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Dec. 9, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
Final Exams Dominate Schedule. . . The lightest athletic schedule of the year to date occurs this week, due in part to fall semester final exams, which run from Dec. 8-13, and an early start to winter break. Just three of the seven winter sports are in action with only the wrestling team competing at home. The men's basketball team will finish exams before heading to Poughkeepsie, NY to meet Marist on Saturday, Dec. 13 beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Vikings then make the drive across the state to face Syracuse on Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:00 p.m. CSU is not home again until Saturday, Dec. 20 when its hosts LaRoche at 1:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The women's basketball team has all week to prepare for its next contest a Monday, Dec. 15 game at 18th-ranked Ohio State. The game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m. in Nationwide Arena. The wrestling team hosts its biggest tournament of the year, the CSU Open, on Sunday, Dec. 14 beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Woodling Gym. Men's and women's swimming and fencing are each idle this week. Men's Basketball Heads East To Face Marist & Syracuse . . . The Viking men's basketball team will spend the better part of the week focusing on final exams before resuming the non-league portion of their schedule with a pair of games in the State of New York. CSU will travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to face Marist on Saturday, Dec. 13 beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Vikings will then head to central New York to face Syracuse on Monday, Dec. 15 starting at 7:00 p.m. The Syracuse University production of the game will be broadcast live on SportsTime Ohio. The Vikings are coming off a 1-2 week during which the defense created an opportunity for CSU to go undefeated but the offense struggled to score enough points. The Vikings started the week by routing Valparaiso, 66-42, in the Horizon League opener. CSU then fell to defending league champion Butler, 50-48, on a buzzer-beating three-pointer, and at West Virginia, 53-43. "Shots just are not falling for us right now," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "Our defensive effort has been very good but when you play the type of schedule that we are playing, you have to put the offense and defense together in order to win games. I am not concerned yet because we are a strong offensive team and that will eventually show." The Vikings enter the week ranking second in the league in almost every defensive category, including scoring defense (58.1), field goal defense (.378), three-point defense (.271) and turnover margin (+4.2) while also ranking first in steals (9.6). Women's Basketball To Square Off With Ohio State . . . Cleveland State (4-4) returns to action on Monday, Dec. 15, when the Vikings travel to 18th-ranked Ohio State for a 7:00 p.m. contest. The game will be played at Nationwide Arena. "We are going to take a few days off early this week and resume practice on Wednesday to get ready for Ohio State," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We have to start playing more consistently for 40 minutes and strive to put together a complete game. We have taken steps towards putting together a whole game and when we play like we are capable of, we have shown that we are a very good team." The Vikings went 1-1 last week, earning their first road win of the season with a 70-54 triumph at Akron on Wednesday (Dec. 4) as all five starters scored in double figures. On Saturday, Dec. 6, CSU lost its first home contest of the season, 84-77, to Kent State in overtime. The Vikings trailed by 15 points in the second half and faced an 11-point deficit with five minutes to play before rallying to force overtime. Dominique Butler had a game-high 20 points in the win at Akron and came up with a career-high nine steals versus Kent State. It was the third highest single-game total in CSU history and improved Butler's career steals total to 239. She is now Kailey Klein scored a CSU season-high 27 points against Kent State, moving into 14th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,112 points. She is third in the Horizon League with a 17.5 scoring average. Wrestling Hosts CSU Open. . . The Vikings continue open competition Sunday, December 14, when they host the CSU Open at the Woodling Gymnasium. Action begins at 9:00 a.m. and is expected to run until the early evening. Rashard Goff continued his success this past weekend at the Nittany Lion Open, posting a 4-1 record on his way to a second place trophy. Goff, who was the 11th ranked 285- pounder by InterMat/NWCA/NWMA individual rankings, now leads the Vikings with 14 victories. Robbie Michaels also had success at the tournament posting a sixth place finish. Michaels began his day by earning a convincing 17- 1 tech fall decision over a Penn State club wrestler. He ended his day by winning his final three matches, including a 0:45 pin and a 12-2 major decision. Seniors Antonio Nicholson and JT Miller also tallied four wins of their own for the Vikings on Sunday (12/7). "Our starters have been able to square