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Jan. 28, 2008
Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release in PDF Format
Winter Schedule Picks Up. . . The winter athletic schedule picks up this week as for the first time this year, all nine winter sports will be action during the same week with only men's and women's swimming staying at home. The men's basketball team, which begins the week in second place in the Horizon League standings, a half-game behind Butler, opens the second half of its league schedule with a pair of games in Chicago. CSU begins the week by playing at UIC on Thursday (Jan. 31) at 8:00 p.m. EST and then heads to Loyola for an 8:00 p.m. EST matchup on Saturday (Feb. 2). The women's basketball team, which is in third place in the league standings, will also be on the road for a pair of contests. The Vikings play at Butler on Thursday (Jan. 31) at 7:00 p.m. before traveling to Horizin League newcomer Valparaiso for a 1:30 p.m. matinee on Saturday (Feb. 2). The men's and women's swimming teams will be at home again when they host UIC and Youngstown State (women only) on Saturday, Feb, 2 starting at 1:00 p.m. in Busbey Natatorium. It will be the final home event of the regular season until CSU hosts the Horizon League Championships from Feb. 20-23. The wrestling team continues its Eastern Wrestling League campaign with dual meets at Lock Haven on Friday (Feb. 1) and Bloomsburg on Saturday (Feb. 2). Both tennis teams will be in up-state New York for contests this weekend, taking on St. Bonaventure at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday before heading to Niagara for a 1:00 p.m. match on Sunday (Feb. 3). The fencing teams will be in action for the second straight week, traveling to Evanston, IL to take part in the Northwestern Duals on Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 2-3. Men's Basketball Continues Road Trip With Two Games In Chicago. . . The men's basketball team will attempt to regroup on the fly this week when the Vikings close out a four-game league road swing with a pair of games in Chucago. Cleveland State plays at UIC at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday (Jan. 31) and at Loyola at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 2). After opening the year with seven straight league wins, the Vikings dropped both games during a road trip to Wisconsin, falling 59-50 at Green Bay and 79-71 at Milwaukee. "Last week demonstrated the importance of winning your home games in this league," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We were able to stay at the top of the standings because we won our home games. Now that we are playing four straight on the road, we are finding that teams go all out to defend their home court. The second half of our league schedule should tell us what kind of team that we have." Cedric Jackson enjoyed a strong performance in both contests last week. He scored 19 points with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, going four-for-four from three-point, against Green Bay. He came back to add a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds against Milwaukee. Women's Basketball Travels To Butler & Valparaiso. . . The women's basketball team (11-7, 5-2 HL) hits the road for the first time in two weeks when the Vikings travel to the State of Indiana for a pair of games this week. The roadtrip begins on Thursday (Jan. 31) night when the Vikings play at Butler at 7:00 p.m. and concludes with a 1:35 p.m. contest at league newcomer Valparaiso on Saturday, Feb. 2. "I am very pleased with how we have been playing over the last couple games," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We have been preaching about taking care of the basketball and getting good looks at the basket. If we can continue to control the halfcourt game and limit our turnovers, we are going to be a very difficult team to beat." The Vikings, who have won eight of their last 10 games, concluded a three-game homestand with a perfect record after knocking off Youngstown State, 77-64, on Saturday afternoon in the Wolstein Center. The victory was CSU's sixth consecutive at home, the longest streak for the Vikings in eight seasons. Kailey Klein led the way as she produced her first career double-double with 30 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Robyn Hoying added 16 points, while Jessica Roque chipped in a season-best 10 points off the bench. The victory enabled CSU to break a tie with YSU in the league standings and move into sole possession of third place. The Vikings are one-half game behind second place Milwaukee and trail first place Green Bay by a game-and-a-half. Wrestling Faces Lock Haven & Bloomsburg On The Road. . . The wrestling team continues its Eastern Wrestling League schedule when the Vikings travel to Lock Haven on Friday (Feb. 1) at 7:30 p.m. and to Bloomsburg on Saturday (Feb. 2) at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings dropped their EWL opener last week, falling 32-5 at home to Pittsburgh. Effner recorded his 69th career win and Josh Palivoda also picked up a victory, but it was not enough to prevent the Panthers from running away with the overall win. "It's really disappointing," head coach Jack Effner said. "We're working so hard, but we're just not bringing it to match time, which is very frustrating. We've had some unfortunate luck, and some things you just can't control, but we just have to get it done with our backups." The Vikings now have three on the threshold of the 70-win plateau in Ryan Hurley (69) Marcus Effner (69) and Rashard Goff (66). Suprisingly none of those three lead the team in wins, as it is freshman Robbie Michaels (23-4) holds that distinction. Michaels has been inactive the last couple weeks as he