MATCH STATS
- Cleveland State def. Green Bay, 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-21)
- Cleveland State improves to 22-7; Green Bay falls to 15-15
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Attendance: 385
- Cleveland State earns the Horizon League Champion automatic bid for third straight season
- Box score
CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the third season in a row, Cleveland State can make plans for the NCAA Tournament with a sweep of 4-seed Green Bay (25-22, 25-16, 25-21). This is CSU’s 5th conference title overall, all under current head coach Chuck Voss. The win also marked the 12th straight victory for the Vikings.
Cleveland State was led by Horizon League Tournament MVP Sara Skeens (10 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs). Skeens pounded a career-high 20 kills in the semifinal Saturday evening against 6-seed Northern Kentucky. Other Vikings making the All-Tournament team were Gina Kilner (33 assists, 5 digs, 4 kills, 1 block) and Trinnity Hall (8 kills, 2 blocks, .500). Middle blocker Alexis Middlebrooks became the fourth Viking all-time to surpass 400 career assist blocks. She finished the match notching her 404th. Middlebrooks also entered the top ten in CSU history by recording her 52nd career solo block.
Green Bay has now lost to Cleveland State for the second season in a row in the Horizon League title match. Green Bay players Taylor Wolf (12 kills, 8 digs, 2 blocks) and Maddie Yoss (34 assists, 5 digs) led the Phoenix and were both named to the All-Tournament team. Senior Lydia DeWeese recorded her 1000th career kill in the third set of the title match. DeWeese is now the 5th Phoenix all-time to surpass 1,000 career kills.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Cleveland State Athletics
CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the third straight season, top-seeded Cleveland State captured the Horizon League Volleyball championship, winning its fifth title in program history with a 3-0 sweep of No. 4 Green Bay. With the championship match victory, the Vikings are now 22-7 this season, and will be making their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament
Cleveland State vs. Green Bay Box Score
2017 Horizon League Champions
• The Cleveland State volleyball team captured its fifth Horizon League Tournament title under head coach Chuck Voss, and its third consecutive crown.
• 2017 marked the third straight season that the Vikings also captured the Regular Season title, claiming both the regular season and tournament championships.
• This marked the ninth time that the Vikings advanced to the championship match of the tournament, as the Vikings now own a 20-13 record in league tournament play.
Horizon League All-Tournament Honors
• Sara Skeens was named the Tournament MVP after posting a team-high 30 kills and averaging 4.29 kills per set. Skeens recorded a career-high 20 kills against Northern Kentucky in the semifinals, and then tallied 10 kills against Green Bay in the championship match.
• Gina Kilner earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team after leading the Vikings to a .270 hitting percentage as a team on the weekend after averaging 11.86 assists per set. Kilner recorded 50 helpers against NKU and then posted 33 against Green Bay, while also tallying 11 kills and 21 digs on the weekend.
• Trinniti Hall was also named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.43 kills per set on a .513 hitting percentage. Hall posted 16 kills and eight total blocks against the Norse in the semifinals, and then posted eight kills and two blocks against Green Bay in the championship.
Horizon League Championship Match Stats
• Sara Skeens led the Viking offense with 10 kills, while Alexis Middlebrooks added nine, and Rachel Stover and Trinniti Hall both added eight.
• Shannon Grega recorded 12 digs to lead the Viking defense, while Jordan Verbiak and Emily DeGeorge both added six.
• Gina Kilner recorded 33 assists on the match and led Cleveland State to a .288 hitting percentage.
• As a team, the Vikings recorded 10.0 total blocks, including six from Alexis Middlebrooks and three from Emily DeGeorge and Sara Skeens.
Horizon League Championship Match Notes
• The Vikings enter the NCAA Tournament on a 12-match winstreak.
• Cleveland State is just the second team in Horizon League history to win three straight #HLVB Tournament titles, and the first to do so since the 1994 season.
• Cleveland State is now one of just three teams in Horizon League history to have captured five tournament titles (Milwaukee & Loyola).
• The 2017 #HLVB Tournament title marked the fifth in program history, and the fourth in the last six seasons.
CSU Career Record Book
• With her five block assists in the championship match, Alexis Middlebrooks became the fourth Viking all-time to eclipse 400 block assists for their career, finishing with 404.
• After recording one solo block against the Phoenix in the title match, Alexis Middlebrooks cracked the top-10 in the CSU Career Record Book with 52 total solo blocks on her career.
Courtesy of Green Bay Athletics
CLEVELAND, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com) — The Green Bay Volleyball team fell in the championship match of the Horizon League Tournament for the second-straight year on Sunday to host and No. 1 seed Cleveland State, 3-0.
Green Bay (15-15) would jump out to a 5-2 lead to start the match behind a pair of kills each for freshman Taylor Wolf and senior Lydia DeWeese. A 4-1 run from Cleveland State would tie the set at 6-6. After some back-and-forth the Vikings would string together an additional 5-1 run to give Cleveland State a 12-9 lead. The Phoenix would respond with three straight points to tie the match. However, Cleveland State would go on another 5-2 run to take a 22-16 lead. The Phoenix would answer with a 6-2 run of their own, but it was too late as Cleveland State took the set 25-22.
Set two would start evenly, with Cleveland State holding a slight 9-8 lead prior to going on a 4-0 run. Each team would side out on the next 8 points, but a 4-1 Cleveland State run would extend their lead to 20-13. They would take 5 of the next 7 points, winning the set 25-16.
Cleveland State would open the third set on a 4-0 run, eventually extending their lead to 10-3. Green Bay would not go quietly, going on 4-1 and 6-1 runs during the set, cutting the deficit to 18-15. Green Bay would go on another late run, this one 3-1 to bring the score to 23-20. Cleveland State wouldn’t be stopped though, going on to win the set and the match 25-21.
DeWeese collected her 1,000th career kill in the third set. She becomes just the 5th player in program history to reach the milestone.
Taylor Wolf and Maddie Yoss were both named to the All-Tournament Team.
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