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The Viking Report (Oct. 6)
Oct. 6, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release in PDF Format
Soccer & Volleyball Dominate Busy Home Schedule. . . The busiest home schedule of the week has volleyball and men's and women's soccer combining to play all seven of their events at home this week. The men's soccer team, which recorded a pair of 2-1 overtime victories last week, ends a four-match home stand by playing host to IPFW on Wednesday (Oct. 8) and Valparaiso on Saturday (Oct. 11). Both matches will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. The women's soccer team is also home for two contests, entertaining defending league champion Milwaukee on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7:00 p.m. and then coming back to host IUPUI on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 12:00 noon. The volleyball team, which has played only twice at home this fall, will host three matches in five days. The week opens with a 7:00 p.m. contest against Youngstown State on Tuesday (Oct. 7). Over the weekend, the Vikings host Green Bay at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Milwaukee at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. All three matches will be played in Woodling Gym. The other three sports in action this week will compete on the road, starting with the women's golf team taking part in the Lady Herd Invitational at Marshall. The tourney will run Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 6-7. The men's tennis team will be in action for the second time this fall when it takes part in the Louisville Invitational. The three-day tourney begins on Friday (Oct. 10) and runs through Sunday (Oct. 12). The cross country team will be in Delaware, OH to run in the annual All-Ohio Championship. The women's 5,000 meter race begins at 2:00 p.m. on Friday (Oct. 10). Women's Soccer To Host Milwaukee & IUPUI... The women's soccer team will have a busy week, hosting defending Horizon League champion Milwaukee on Friday, Oct. 10 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. After a day off, CSU will close its non-conference schedule on Sunday, Oct. 12 with a 12:00 noon match against IUPUI. The Vikings are coming off a tough week, falling 4-0 at Detroit on Friday (Oct. 3) and 3-0 at home to Loyola on Sunday (Oct. 5) to drop to 4-7-1 overall and 0-2-1 in league play. "We have to get back to setting the tempo of play in a match," CSU head coach Derrek Falor said. "We didn't do that last week and consequently, we were on the defensive for most of the two matches." The Vikings suffered a big blow early in the Detroit contest when goalkeeper Kelly Zinkiewich was forced to leave the match just before half after suffering a mild concussion when she was inadvertently kicked in the head while going to defend a cross. She was unable to return to the lineup against Loyola and may not be available this week. In 11 matches, she has made 55 saves and allowed just 1.90 goals game. Volleyball Returns Home For Three Matches . . . After opening the season by playing 12 of its first 14 matches on the road, Cleveland State returns home to host three matches this week beginning on Tuesday (Oct. 7) versus Youngstown State at 7:00 p.m. CSU will also host Green Bay on Saturday (Oct. 11) at 4:00 p.m. and Milwaukee on Sunday (Oct. 12) at 2:00 p.m. "We are not playing poorly, but we have to find a way to get out of the funk that we are in," head coach Chuck Voss said. "We need to learn to win close matches and sets and hopefully being at home this week will give us a big lift. This is a huge week for us because we get a chance to play three matches at home against teams that are ahead of us in the standings." The Vikings traveled to Indiana for a pair of matches last weekend, falling in five sets at Valparaiso on Friday (Oct. 3) night before being swept at Butler on Saturday (Oct. 4) afternoon. CSU rallied to win the fourth set at Valpo to force a deciding fifth set, but fell behind 8-2 in the fifth set. Against Butler, the Vikings had seven point leads late in the second and third sets, but the Bulldogs staged rallies in both sets to earn the sweep. Jordan Bateman led CSU's defensive charge last weekend, averaging 6.25 digs per set and moving closer to becoming the all-time digs leader in school-history. After totaling 50 digs in two matches over the weekend, Bateman is now 126 digs shy of breaking Emily Clark's school-record of 1,406 digs. Kayla Lefeld had her first double-double of the season against Valparaiso, finishing with 11 kills and 10 digs. Men's Soccer Continues Four-Match Homestand . . . The men's soccer team will put its two-match win streak on the line this week when the Vikings host a pair of contests at Krenzler Field. CSU entertains IPFW for a non-conference match on Wednesday (Oct. 8) and then comes back on Saturday (Oct. 11) to resume league play against Valparaiso. Both matches will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field. The Vikings are coming off their best week of the season to date, extending a pair of matches to