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Sept. 26, 2007 Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release in PDF Format
Soccer & Volleyball Come Home. . . After playing almost exclusively on the road the last three weeks, several Viking fall sports will be at home in league play this weekend. The volleyball team, which has played all but one of its 14 matches on the road, returns home to continue Horizon League play with matches against Green Bay on Friday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m. and Milwaukee on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 4:00 p.m. Both contests will be played in Woodling Gym. The women's soccer team concludes a brief three-match homestand when the Vikings conclude non-conference play against Robert Morris at 7:00 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 28). CSU then opens Horizon League play against Green Bay on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 1:00 p.m. Both matches will be played at Krenzler Field. The men's soccer team is on the road for its only match of the week, traveling to Buffalo, N.Y. to face Canisius on Sunday (Sept. 30) at 2:00 p.m. Both tennis teams are in action, the men sending sophomores Phil Orno and Ryan Hamning to the Polo All-American in Tulsa, Okla. The duo will play in a qualifying draw in an attempt to get into a field that consists of more than 200 of the top players in the nation. The women's tennis team will travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take part in the Spartan Invitational. CSU will play three singles and three doubles matches over the tourney, which will be held from Sept. 29-30. The cross country team will run in its fifth meet of the fall, heading to Richmond, Ind. to take part in the Earlham Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 29 beginning at 11:00 a.m. Both golf teams will be idle after playing a heavy early season schedule that included a third place finish by the men's team at the CSU Invitational earlier this week. The softball team will play its lone fall tourney when the Vikings play games against Ashland, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State, Robert Morris and host Kent State at the KSU Invitational. The two-day tourney will be held on Saturday (Sept. 29) and Sunday (Sept. 30) at the Allerton Softball Complex on the KSU campus. Volleyball Plays At Home For First Time In A Month. . . After opening the season by playing 13 of its first 14 matches on the road, the Vikings will return home for the first time since Aug. 28 when they host Green Bay on Friday (Sept. 28) at 7:00 pm and Milwaukee at 4:00 pm on Saturday (Sept. 29). "It will be nice to finally get back home and play some matches," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We are looking forward to having a normal week on campus and playing in front of our fans." CSU improved to 9-5 overall (2-1 HL) with a 3-1 win at Youngstown State on Friday (Sept. 21) night to give Voss his 150th career win. In addition, he moved into second place on the all-time wins list at CSU with 117. After losing game one, 30-22, the Vikings responded by winning the next three games, 30-17, 30-25, 30-28. CSU trailed 24-20 in game four, but outscored the Penguins, 10-4, to end the match. Sophomore Alexis Korovich finished with her team-leading seventh double-double, including her third straight, with 17 kills and 14 digs, while sophomore Liz Fazio added 12 kills. Men's Soccer Returns Home. . . The Viking men's soccer team will take a slight pause from their busy non-conference schedule this week when CSU plays just one match, a Sunday (Sept. 30) contest at Canisius. After this week, CSU will play at least two matches every week through the end of the regular season. A slow week is needed for the Vikings as CSU heads into the week having dropped four straight matches, including a 4-1 home decision to Notre Dame College and a 2-1 loss at Duquesne last week. "We continue to do a lot of the things that we need to do to be successful, but little mistakes and misjudgements have proven to be the difference between winning and losing," head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "Still, we are a young team that is still learning to play together at this level and I expect that good things will happen as we gain experience." One bright spot in the season continues to be the play of freshman goalkeeper Nick Harpel, who became the first Viking since late in the 2004 season to stop a penalty shot, doing so early in the Duquesne contest. Harpel ranks among the Horizon League leaders in saves (33), savers per match (5.5), goals against average (1.29) and save percentage (.805). Women's Soccer Hosts Robert Morris & Green Bay. . . The women's