Sept. 22, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

QUICK SETS: Cleveland State continues Horizon League play when the Vikings travel to Wright State for a 7:00 p.m. match on Friday, Sept. 26. It marks the only time this season that the Vikings will play just one time during a week. CSU enters the week with a 2-9 overall record, including a 1-1 mark after the first weekend of league play. CSU lost in five sets at Wright State last season, but came back to defeat the Raiders in four sets at home and then knocked off WSU in four sets in the semifinals of the league tournament.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings began defense of their Horizon League Championship and opened their home schedule by hosting a pair of matches. Following are brief recaps of those contests.

Match 10: Loyola 3, CSU 2 (Sept. 19, Woodling Gym) - 26-24, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18, 15-9
Cleveland State won two of the first three sets, but Loyola rallied to win the final two and claim a 3-2 win over the Vikings. CSU hit just .031 (13-11-65) over the final two sets, while the Ramblers totaled a .288 attack percentage in the last two sets. Beth Greulich had 12 kills, while Alexis Korovich added 11 kills and 15 digs. Jordan Goad dished out 45 assists to go along with eight digs.

Match 11: CSU 3, UIC 0 (Sept. 20, Woodling Gym), 25-13, 25-22, 25-23
Cleveland State snapped a seven-match losing streak with a 3-0 sweep of UIC. After hitting .667 (13-1-18) to cruise to an easy win in the first set, the Vikings fell behind in sets two and three, but rallied late to earn the sweep. Jenni Ramminger recorded 10 kills and six blocks, while Jordan Goad had 32 assists, six digs and three aces.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Despite a 2-9 record through the first third of the season, ninth-year head coach Chuck Voss still has high hopes for the 2008 season as the Vikings continue league play. Voss welcomes back five starters and the libero return from last seasons NCAA tournament team that went 23-9. Add to that mix six newcomers and Voss has one of the deepest and most experienced teams during his tenure as head coach. Freshman Jordan Goad (8.57 ast/s, 1.25 dps) has taken the reigns as the starting setter and has continued to develop a good rapport with CSU's hitters. Junior opposite Beth Greulich, a two-time first team all-league selection, leads the team with 95 kills and a .269 hitting percentage. Senior middle hitter Jenni Ramminger (2.26 k/s, 0.76 blk/s) and sophomore middle blocker Amy Benz (1.88 k/s, .248, 1.05 blk/s) are CSU's top players in the middle of the court. A talented group of experienced outside hitters is led by three-year starter Alexis Korovich, who ranks third on the team in both kills (78) and digs (82). Juniors Kayla Lefeld (1.68 k/s, .104) and Liz Fazio (1.92 k/s, .122) give CSU depth on the outside. This year's squad may be the best defensive squad in Voss' tenure, led by libero Jordan Bateman (3.27 d/s) who ranks second on the CSU career dig list. She is joined in the backrow by junior Maggie Bonomini (2.21 d/s), sophomore Meghan Mental (0.96 d/s) and freshman Amy Grabiec (1.16 d/s) who received her first extensive action of the season last weekend against Loyola and UIC.

THE HEAD COACH: In his ninth year at the helm of the Viking volleyball program, head coach Chuck Voss has methodically built the program from the ground up. He inherited a team that had not enjoyed a winning season in 17 years and turned things around in his third season (2002) when he led the Vikings to an 18-16 mark. CSU has now recorded six straight winning seasons (2002-07), the most since the program opened with seven straight (1972-78). Voss has a 133-115 (.536) mark at CSU, ranking second on the all-time wins list. Voss, who has a 166-151 (.524) overall record in 10 seasons, has mentored the only two All-Americans in school history, the 2005 Horizon League Player of the Year, 13 first team all-league picks, eight all-newcomer team members and four league Newcomer of the Year picks at Cleveland State.

LIVE ONLINE: Fans of CSU volleyball will have another avenue to catch the Vikings this season as all nine home matches will be video streamed online via the Horizon League Network. To access the video, visit www.CSUVikings.com and click on the "Watch Live" link on the volleyball schedule page. In addtion, CSU's matches at Valparaiso, Butler, Loyola, Green Bay and Youngstown State will all be video streamed online.

STREAK SNAPPED: Saturday's (Sept. 20) 3-0 win over UIC allowed the Vikings to snap a seven-match losing streak. It was the longest losing streak since the 1995 team lost 11 consecutive matches.

SWEEPING SUCCESS: Both of CSU's wins this season have come via 3-0 sweeps over Chicago State and UIC. The Vikings have outscored those two foes, 111-57, while holding them to a combined .006 hitting percentage.

EASY WIN: Saturday's 25-13 win over UIC in the first set was CSU's best offensive output of the season. The Vikings totaled 13 kills and just one attack error in 18 attempts for a .667 hitting percentage.

