CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State volleyball team opened the 2013 CSU Invitational with a victory Friday evening, earning a 3-0 sweep over High Point. With the win the Vikings are now 4-1 this season, while High Point falls to 2-2.
Set scores against High Point were; 25-15, 25-13, 25-22.
CSU had a balanced offensive attack Friday evening, led by Grace Kauth who posted nine kills. Ally Beck added eight kills, while Kerry Winchester notched seven and Christina Toth tallied five. Annie Djukic and Dayna Roberts split setting duties during the match, with Djukic picking up 14 assists and Roberts notching 11. Nikki Holmes had a team-high 15 digs to lead the Viking defense, while Beck added nine and Kauth posted seven.
The Vikings were able to earn dominating victories during the first two sets, while they had to battle for a three-point win during the final set. The two teams traded points throughout the beginning of the set until the Panthers were able to gain a three-point lead (6-3) early on in the frame.
With a pair of High Point errors and a Kauth kill the Vikings were able to even the set at 6-6 and then take a lead at 7-6 with another Panther hitting error. The teams then traded points once again until the Vikings were able to gain a lead at 16-15 on a Kauth service ace that they would hold for the remainder of the frame.
The Vikings were slowly able to pull away from the Panthers toward the end of the frame, and finally put the set away with an Aaliyah Slappy kill – just the second of her collegiate career.
High Point was led offensively by Chelsea Davis who posted a match-high 13 kills, while Annemarie Chin notched a match-high 19 digs.
The Vikings will continue play at the CSU Invitational presented by Embassy Suites Cleveland Rockside tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 7), when they face IPFW and UC Irvine. The first match of the day will be against IPFW at 12:30 p.m. and the final match of the invite will be against UC Irvine at 7:00 p.m.
