CSU, Oakland, UWM and Valpo Win on League-Opening Night

#HLVB Scoreboard (Sept. 26)
Cleveland State 3, Wright State 0
Milwaukee 3, UIC 1
Oakland 3, Youngstown State 0
Valparaiso 3, Green Bay

Cleveland State 3, Wright State 0
Cleveland State used a balanced offensive attack and trailed just four times all match as the Vikings swept Wright State in the Horizon League opener on Friday night in Woodling Gym.

CSU improved to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in the league, while WSU fell to 3-12 overall and 0-1 in league action.

Christina Toth led the Vikings with nine kills and hit .318 at the net, while Grace Kauth and Ally Beck finished with seven kills each. Beck just missed a double-double with nine digs. Maggie Hannon chipped in six kills and four blocks.

Dayna Roberts and Gina Kilner handed out 14 assists each, while Roberts added 13 digs for a double-double. Nikki Holmes recorded a match-best 19 digs.

The Vikings hit .252 as a team and held the Raiders to a .034 attack percentage with 18 blocks.

Milwaukee 3, UIC 1
Four players recorded double-figures in kills and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team posted a season-high 15 blocks to highlight a 25-18, 27-29, 25-19, 25-18 victory over UIC Friday night at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (6-8, 1-0 Horizon League) hit .301 for the night and kept a steady lead over the Flames (6-10, 0-1 Horizon League) in all three sets in which they claimed victories in the 3-1 decision.

"It was a really good win and it was a really good team effort," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "I was really proud of the entire team. UIC definitely fought back - I knew they would, they are a good team. We had to continually push back because it wasn't an easy match and we were able to stay in control, stay calm and push through."

Junior Maggie Dunbar finished one kill away from a career-high, leading the way with 16 on a stellar .517 hitting percentage (1 error/29 attacks).

Sophomore Myanna Ruiz had a double-double of 15 kills and 33 assists, senior Julie Kolinske recorded 14 and senior Hannah Blanchard rounded out the list of double-figure kills with 11. Junior Nicole Latzig also got in on the action with eight kills on a career-best .583 hitting percentage.

"Myanna is doing a good job of balancing our lineup and our offense and she is taking on a really important role," Johnson said. "I am excited that she is coming through."

Senior Taylor Golabowski had a four-set season-high 20 digs while adding four service aces. Sophomore Kaisa Mattson paced the effort at the net with a career-high 10 blocks.

Reigning Horizon League Player of the Week Stephenee Yancy led the Flames with 16 kills.

The Panthers took the fourth and deciding set comfortably, opening up a 15-10 advantage after trailing early. UIC got no closer than five points down the stretch.

In the third, Milwaukee jumped out to a 10-2 lead and still held a 19-11 advantage before the Flames rallied. A kill by Ruiz stopped the momentum at 24-17 and a block by Blanchard and Mattson closed it out.

UIC used a 10-5 run to help it claim the second set. That stretch tied it at 20-20 and the Flames would not go away. The Panthers held a pair of set points but could not get over the hump in falling, 29-27.

Down, 4-1, early in the first, UWM had it tied at 5-5 and eventually battled its way to a 15-13 edge. A Latzig kill made it 16-13 and a service ace from sophomore Maddie Schmitz forced a UIC timeout. The Panthers closed it out from there.

Oakland 3, Youngstown State 0
Sophomore Melissa Deatsch led Oakland volleyball with 17 kills and a .484 attack percentage as the Golden Grizzlies defeated Youngstown State Friday evening, 25-22, 25-18, 25-18, in the Horizon League opener for both teams.

"This was a great way to open the Horizon League season," Oakland head coach Rob Beam said. "I thought we did a great job executing, particularly in the areas that are our strengths. Our attacking and blocking were outstanding, as was our serve and pass game."

The Golden Grizzlies registered 12 blocks as a team, with 22 block assists and one solo block on the night. Sammy Condon led the way with seven block assists, while Deatsch and Ciara Schultz tallied four block assists apiece.

Oakland's block party contributed to Youngstown State (9-7, 0-1) hitting just .181 in the match, including .067 in the final two sets.

Oakland (9-6, 1-0 HL) hit .292 on the night, as Jessica Dood added eight kills in the win. Schultz notched 30 assists and nine digs to lead the team in each category.

Valparaiso 3, Green Bay 0
The Valparaiso volleyball team opened up Horizon League play the same way it has performed all season long, going on the road and sweeping Green Bay (25-20, 25-21, 25-23) Friday evening in Green Bay, Wis. for its 13th consecutive victory, matching the second-longest winning streak in program history.

The 13 straight wins matches a stretch the 2008 squad put together through October and November of that year for the second-longest string of victories all-time at Valpo.  Saturday afternoon, the Crusaders will have the opportunity to match the 2004 team, which currently holds the program’s longest winning streak at 14 straight matches.

As they have so often recently, the Crusaders came out with the win without dropping a set, as they have now lost just one set over their last nine matches.  But on Friday, Valpo had to do so by holding off rallies late from the Phoenix in every set.

“It was great to get a win tonight here in Green Bay,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery.  “They had a great crowd this evening, and it was a fun environment to play in. We've had a tough time here in the past, so it was definitely nice to get the win.  We gave away a few too many runs tonight at the end of each set, but other than that, we really did some great things defensively.”

In the opening frame, the Crusaders pushed a 9-6 lead out to an 11-point advantage with a 12-4 run, seemingly taking control at 21-10.  But Green Bay rallied furiously, scoring nine of the next ten points to close to within 22-19.  Valpo went back to its offensive leader as the stakes grew, however, as sophomore Emily Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) picked up back-to-back kills to earn set point at 24-19.  On their second chance, the Crusaders again went to Campbell for the termination to claim the opening set.

Trailing 10-9 approaching the midway point of set two, Valpo reeled off seven consecutive points – including three kills from Campbell and a kill and an ace by junior Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) – to go ahead 16-10.  With the lead still six points after the teams traded a pair of sideouts, Green Bay scored four straight to close to within 18-16.  But the Crusaders answered with three straight of their own and would not allow the Phoenix to move any closer than three points the rest of the way as they secured the second-set victory.

It was a massive run by the Crusaders at the midway point of the third set as well, as Valpo scored 11 points in a 14-point span to turn a 12-11 deficit into a 22-15 lead.  Just three points from the sweep, the Crusaders found themselves again having to fight off Green Bay, which put together a 7-1 spurt to move within 23-22.  Once again, it was a Campbell kill which stopped the Phoenix’s momentum, and on their second match point chance, Berrington hit senior Kelsey Victor (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) for a kill to close out the sweep.

Campbell dominated offensively for Valpo on Friday evening, registering a match-best 18 kills while swinging at a .400 clip.  Freshman Allison Ketcham (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian), coming off an MVP performance last weekend, added 11 kills while Victor chipped in nine kills on .533 hitting.   Berrington handed out 39 assists on the night.

The Crusaders were strong in the back row all night long, registering 62 digs, a season-high for a three-set match.  Leading the way was sophomore libero Morganne Longoria (Burlington, Wis./Burlington), who ended the sweep with 20 digs.  Behind her, three others had double figures in digs as they recorded double-doubles – Campbell tallied 12 digs, Ketcham 11 and Berrington 10.  At the net, Ketcham was in on four of the Crusaders’ six blocks.