Sept. 29, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

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MATCH 13
Cleveland State (2-10, 1-2 HL) at Valparaiso (7-5, 0-3 HL)
Date: Friday, Oct. 3, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. CDT
Site: Athletics Recreation Center - Valparaiso, Ind.
Series: Valpo leads, 12-5
Last Mtg.: CSU 3, Valpo 1 (11/18/07)
Horizon League Championship - @ Milwaukee, Wis.

MATCH 14
Cleveland State at Butler (12-3, 2-1 HL)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008
Time: 4:00 p.m. EDT
Site: Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, Ind.
Series: Butler leads, 20-9
Last Mtg.: @ CSU 3, Butler 0 (10/12/07)

QUICK SETS: Cleveland State continues Horizon League play on the road when the Vikings travel to Indiana for a pair of matches this weekend. CSU opens the roadtrip with a 7:00 p.m. CDT contest at Valparaiso on Friday (Oct. 3) before heading to Butler on Saturday, Oct. 4 for a 4:00 p.m. match.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The Vikings were in action just one time last week, losing a five-set match at Wright State. Following is a brief recap of that contest.

Match 12: Wright St. 3, CSU 2 (Sept. 26, Fairborn, Ohio) - 23-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-14, 19-17
CSU won the first two sets, but Wright State rallied to claim the final three for a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Vikings. Amy Benz had a match-high 15 kills and nine blocks, while hitting .412 to lead CSU. Beth Greulich recorded her first career double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs and Jordan Goad amassed 44 assists, 13 digs and seven kills.

PREVIEWING THE VIKINGS: Although Cleveland State has struggled to win matches during the first half of the season, expectations are still high as five starters and the libero are all back from the 2007 Horizon League Championship team.Freshman Jordan Goad (8.60 ast/s, 1.40 dps) has taken the reigns as the starting setter and has continued to develop a good rapport with each of CSU's hitters. Junior opposite Beth Greulich, a two-time first team all-league selection, leads the team with 106 kills and ranks second in hitting percentage (.261). Senior middle hitter Jenni Ramminger (2.23 k/s, 0.70 blk/s) and sophomore middle blocker Amy Benz (2.00 k/s, .270, 1.13 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 fourth on the team with 82 kills and second with 101 digs. Juniors Kayla Lefeld (1.59 k/s) and Liz Fazio (1.84 k/s) give CSU depth on the outside. This year's squad may be the best defensive squad in Voss' tenure, led by libero Jordan Bateman (3.50 d/s) who ranks second on the CSU career dig list. She is joined in the backrow by junior Maggie Bonomini (2.11 d/s), sophomore Meghan Mental (0.93 d/s) and freshman Amy Grabiec (1.33 d/s).

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 133-116 (.535) mark at CSU, ranking second on the all-time wins list. Voss, who has a 166-152 (.523) 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.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: 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 also be video streamed online.

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

SPREADING IT OUT: The Vikings had everybody involved in the offense on Friday at Wright State as all six starters had at least 20 attack attempts. Liz Fazio led the way with 38 and was followed by Amy Benz (34), Alexis Korovich (32), Beth Greulich (31), Jenni Ramminger (28) and Jordan Goad (20).

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 15 matches left this season, CSU will have to go 12-3 the rest of the season in order to secure another winning season.

SET FIVE SPELLS TROUBLE: One area that CSU has struggled in is five-set matches, going 0-4 in matches that go the distance this season. CSU, which has lost both league contests in five sets this season, is just 13-30 in five set matches over the last six seasons.

JENNI FROM THE BLOCK: Senior Jenni Ramminger has gotten off to a great start in Horizon League play, totaling 30 kills and 14 blocks, while hitting .218 in CSU's first three league matches. Ramminger continues to move her way up the career blocks chart at CSU, ranking fifth all-time in total blocks (369), fourth in block assists (330) and 10th in solo blocks (39). She is just three block assists shy of taking over third place from Nickole Kennedy who had 332 from 2003-05. SHE CAN DIG IT: Senior libero Jordan Bateman is once again leading the Viking backrow as she is first on the team with 161 digs which has allowed her to move into second place on the career digs list at CSU (1,230). Bateman, who is 176 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 27 digs in Friday's five-set loss at Wright State.

GREULICH DOUBLES UP: Junior Beth Greulich recorded her first career double-double on Friday night at Wright State, finishing with 11 kills and a career-high 10 blocks. Incidentally, the closest Greulich came to a double-double was at Wright State last season (Sept. 14) when she had 12 kills and nine blocks.

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 fifth in the conference in blocks (1.13), while leading the team in hitting percentage (.271) and ranking third in kills (94). She made nine blocks at Wright State on Friday to move into ninth place on the CSU all-time blocks list (237).

IT'S ALL GOAD: Freshman setter Jordan Goad has continued to develop good chemistry with CSU's hitters since taking over as the starting setter in the third match of the season. Goad ranks fourth in the league in assists (8.60 ast/s) and had her best all-around effort on Friday at Wright State, finishing with 44 assists and career-highs in digs (13) and kills (7). She ranks second on the team with 10 aces and fourth with 63 digs.

GRABIEC SHINES IN RESERVE ROLE: Freshman Amy Grabiec has made the most of the opportunity she has been given over the last two weeks, averaging 8.0 digs per match over the last three matches. She had a career high 11 digs in Friday's loss at Wright State.

ALL-OHIO: All 16 players on CSU's roster are Ohio natives. In fact, Chuck Voss has never had a player from outside Ohio on his roster. The last player from another state to play at CSU was Muncie, Ind., native Kristi Conlon in 1998.

SMART TEAM: CSU 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, 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 return home to host three matches next week, beginning on Tuesday (Oct. 7) night at 7:00 p.m. against Youngstown State. CSU also hosts Green Bay on Saturday (Oct. 11) and Milwaukee on Sunday (Oct. 12).