Women's Volleyball Weekly Release #5

Sept. 18, 2006

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Offensive Player of the Week

Tara Geegan

Wright State

Jr., Middle Hitter, Algonquin, Ill.

Geegan was named Most Valuable Player of the Raider Challenge. She hit .469 with 18 kills and had a solo block as the Raiders swept West Virginia. Geegan then hit .480 with 13 kills and had six digs in a sweep over Akron. In her final match of the weekend against Denver, Geegan hit .300 with 17 kills, seven digs and six blocks, including five block assists.

This was the third straight weekend that Geegan had been named to an all-tournament team as she was also honored at the Jefferson Cup Tournament at Virginia and at the Smoothie King Invitational at South Florida.

Defensive Player of the Week

Jordan Bateman

Cleveland State

So., Libero, Nelsonville, Ohio

Bateman had an outstanding week defensively, averaging 6.50 digs per game as the Vikings shutout a pair of opponents to run their winning streak to eight matches. Bateman led all players with 16 digs in a sweep at Toledo and then added 23 more digs in a win over Robert Morris -- a CSU season-high for a three-game match.

Other Top Performers for the Week

Sarah Poling

Wright State

Sr., Libero, St. Henry, Ohio

Poling had 51 digs in three Raider Challenge matches. She notched 13 digs against West Virginia and 11 digs versus Akron. Poling then tied a career-high with 27 digs against Denver.

Jenni Ramminger

Cleveland State

So., Middle Hitter, Cincinnati, Ohio

Ramminger was nearly flawless in a pair of sweeps, hitting .531 while averaging 3.00 kills per game, 1.67 digs per game and 1.33 blocks per game. In Friday's win at Toledo, she had 12 kills on .611 hitting, while adding five digs and four blocks. In Saturday's sweep of Robert Morris, she hit .429 with six kills, five digs and four blocks.

Janelle McDonald

Youngstown State

Sr., Libero, Strongsville, Ohio

McDonald was named to the YSU/Country Inn & Suites Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 4.00 digs per game over the weekend. She posted 20 digs in YSU's four-game win over St. Francis and 15 digs in the 3-0 win over Duquesne. She also collected 12 digs in a 3-1 loss to Morehead State. For the week, McDonald averaged 3.59 digs per game and posted a .906 serve reception percentage.

Lana Lobdell

UIC

Fr., Middle Blocker, Lena, Ill.

In the UIC Invitational, freshman Lana Lobdell recorded a .311 attack percentage. Lobdell notched 31 kills and eight blocks in the three-match tournament. Lobdell posted a .345 attack percentage and three blocks against Western Illinois with a career-high 12 kills. The freshman then stepped it up a notch against North Texas with 13 kills and four blocks. Lobdell also posted a .320 attack percentage against the Mean Green. The middle blocker finished the weekend with a .250 hitting percentage with six kills against Western Michigan. Following the tournament, Lobdell was also named to the all-tournament team.

Porshia Allen

Butler

Fr., Outside Hitter, Indianapolis, Ind.

Allen paced the Bulldog offense last week, hitting .193 with a team-best 50 kills in four matches. She knocked down 10 kills against IUPUI and added double-figure kills against Duke (11), Notre Dame (18) and Arizona State (11). Allen also chipped in double-digit digs against IUPUI (12), Notre Dame (14) and ASU (12).

Sarah Elmer

Loyola

Sr., Setter, Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Elmer earned all-tournament honors at the Loyola Invitational as the Ramblers finished 2-1 in the tournament and 2-2 for the week.  Elmer led the Loyola attack, averaging 1.79 kills per game, 10.07 assists per game and 0.79 blocks per game. She narrowly missed a triple-double in Loyola's five-game win over Jacksonville State, finishing with 10 kills, 45 assists , nine digs and six blocks in a terrific all-around effort.  For the season, Elmer is averaging just under 2.0 kills per game to go with 10.45 assists per game.

Betty Slinger

UW-Green Bay

Jr., Setter, Faribault, Minn.

Slinger was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts at the East Carolina Classic last weekend. The junior setter recorded at least five kills in all five matches and hit .387 for the tournament, including hitting over .450 in two of the three matches. She posted six kills and dished out 39 assists in the Phoenix's win over Grambling State on Friday.

News From Around the League

Cleveland State

At 10-2, the Vikings trail only the 1974 and 1977 squads in terms of the best 10-match starts in the 35-year history of the program (both of those teams opened 11-1). In the midst of an eight-match winning streak, CSU kicks off the Horizon League schedule with a swing through Wisconsin this weekend.

The Vikings have made short work of a majority of their opponents this season, recording eight sweeps in 10 victories, including each of their last four victories.

Head coach Chuck Voss needs just one more victory for 100 in his tenure at Cleveland State. He has 132 wins in nine seasons overall.