soccer team remains at home for a pair of contests this week. The Vikings conclude non-conference play on Friday (Sept. 28) when CSU hosts Robert Morris beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. CSU then opens Horizon League play against Green Bay on Sunday, Sept. 30 beginning at 1:00 p.m. "This is an important week for us," head coach Derrek Falor said. "We not only play Robert Morris at home, which is a team that we should match up well against, but we also open league play at home against Green Bay, which has struggled so far this season. If we play the way that we are a capable of, we can have some success at home." As the Vikings approach the halfway point of the season, they continue to be led offesnsively by the trio of Shayna Back, Jennifer Wieand and Sylvia Olsby, who are the top scoring trio in the Horizon League this season and have combined to score 28 of CSU's 36 points this year. The Vikings have scored 13 goals in the first nine matches, being shutout just twice. Last year, CSU scored 16 times in 20 contests and was shutout 10 times. Women's Tennis Heads To Spartan Invite. . . After taking last week off from competition, the women's tennis team get back to the court this week when it travels to East Lansing, Mich. to take part in the Spartan Invitational, which will be held from Sept. 28-30 at Michigan State. CSU will join teams from Akron, Albany, Cincinnati, Detroit, Louisville, Michigan State, Morehead State and Toledo, playing three singles and three doubles contests over the two days. In their most recent action at Bowling Green on Sept. 14-16, Jenn Myers and Charlotte Gibbons finished second in their respective singles flights and Denisa Muntean recorded a third place singles finish and teamed with Morgan Ungerott to finish second in her doubles flight. Myers won a pair of matches on Saturday to advance to Sunday's title contest in the No. 3 singles flight but was shutout by Toledo's Ashley Frey, 6-0, 6-0. Gibbons had a similar showing on Saturday before being bested by Bowling Green's Stefanie Menoff, 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday. Muntean rebounded from a second round loss on Saturday to upend Akron's Laura Hemlapp, 6-2, 6-0 to claim third place. Muntean later teamed with Ungerott to defeat Horning and Frey from Toledo, 9-8 (2) to advance to the No. 3 Doubles title match but fell to Seyalioglu/Zinn from Xavier, 9-7, to finish second. "This should be another good opportunity for our team to get some experience against some good regional teams who we don't face that often," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We haven't played in over a week so it will be good to see how much more progress we have made in practice since then." Hamning & Orno To Participate In Polo All-American In Tulsa. . . After going undefeated in both singles and doubles play last weekend, the men's tennis sophomore duo of Phil Orno and Ryan Hamning will travel to Tulsa, Okla. to take part in the annual Polo All-American, which is hosted by the University of Tulsa. Action begins on Saturday, Sept. 29 and will continue through the weekend. "This is the first time that we will be sending individuals to the All-American, but we are doing so because both Phil and Ryan have distinguished themselves among the best players in our region," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "By playing a couple of matches this weekend, they will both be able to face some competition that they would usually see only one other time during the year." Orno and Hamning were a big reason why the Vikings were able to finish second last weekend at the Toledo Invitational. The duo combined to win all six of their singles matches at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively and teamed to claim all three doubles contest in helping the Vikings claim six of their 7.5 team points in the tourney. In two tourneys this fall, Orno is 5-1 in singles while Hamning is 4-1 with the duo combining to go 4-1 in doubles play. Cross Country To Run At Earlham Invitational. . . Cleveland State returns to action this weekend when it competes at the Earlham Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 29) in Richmond, Ind. The event is slated to begin at 11:00 am. The Vikings are coming off a third place finish at the Ohio University Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 22). Freshman Allison Craine was CSU's top finisher for the fourth time in as many races this season as she recorded a 19:21 to place 10th overall. Sophomore Ali Ohliger was the second finisher for the Vikings as she ran a 20:18 to register a 21st place showing in her first competitive race of the season. Sophomore Julie Piotrowski was 23rd overall in 20:30. "We battled some tough