BLING, BLING: Prior to the start of Friday's (Sept. 19) match versus Loyola, coaches and players from the 2007 Horizon League Championship team unveiled a championship banner that will hang in Woodling Gym. The players and coaches also received championship rings to commemorate CSU's first-ever league title.

HOME SWEET HOME: Friday's (Sept. 19) match against Loyola was the first home match of the season for CSU after the Vikings opened with nine consecutive matches on the road. The Sept. 19 home opener is the latest one for CSU since the 1994 team played its first 15 matches away from Woodling Gym before its home opener on Sept. 30 against Wright State.

... BUT THEY'RE RIGHT BACK ON THE ROAD: Following last week's brief two-match homestand, the Vikings will be back on the road for three consecutive matches, meaning CSU will play 12 of its first 14 matches away from home.

UNLUCKY SEVEN???: Cleveland State has posted six consecutive winning seasons (2002-07), the second-longest streak in school history. It trails only the seven straight winning campaigns from 1972-78. With a minimum of 16 matches left this season, CSU will have to go 12-4 the rest of the season in order to secure another winning season.

JENNI FROM THE BLOCK: Senior Jenni Ramminger got off to a great start in Horizon League play, totaling 20 kills and 10 blocks, while hitting .260 in CSU's first two league matches. Ramminger continues to move her way up the career blocks chart at CSU, ranking fifth all-time in total blocks (365), fourth in block assists (326) and 10th in solo blocks (39).

SHE CAN DIG IT: Senior libero Jordan Bateman has started her final season out right, leading the team with 134 digs which has allowed her to move into second place on the career digs list at CSU (1,203). Bateman, who is 203 digs shy of breaking Emily Clark's school record, opened the season by recording 43 digs in three matches at the Northern Illinois Invitational (Aug. 29-30) to earn a spot on the all-tournament team. She had a season-best 25 digs in Friday's (Sept. 19) five-set loss to Loyola.

ACCURATE AND PRECISE: After missing much of the preseason with an injury, junior Beth Greulich has not let that missed time affect her. She leads the team with 95 kills and a .269 hitting percentage, having reached double-digit kills in five matches. Greulich's .319 (753-208-1,707) career hitting percentage ranks as the third best in school history. She has earned first team All-Horizon League accolades in each of her first two seasons.

A LUXURIOUS MERCEDES: Middle hitter Amy Benz has started out her sophomore campaign right where she finished her freshman season. The 2007 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and first team all-league pick leads the team and is sixth in the conference in blocks (1.05), while ranking second on the team in hitting percentage (.248) and third in kills (1.88). She amassed eight blocks over the weekend to move into 10th place on the CSU all-time blocks list (228). She needs five more to take over ninth place.

AND A NICE LEXUS: Junior outside hitter Alexis Korovich returns as one of the top all-around players in the Horizon League and is the lone CSU player to average at least 2.0 kills and 2.0 digs per set through 11 matches this season. She tallied 11 kills and 15 digs in Friday's (Sept. 19) five-set loss to Loyola, becoming the first CSU player to record a double-double this season. Korovich led the Vikings with 21 double-double efforts last season.

IT'S ALL GOAD: Freshman setter Jordan Goad has transitioned well to the starting setter role, averaging 8.57 assists per set. In her first career start against Chicago State (Aug. 30), Goad led the team to a season-best .392 hitting percentage. She handed out a career-high 50 assists in a loss at Dayton (Sept. 6) before averaging 9.5 assists per set at the Wyoming Cowgirl Invitational (Sept. 12-13). She also ranks second on the team with nine aces and fourth with 50 digs.

GRABIEC SHINES IN RESERVE ROLE: Freshman Amy Grabiec made the most of her opportunity over the weekend, appearing in seven of the eight sets. She finished the weekend with 13 digs, but made her presence felt right away in the second set of Friday's match against Loyola. After sitting out the entire first set, Grabiec was inserted as a substitute with the Vikings down, 4-3, and served CSU to four straight points and a 7-4 lead. CSU never trailed in the set again.

RULE CHANGES: Two key rule changes were introduced in collegiate volleyball this season, including sets now being played to 25 points instead of 30 as they had been for the previous seven seasons. In additon the maximum number of substitutions per set has been reduced from 15 to 12.

ALL-OHIO: One interesting note about CSU's roster is that all 16 players call the State of Ohio home. In fact, head coach Chuck Voss has never had a player from outside Ohio on his roster. The last player from another state to play for CSU was Muncie, Ind., native Kristi Conlon in 1998.

SMART TEAM: The volleyball team has been honored for its exceptional performance in the classroom as a recipient of the Game Time/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the fourth straight year. The Vikings, who were one of just 70 Division I schools to earn the award, carried a team grade point average of 3.58 during the 2007-08 school year.

UP NEXT: The Vikings remain on the road for a pair of matches in Indiana next weekend. CSU will play at Valparaiso on Friday (Oct. 3) before a match at Butler on Saturday (Oct. 4).