UIC

The Flames went 1-2 in the UIC Invitational, moving their overall record to 5-10 on the season. UIC battles Eastern Illinois on the road, Tuesday at 7:00 pm before heading into Horizon League action next weekend.

In the three-match event, junior Amanda Kenny led UIC with a .388 attack percentage and Ambria Springer powered the Flames with 43 kills and 14 blocks. Senior Julie Popp guided UIC on defense with 51 digs and three Flames recorded five service aces apiece.

Freshman Lana Lobdell was named to the UIC Invitational all-tournament team with 31 kills, eight blocks and a .305 attack percentage in three matches. Lobdell recorded a career-high 13 kills against North Texas and a .345 attack percentage versus Western Illinois.

UW-Milwaukee

UW-Milwaukee will be looking for its ninth win in its last 11 Horizon League openers when it takes the court against Youngstown State Friday night. The Panthers, 8-4 all-time in League openers under Kathy Litzau, have also won 10-straight home League openers, with their last loss coming in 1995.

This weekend, the Panthers also will be looking to extend their tremendous run of success at the Klotsche Center. UW-Milwaukee has now won 97 of its last 109 home matches and the Panthers are 122-35 all-time at home under Kathy Litzau. UWM has lost just eight home non-League matches in the last nine-plus seasons, and no League team outside of Loyola or UW-Green Bay has beaten the Panthers in Milwaukee since 1996. It has a current League home winning streak of 15-straight matches.

Should UWM live up to the expectations of the League's coaches and claim the regular season crown, it would be a fourth-straight league title for the Panthers. Milwaukee would become the first league school since Notre Dame to accomplish the feat. UWM has compiled some astounding numbers in recent seasons in Horizon League play. Since 1997, UWM is 105-13 in League play. The Panthers have not finished below second place in the League or lost more than three League matches since 1996. UWM has also now won seven regular-season League crowns under Kathy Litzau.

UW-Green Bay

Phoenix junior setter Betty Slinger was named to the all-tournament team for her efforts at the East Carolina Classic last weekend. Slinger averaged 10.00 assists per game and added 16 digs and a .387 hitting percentage.

Sophomore middle blocker Abby Bergsma set a career high with a .481 hitting percentage, finishing with 16 kills on 27 attempts in Friday's win over Grambling State. The mark topped her previous best of .478 set earlier this season on Sept. 1 against Drake.

Grambling State's team hitting percentage of -.022 in its loss to the Phoenix Friday was the lowest ever for a UW-Green Bay opponent in a four-game match. It was the lowest by a UWGB foe since Cleveland State hit -.027 in a three-game match Nov. 21, 2003.

The Phoenix opens Horizon League play at home this weekend as it hosts Cleveland State at 7 p.m. Friday and Youngstown State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Butler

Butler returned to its strong blocking form in the final game of the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. last weekend, totaling nine blocks against host Arizona State. The Bulldogs have out-blocked their opponents, 113-67.5, on the season and have averaged 2.46 blocks per game.

Freshman Stephanie Steele was named to the All-Tournament Team as the tournament's Best Server. In three matches, she recorded three service aces and only two errors in 35 attempts for a .943 service percentage.

Wright State

Wright State opened the home portion of its schedule by claiming the Raider Challenge title, but saw its four-match winning streak come to end in the finale of the tournament as Denver won in five games, including a 20-18 decision in the fifth game. Three Raider juniors were selected to the All-Tournament Team with tourney MVP Tara Geegan joined by Alisha Kimbro and Lindsey Frank. Geegan collected 48 kills in the three matches with a hitting percentage of .402 while Kimbro tallied 38 kills and 38 digs. Frank recorded 141 assists and 27 digs.

The Raiders host Ball State on Tuesday before opening Horizon League play this weekend in Chicago against Loyola on Friday and UIC on Saturday. 

Youngstown State

With eight wins this season, YSU has already surpassed its victory total from last season. Junior Jessica Fraley made her first start of the season returning from a preseason sports-hernia surgery and posted 10 kills in YSU's win over St. Francis.

With 1,101 digs, senior Cari Leslie needs just nine more to move into eighth place on the YSU all-time digs chart. Senior Amanda Cindric has 985 career digs and needs 15 more to become the 10th player in school history to post 1,000 career digs.

Loyola

Loyola went 2-1 for the weekend as the Ramblers hosted the Loyola Invitational.  Loyola notched victories over Oakland and Jacksonville State before being swept by Saint Louis.

Once again, senior setter Sarah Elmer led the way, earning all-tournament honors. Elmer averaged 1.79 kills per game, 10.07 assists per game and 0.79 blocks per game for the week. Those numbers are just under her season averages of 2.0 kills per game and 10.45 assists per game.

Loyola returns to action next Friday when it opens Horizon League play at home against Wright State. First serve from Alumni Gym is scheduled for 7 p.m.