overtime before coming away with identical 2-1 wins over Green Bay on Friday (Oct. 3) and Milwaukee on Sunday (Oct. 5). Mitch Boyer was named Horizon League Player of the Week after tallying goals on penalty kicks in both contests to take over the team scoring lead with four goals. He scored in the first half against Green Bay to give CSU a 1-0 lead and the came back late in the Milwaukee match to force overtime with his kick in the 80th minute. The win over Milwaukee snapped a 19-match losing streak to the Panthers. The last time CSU had defeated Milwaukee came in 1989. "It was good to come home and finally play a couple of matches last week," CSU head coach Ali Kazemaini said. "It was just the right medicine for us. We ran our offense well because we got back to doing what we do best. Now, we need to keep the momentum going and continue to work towards hosting a first round game in the league tournament." Men's Golf Finishes Third At Telich Sun Life Financial . . . Cleveland State will take a short break from competitive action before competing in the 54-hole F&M Bank Austin Peay Intercollegiate on Oct. 20-21. "It will be nice to have a little bit of time off and regroup a bit," head coach Steve Weir said. "We have some things that we need to work on over the next few weeks to have a successful final fall tournament." The Vikings hosted the inaugural Telich Sun Life Financial Invitational last week (Sept. 29-30) at Sand Ridge G.C. in Chardon, Ohio. CSU placed third of 14 teams, carding rounds of 296-283-302 (882) to finish five shots behind second place Longwood and 12 shots behind champion South Dakota State. The Vikings second round 283 was the low round of the tournament. Jake Scott carded rounds of 70-68 on Monday and took a one-shot lead into the final round. He shot a 76 in Tuesday's final round to finish third overall, just two shots out of the lead. Sophomore Kellen Erdman provided the Vikings with the biggest highlight of the tournament, acing the 177-yard, 12th hole during the first round. It was his third career hole-in-one and his first at CSU. Women's Golf Travels To Lady Herd Invitational. . . Cleveland State returns to action this week when the Vikings travel to Hurricane, W. Va. to compete in the 36-hole Marshall Lady Herd Invitational at the par-72, 5,082-yard Sleepy Hollow G.C. "We have had a pretty good fall season thus far, but we need to learn how to close out tournaments," head coach Steve Weir said. "We have had some great opening rounds, but have not been able to put a good final round together. We have to find a way to play better in our final round and move up in the standings. CSU placed ninth out of 12 teams at the 54-hole Akron Zippy Invitational last Monday and Tuesday (Sept. 29-30). After opening the tournament with rounds of 325 and 336, CSU carded a final day total of 346 in its first 54-hole event of the season. Junior Katie Broere paced the Vikings by tying for seventh place, carding rounds of 77-77-79 (233) to earn the first top-10 finish of the season for CSU. Men's Tennis Travels To Louisville Invitational. . . The men's tennis team will play in the Louisville Invitational this weekend (Oct. 10), coming together for the first time this fall after splitting the squad last weekend (Oct. 3). Rob West, Phil Orno, and Ryan Hamning traveled with head coach Brian Etzkin to Tulsa, Okla. to play in the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships, one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the country. Assistant coach Mark Barry and the rest of the team headed to Muncie, Ind. to play in the Ball State Invitational. At the All-American, CSU was introduced to a new level of competition it might not see during the regular season. Orno was the only Viking to advance to the second day of the tournament, as he defeated Ryan Lissner of LSU, 6-4, 6-3. With the win, Orno recorded his 20th straight win in singles play dating back to last year. He eventually fell to the No. 14 seed, Christian Welte of NC State. "The tournament definitely served its purpose," Etzkin said. "We came here to face the top players from the top schools in the country, and this gives us a good indication of where we're at right now. Hopefully next year we can come back and do even better." CSU posted an overall 3-4 doubles record at Ball State, including an exciting come from behind victory from Aris Spirtos and newcomer Yannick Goossens. The pair was down 7-2 to Stephen McLoughlin and Ben Raynauld of Butler and scored seven straight points to win the match, 9-7. "Our doubles looked really good this weekend," said Barry. "We still have a lot to work on, but this is a good starting point for us." Cross Country To Run At All-Ohio Championships. . . After being out of action for the first time in five weeks, Cleveland State returns to competitive action at the All-Ohio Championships on Friday, Oct. 10 in Delaware, Ohio. "The week off gave us a chance to get some rest and get everyone healthy," head coach Joe Jaketic said. "The All-Ohio event will be a good challenge for us because we will be running on a very tough course and the