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Volleyball Heads To Horizon League Championship As No. 3 Seed
Nov. 14, 2006 Contact: Alan Ashby Complete Release in PDF Format
Up Next: Quick Sets: Cleveland State (18-8, 8-6 HL) heads to the 2006 Horizon League Championship as the No. 3 seed after finishing in a four-way tie for second place in the final standings. The Vikings will face Loyola on Friday (Nov. 17) at 11:30 a.m. in the quarterfinals in a rematch of the 2004 title contest. CSU is 0-3 all-time against the Ramblers in the tournament. Exactly How'd They Get The Number Three Seed Anyway?: For Cleveland State, it all came down to getting into a four-way tie for second place. At the conclusion of play on Saturday, CSU, UIC, UW-Green Bay and Wright State each finished 8-6 overall and 3-3 against the other three tied teams. The next tiebreaker is percentage of games won in head-to-head play, with UIC coming out on top at 14-11, followed by CSU (12-10), UWGB (10-12) and WSU (10-13). Repeat Performance: Cleveland State's eight Horizon League victories are the second-most in school-history, trailing only last year's senior laden squad that went 11-3 in the league. By finishing in second place, the Vikings also matched the 2005 team's record for best league finish ever. CSU Against The Bracket: Five of the Vikings' six Horizon League losses this season came against the three teams seeded above them in the tournament. The only other defeat came in five games at Loyola on Oct. 28. Seven of Cleveland State's eight league wins were sweeps, a number topped only by regular season champion UW-Milwaukee (nine). Recapping Last Week: Cleveland State closed out the regular season with a sweep of Youngstown State. Here's a brief recap of the contest: A Senior Night To Remember: Danielle Siefker had a special night on Nov. 10 when the Vikings swept past Youngstown State in their final home match of the year. Not only was the Kalida, Ohio native recognized in a ceremony prior to the start of the contest, but she was also honored in the middle of the second game for becoming the 10th player in school history with 1,000 career kills. She finished with a match-high 17 kills on .483 hitting, adding five blocks. But They Graduated Six Seniors...: Picked fifth in the preseason poll, Cleveland State's second-place finish may be a bit of a surprise considering what the Vikings lost with the graduation of six seniors from last year's team that won 11 Horizon League matches. The sextuplet was responsible for a whopping 3,609 kills and 4,711 digs in their illustrious careers. CSU's success this season is a testament to the leadership skills of senior Danielle Siefker and junior Mel Snyder, who served as co-captains this year. Sharing The Wealth: Junior setter Mel Snyder has done a superb job of getting everyone involved in the offense this season. Freshman Liz Fazio may lead the team in kills with 344, but senior Danielle Siefker (269), freshman Alexis Korovich (263) and freshman Beth Greulich (253) have each topped the 250-kill mark, while sophomore Jenni Ramminger has chimed in with 167 kills of her own. Vikings' Run Of Success Continues: Cleveland State's impressive 18-8 record means the Vikings long ago assured themselves of completing their fifth consecutive winning season, the second-longest run in school history. The skein trails only the seven straight winning campaigns from 1972-78. Get Out The Brooms: Cleveland State's whitewashing of Youngstown State on Nov. 10 marked the 15th 3-0 sweep for the Vikings this season. CSU, which recorded 12 sweeps in 2005, did not lose a game from Sept. 9-22, blanking five straight opponents to tie the 1982 squad's school record for consecutive three-game sweeps. The 15 blankings are the most since the 1983 team posted 19 sweeps.
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