elements in the heat and humidity at Ohio," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "Getting Ali Ohliger back makes us a stronger and deeper team. We are going to keep working hard and build toward the conference championship." Men's Golf Has Strong Showing At CSU Invitational. . . After placing third at the Cleveland State Invitational earlier this week, the Viking golf team will be out of action until Oct. 8-9 when they compete at the IPFW Fall Classic in Fort Wayne, Ind. The 54-hole event will be played at the par-71, 6,582-yard Deer Track Golf Course. The Vikings are coming off a third place showing at the 54-hole CSU Invitational played Sept. 24-25 at the par-71, 7,062-yard Sand Ridge Golf Club in Chardon, Ohio. CSU carded rounds of 296 and 293 to take a lead after Monday's 36 holes, but struggled to a 304 in Tuesday's final round and finished third. "It was a disappointing finish but a good showing overall," assistant coach Nathan Miklos said. "We put ourselves in a good position to win the tournament, but couldn't get anything going in the final round. It's a good overall experience that we can learn and grow from." Freshman Kent Monas was CSU's top finisher as he placed fifth at 218, while junior Jake Scott tied for ninth at 222. Women's Golf Continues Finishes Ninth At Western Illinois. . . Cleveland State will be out of action for the next two weeks before playing in the Detroit Invitational on Oct. 8-9 at the Western Golf & Country Club in Redford, Mich. Last week, the Vikings placed ninth at the Western Illinois Autumn Invitational which was played at the par-72, 6,054-yard Harry Mussatto Golf Club in Macomb, Ill. CSU, which shot rounds of 332 and 331, was led by sophomore Katie Broere who tied for ninth place overall with rounds of 82-75. It was the second straight top-10 finish for Broere who equaled her career-low and came within one stroke of tying the school-record in the second round. "There is definitely room for improvement and we know what we have to work on," head coach Steve Weir said. "We are going to use these next two weeks to straighten some things out and prepare for Detroit." Softball Opens Fall Slate At Kent State Invitational. . . The Viking softball team is gearing up for five games this weekend at the Kent State Invitational. The event, which features 10 teams, is slated to take place on Saturday (Sept. 29) and Sunday (Sept. 30) at the Allerton Softball Complex located next to Schoonover Stadium. The schedule has CSU opening with games against Ashland (10:00 am), Ohio State (12:00 pm) and Eastern Michigan (4:00 pm) on Saturday before returning for contests against Robert Morris at 1:00 pm and Kent State at 3:00 pm on Sunday. "I am excited to go down to Kent State and see some live game action," head coach Angie Nicholson said. "Overall, I think we have great depth and we have been playing all-around good softball this fall. I am anxious to see what our young pitchers can do and have players win the spots we have open." CSU posted a 33-14 record last season and advanced to the Horizon League Championship game for the second time in the last three years. Junior shortstop Christa Coppus returns for the Vikings after hitting a team-best .405 with 13 doubles, three homers and 30 runs batted in last season as she earned first team all-league accolades. In addition, sophomore Amanda Macenko is back to anchor the pitching staff after garnering second team all-league and all-newcomer team honors a season ago. Macenko set a school-record with 26 wins last season and led the conference in earned run average (1.79), innings pitched (227.1), and wins (26). Viking High Fives Allison Craine: The women's cross country freshman was named Horizon League Athlete of the Week after leading CSU at the Ohio Invitational. She has paced the Vikings in all four events this fall. Chuck Voss: The head coach captured his 150th career win and moved into second place on the all-time wins list at CSU (117) in Friday's win at Youngstown State. Kent Monas: In just his second collegiate tournament, the freshman tied for third place at the Kansas Invitational with rounds of 73-75-70. Phil Orno & Ryan Hamning: The sophomore duo has been the backbone of the Viking men's tennis team this fall, combining to go 9-2 in singles and teaming for a 4-1 doubles record. The Schedule Ahead For The Vikings Sept. 28 (Friday) Women's Soccer hosts Robert Morris Sept. 29 (Saturday) Volleyball hosts Milwaukee Women's Tennis at Spartan Invite Men's Tennis at Polo All-American Softball at Kent State Invitational Sept. 30 (Sunday) Men's Soccer at Canisius Women's Tennis at Spartan Invite Men's Tennis at Polo All-American Softball at Kent State Invitational
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