field is extremely deep and talented. This will be a good test for us to see where we are at as a team." The Vikings were most recently in action at the four-team Ohio University Invitational on Sept. 27. Four CSU harriers ran personal best times, including junior Colleen Conway who finished 17th in 19:12 which bettered her old best time by 50 seconds. Brittany Elmlinger finished 20th with a personal best time of 19:28 as the Vikings had two athletes finish under 20 minutes in the same race for the first time this season. Freshman Kelly Zaleski (20:17) and senior Amy Salzman (22:53) also ran personal best times. Softball Concludes Fall Slate With A 6-1 Mark. . . The women's softball team won three of four games over the weekend at the Penn State Invitational to conclude its abbreviated fall schedule with a 6-1 record. On Saturday (Oct. 4), CSU defeated host Penn State, 1-0, and St. Francis (Pa.), 3-1 and then came back on Sunday to edge 2007 NCAA Division II runnerup Lock Haven, 1-0, before falling to Buffalo, 9-3. "We had two great weeks of play this fall," CSU head coach Angie Nicholson said. "I knew going into the fall that with a veteran team, we were capable of playing some very good softball. What I didn't realize is how committed these ladies are because it really showed in all phases of the game over the two weeks. They are ready for February to come right now." Junior Amanda Macenko, who earned Horizon League Pitcher of the Year honors last spring after tying her own school record with 26 wins, threw a pair of two-hit shutouts over the weekend, blanking both Penn State and Lock Haven. She went 3-0 in the circle over the weekend, allowing her to finish the fall slate with a 4-0 record. She threw 33 scoreless innings, striking out 39 while allowing just 13 hits. Men's Swimming Makes Strong Showing At Dennis Stark Relays. . . The Cleveland State Men's Swimming and Diving team kicked off the 2008-09 season on Oct. 3 at the Dennis Stark Relays hosted by the University of Notre Dame. Only five Viking swimmers competed in the event, finishing fourth with 106 points. "We got outstanding swims from everybody," head coach Wally Morton said. "Our swimmers were going back-to-back-to-back against fresh teams every race and they did a great job." CSU picked up wins in two events, the 400 IM relay (3:37.17) and the 400 butterfly relay (3:30.06) and recorded second-place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays. The 400 IM relay of Todd Winchell, Marko Milenkovic, Mark deSwardt and Nedim Nisic finished more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Notre Dame. In the 400 butterfly, Stephen Grove, Nisic, Winchell and deSwardt paired up to out-touch Oakland University for the win. The Vikings return to action on Oct. 18 in their home opener against St. Francis University in the Busbey Natatorium. Behn Swims Fifth Best Time At Dennis Stark Relays. . . The 2008-09 Viking Swimming & Diving team opened its season on the road on Oct. 3 at the Dennis Stark Relays hosted by the University of Notre Dame. The women, who took only five swimmers to the meet, finished fifth with 70 points. "The women did really well," head coach Wally Morton said. "Freshman Carys Behn was terrific, but we got outstanding swims from everyone. We were looking for great individual efforts and we got them." In the first meet of her career, Behn locked up the fifth-best time in school history with her 500 free split (5:08.71) during the 1,000 freestyle relay. She paired with Kristine Bunker as the duo finished fourth overall. The Vikings' other top-five finish came in the 400 freestyle relay as Kristina Nagy recorded a career-best time in the anchor leg (55.94). Behn, Bunker and Whitney Hickey joined Nagy for a fourth-place finish. The team returns to action on Oct. 18 when it hosts St. Francis University in the Busbey Natatorium. Viking High Fives Kellen Erdman: The men's golf sophomore made his third career hole-in-one, and first at CSU, during the first round of the Telich Sun Life Financial Invitational on the 12th hole at Sand Ridge G.C. Katie Broere: The junior golfer earned a top-10 finish at the Zippy Invitational, shooting rounds of 77-77-79 (233). Kayla Lefeld: The junior had her first double-double of the season, totaling 11 kills and 10 digs at Valparaiso on Friday night. Nick Harpel: The men's soccer junior goalkeeper stopped his second penalty kick of the season and made nine saves in CSU's 2-1 double overtime win over Green Bay last week. Men's Swimming: The Vikings finished fourth as a team at the 10-team Dennis Stark Relays last week, an impressive showing considering that CSU only took five swimmers to the all-relay meet but faced full squads from the rest of the schools. The Schedule Ahead For The Vikings Oct. 6 (Monday) Oct. 7 (Tuesday) Volleyball hosts Youngstown State Oct. 8 (Wednesday) Oct. 10 (Friday) Women's Soccer hosts Milwaukee Men's Tennis at Lousiville Invitational Oct. 11 (Saturday) Volleyball hosts Green Bay Men's Tennis at Lousiville Iniviational Oct. 12 (Sunday) Women's Soccer hosts IUPUI Men's Tennis at Lousiville Invitational |