off against solid wrestlers at these open tournaments and they have proven that they can compete at a high level," head coach Ben Stehura said. "I am very happy with the strides that the team has made so far." The Vikings, who are 2-1 on the season, will resume dual meet action on Friday, December 19 when they travel to Lewisburg, Pa to take on Bucknell. The match is slated to begin at 12:00 noon. Men's Swimming Turn In Strong Efforts At Both OSU & Akron. . . The Viking men's swimming and diving teams spent a long weekend with split squads at the Ohio State Invitational and the Akron Zippy Invitational to finish out their fall season. During the three-day events, CSU swimmers saw considerable success and a lot of positives to build on as the season picks up in the spring semester. At Ohio State, CSU finished fifth with 194 points while the group swimming at Akron recorded 255 points for a 10th-place finish. "We saw a lot of good things at both the Akron and Ohio State meets," head coach Wally Morton said. "At Ohio State, Mark deSwardt had a spectacular meet. He became just the third athlete in CSU history to go under four minutes in the 400 IM, had one of the best 500 free times in school history and swam the second-fastest time in the 1,650 free for an NCAA `B' cut time. Todd Winchell also had an outstanding meet with a school record in the 100 fly and a lifetime best in the 100 free while giving us great performances in the relays. Mike Marsico's speed continues to be outstanding and we know he'll be swimming fast at the end of the year." "After Akron, we're very excited about where Pieter Ritz is and Colin Hanner had a great meet and is a solid addition in the backstroke. Derek Butts is improving all the time and is in a position to score at the conference meet. Travis Lombardozzi and Keith Everhart also had a very solid meets. All of them have been training hard and haven't been completely rested yet." Highlights at Ohio State included Jakub Dobies tying his career best swim and the second-fastest time in CSU history in the 50 free for a 10th place finish during Friday's events. Also on Friday, deSwardt moved up to No. 3 all-time in CSU's 500 free list, taking 10th in the event in 4:27.12. On Saturday, Winchell broke the school record in the 100 butterfly, finishing fifth in 48.80. During the final day of competition, deSwardt highlighted the Vikings' day with an NCAA "B" cut and the second-fastest time in school history in the 1,650 free. It was the first time deSwardt swam the event this year, finishing sixth overall in 15:20.75. At Akron, the Vikings' top finish on Friday came during the 500 freestyle when Pieter Ritz dropped 18 seconds off his season-best time for a fifth-place finish (4:40.00). On Saturday, CSU had a sixth-place finish from Colin Hanner in the 100 back (53.07). Sunday's action included a 16:35.79 swim by Pieter Ritz in the first 1,650 free of his career. The team will focus on final exams before heading to Florida for a training trip later in the month (Dec. 20). Women's Swim Idle Until After Christmas. . . The women's swim team took advantage of solid competition at the Zippy Invitational to post several new season-best scores and a couple of new all-time Top-10 times. At the conclusion of the three day event and the Vikings' fall season, CSU finished 11th with 231 points. "Every one of our women had swims that we can build off of as we prepare for the rest of our season," head coach Wally Morton said. "Carys Behn was solid in every event she swam and Emily Splain continues to get better every day. We also got a solid swim from Erin Green in 1,650 free. Everyone exhibited a good effort in their events this weekend and we think that this is going to make us a better team as a result." On Friday, Behn posted the team's best finish in the 500 free, winning the consolation heat for a ninth-place finish (5:05.13) and continued to excel on Saturday with a second-place finish in the 200 free, finishing just off her school record pace (1:52.70). Splain also had a solid Saturday, adding two Top-25 finishes including the 10th-fastest time in school history in the 200 free (1:56.52, 19th) and a 1:01.27 in the 100 back (23rd). On Sunday, Behn bettered her own No. 7 time in school history in the 100 free (53.11) while Erin Green swam a respectable 18:20.90 in the 1,650 free. The team will focus on final exams before heading to Florida for a training trip later in the month (Dec. 20). Viking High Fives Dominique Butler: The women's basketball senior had a career-high nine steals, the third highest total in a game in CSU history, on Saturday against Kent State. George Tandy: The men's basketball senior averaged 5.0 points and 8.0 rebounds last week, including a career-high matching 10 rebounds in the win over Valparaiso and 10 points and eight rebounds vs. Butler. Mark deSwardt: Had a spectacular weekend at Ohio State, swimming the third-fastest time in school history in the finals of the 500 free (4:27.12). In the first 1,650 free swim of his career, he swam the second-fastest time in school history (15:20.75) for an NCAA "B" qualifying time. The Schedule Ahead For The Vikings Dec. 13 (Saturday) Dec. 14 (Sunday) Dec. 15 (Monday) Men's Basketball at Syracuse
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