Sept. 30, 2005

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State opened its home Horizon League slate with a convincing 30-20, 30-22, 30-19 victory over Youngstown State on Friday night in Woodling Gymnasium. The Vikings (9-5, 2-1 HL) hit .325 as a team, led by Nickole Kennedy who hit .667, registering 20 kills on 30 swings with no errors.

CSU got off to a slow start, hitting just .150 in the first game, but limited the Penguins (7-7, 0-3 HL) to a -.042 hitting percentage. The Vikings then improved to .341 in the second frame and .500 in game three to close out the match.

Cleveland State dominated play at the net, limiting YSU to a .045 hitting percentage while holding a 10.5 to 1.0 advantage in blocks.

"I thought after a slow start we got better each game," CSU head coach Chuck Voss said. "Nikki was great tonight -- she was aggressive from her first swing to her last swing. Mel [Snyder] did a great job of running the offense when we were in system and I think our block frustrated Youngstown at times."

Danielle Siefker and Emily Clark added 10 and nine kills for the Vikings, respectively, while Alisa Hatcher tallied a match-high 19 digs.

Leslie Cari, Abby Ettenhofer and Katie Shea each had seven kills for Youngstown State.

Cleveland State hits the road next week for a pair of league matches in Wisconsin. The Vikings will square off against UW-Milwaukee on Oct. 7, followed by a match the next afternoon at UW-Green Bay.