recovers from a sudden illness. The team has struggled in his absence, going 1-4 in dual meets since the wrestler was held out of the lineup against Eastern Michigan (1/13). Swimming To Host UIC & Youngstown State. . . The men's and women's swimming and diving teams are at home this weekend as the men host UIC and the women host UIC as well as Youngstown State. The Saturday, Feb. 2 meet will begin with diving events at 12:00 p.m. followed by swimming events at 1:00 p.m. at Busbey Natatorium. This past weekend the teams swept Niagara in a home meet on Saturday, Jan. 26. The women's team won 10 of 13 events while the men's team did the same in the impressive Alumni Day victories. The women won 132-95, while the men won 137-89. "Overall, we are very pleased with the effort," head coach Wally Morton said, "We have a long way to go, but we are making progress. We are in good position right now as we begin to taper down our training in preparation for the league championship." The swimmer of the meet for Coach Morton was Dave Duecker, who swam a blistering 4:01.96 in the 400 yd IM to win the event. Also performing well for the men was Khaled Elgamal, who won both the 1,650 free (16:55.50) and 500 free (4:52.51). Elgamal's 1,650 time was a personal best, and he swam well despite having been sick in the week leading up to the meet. Freshman Deni Gasparin was also close to a season best while winning the 100 breaststroke (56.82). On the women's side, a total team effort led to the win for the Vikings. Lesley Jones, Kristine Bunker, and Katie Bellew each had a hand in winning three different events to lead the team. Jones won the 50 free (25.02) and 100 free (54.40) and swam on the winning 200 medley relay team. Bunker won the 400 IM (4:53.69) and swam on the winning 200 medley and 200 free relay teams. Bellew won the 100 fly (1:00.98) and 100 breast (1:09.32) as well as contributing to the winning 200 medley relay team, which also featured Alex Bagi. "It was just a great team victory for our women's team," Morton said, "What I liked best about today is how the women supported each other and cheered each other on." Men's Tennis Heads To New York. . . The Cleveland State men's tennis team (2-2) will travel to New York for matches against St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m. and Niagara on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings evened out their record after defeating Xavier 4-3 in a very close match on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 26). Senior Brad Groleski clinched the victory during the last match with a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Mike Dieciuc at No. 6 singles. "We started off in the hole down 2-0 against Xavier," head coach Brian Etzkin said. "We tried not to panic, and Ryan and Phil got us back into it. Brad finished the job for us and picked up a big win." Women's Tennis Visits St. Bonaventure & Niagara. . . The Cleveland State women's tennis team (1-2) heads to New York with the men's team to play St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m. and Niagara on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings lost a tight match against Toledo, falling 4-3 on Sunday, Jan. 27. Freshman Melissa Holzinger (4-10) notched her first dual match victory of her collegiate career, defeating Maha Guirguis 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Sophomore Charlotte Gibbons moved to a 2-1 record this spring with 0000000a 7-6 (4), 6-0 win over Sarah Horning at No. 6 singles. "We lost to Toledo 7-0 last season," head coach Brian Etzkin said. " To get the match 4-3 shows the tremendous improvement of our team." Fencing Teams To Compete At Northwestern Duals. . . The Cleveland State men's and women's fencing teams are back in action this weekend when they compete at the Northwestern Duals on Saturday (Feb. 2) and Sunday (Feb. 3). "This will be a grueling two days for us as we will face a lot of good competition," head coach Jim Sager said. "We were a little rusty last week because we had a limited number of practices after the holiday break. Hopefully with a competition and some more practices under our belt, we will be able to earn some wins this weekend." The Vikings took part in their first event of the spring semester at the Penn State Duals on Saturday, Jan. 26. The men's team posted a 1-4 mark, defeating Haverford, while the women's squad went 0-5 against a talented field. Liran Gross paced the men's squad by going 9-4 to improve his season record to 43-6. Shawn Wright also performed well, finishing the day 8-6 with the epee. Viking High Fives Kailey Klein: The sophomore women's basketball standout recorded her first career double-double Saturday, finishing with 30 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in a win over Youngstown State. Jackie Tabb: The Viking freshman was named Horizon League women's tennis athlete of the week after going 1-1 at No. 2 singles and teaming with sophomore Charlotte Gibbons to win at No.1 doubles at Michigan State. Liran Gross: The sophomore fencer improved his overall record to 43-6 this season by going 9-4 at the challenging Penn State Duals on Saturday. Breyohn Watson: The former walkon has emerged as the perimeter stopper for the men's basketball team, being assigned to defend the opponents top scoring guard. The Schedule Ahead For The Vikings Jan. 31 (Thursday) Men's Basketball at UIC Feb. 1 (Friday) Feb. 2 (Saturday) Wrestling at Bloomsburg Men's Swimming host UIC Women's Swimming hosts UIC & YSU Women's Basketball at Valparaiso Women's Tennis at St. Bonaventure Men's Tennis at St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball at Loyola Feb. 3 (Sunday) Women's Tennis at Niagara Men's Tennis at Niagara
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