSU dominated the first meeting in Cleveland, holding the Flames to a .054 hitting percentage. Jamie Bouyer paced the Vikings with 15 kills and 11 blocks. However, UIC managed to turn the tables in the rematch four weeks later. Bouyer once again led the way with 18 kills, but the Flames out-hit CSU .276 to .193 en route to a four-game victory.
Head Coach Chuck Voss: In his fourth year at the helm of the Vikings, head coach Chuck Voss has a 54-64 (.458) mark and an 87-100 (.465) 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.
Back-To-Back: CSU's win at Youngstown State was a significant one as it assured the Vikings of consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1982 and '83. The only longer stretch of success came in the first seven years of the program (1972-78), when CSU finished above .500 each season.
Tournament Sports New Look: Over the summer the league's head coaches voted to change the championship format. This year, the top two seeds receive buys into the semifinals. The first round pits 5 v. 8 and 6 v. 7 with the winners moving on to face the two and three seeds.
National Recognition: In NCAA rankings as of Nov. 17, Jamie Bouyer stood ninth in blocks per game and .001 out of the top 30 in hitting percentage. Bouyer's blocking numbers are even more impressive considering her 193 total blocks are 11 more than anyone else in the nation has recorded. She also leads the country in blocks assists with 164.
Game Five Spells Trouble For Vikings, But Three Is Nice: In head coach Chuck Voss' first three seasons, Cleveland State 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 while only being blanked three times.
Crain Flies Past Season Mark: After coming up 16 assists short of the school season record last year, junior setter Kelly Crain has obliterated the mark in 2003. Heading into this weekend's Horizon League Championship, she has 1,375 assists on the year. Stacie Cunningham previously held the record with 1,287 assists in 1996.
Bouyer's Milestone Kill Part Of Impressive Campaign: Junior 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 (5.11). In addition, she is 11 kills shy of reaching 500 - a feat accomplished by only one other player in school history: Chris Pozega in 1983 (661) and 1984 (570).
She's Got Brains Too: Jamie Bouyer has been ranked among the nation's best on the volleyball court all season long and on Nov. 14 she was recognized for her work in the classroom. Bouyer, who carries a 3.77 GPA in sports management, was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District volleyball second team for District IV.
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 upended Youngstown in four games to close out the regular season. Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Maddocks posted career-highs with 19 kills and a .515 hitting percentage to lead CSU. Junior middle hitter Jamie Bouyer added 15 kills and seven blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Emily Clark tallied 12 kills and 17 digs. The Vikings hit .306 while limiting the Penguins to just a .186 hitting percentage.
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 2.78 blocks per game, Cleveland State leads the league, ahead of second-place Youngstown State (2.72). Individually, Jamie Bouyer (1.58) and Danielle Siefker (1.13) rank first and sixth among the league's blocking leaders. This season, the Vikings have been out-blocked only eight times.
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 doing their best to rewrite the Cleveland State record books. Bouyer ranks sixth in kills (1,183), first in block assists (356), fifth in solo blocks (69) and second in total blocks (425). Crain is currently second on the assist rankings with 3,566 and trails only Erinn Kingman (4,077).
CYO Night Equals Record Crowd: 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
