A Look at the Week Ahead for Cleveland State Sports Teams

A LOOK AT WHAT’S HAPPENING

MEN’S BASKETBALL
•    Cleveland State (6-13, 1-5 HL) hosts two games this week, begnning with a 7:00 pm contest vs. UIC on Monday (Jan. 18). The Vikings also host Youngstown State at 1:00 pm on Sunday (Jan. 24) at Quicken Loans Arena.
•    CSU split a pair of road games last week, falling at Wright State on Thursday and winning at Northern Kentucky, 70-65, on Saturday. The Vikings rallied from an eight point second half deficit with a 23-5 run to take a 10-point lead with three minutes left in the win.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
•    Cleveland State will return to the road this week, traveling to Valparaiso (Thursday, Jan. 21 at 8:00 pm ET) and UIC (Saturday, Jan. 23 at 6:00 pm ET) to continue Horizon League play.
•    The Vikings picked up their first Horizon League win of the season on Saturday, defeating Youngstown State, 75-68. CSU is now 4-11 overall this season.
•    Junior Alexis Eckles, who recently returned to action after a preseason injury, is just six blocked shots shy of cracking the top-10 on the Cleveland State career list, entering the week with 51 blocks.

MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
•     Cleveland State will take a week off from competition, returning to the pool on Saturday, January 30 when the Vikings travel to Oakland for a dual meet.
•    Last time out, the Vikings picked up a pair of Horizon League dual meet victories, defeating UIC (172-128) and Wright State (176-124).     Philipp Sikatzki led the Vikings with five first place finishes throughout the two meets, while Tommi Wolst picked up four victories. On the diving board, Danny Roberts won three out of the four events.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING
•     The Vikings will be away from the pool for a week, returning to action with a dual meet at Oakland on Saturday, January 30.
•    Last weekend Cleveland State returned to action after the holiday break, competing against UIC and Wright State in a pair of Horizon League dual meets. Molly McNamara, Tori Taffner, and Claudia Zido each picked up a pair of first place finishes last weekend, while Sammie Sposet picked up one victory.

MEN’S TENNIS
•     Cleveland State will begin the spring portion of its 2015-16 schedule this weekend, hosting Duquesne (11:00 a.m.) and Tiffin (7:00 p.m.) on Saturday, January 23. Both matches will be played at Mayfield Village Racquet Club.
•    Construction continues on Cleveland State’s new on-campus indoor home – the Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion – with completion slated for early spring.
•    Entering the spring season, 14-year head coach Brian Etzkin owns a dual match record of 193-130 – seven wins shy of becoming just the second active Horizon League men’s tennis coach to eclipse 200 wins.

WOMEN’S TENNIS
•     The Vikings will begin their spring season this weekend, hosting Toledo on Friday, January 22 (7:00 p.m.) and Duquesne on Saturday, January 23 (3:00 p.m.). Friday’s match will be played at Paramount Tennis Club, while Saturday’s match will take place at Mayfield Village Racquet Club.
•    Entering the spring season, Mathilde Orange (44 wins), Princess Gbadamosi (41), and Victoria Bensimon (40) all have the possibility of joining the 50-win club in singles play.

WRESTLING
•    CSU (5-4, 1-1 EWL) is in action two times this weekend, traveling to Clarion for a 7:00 pm match on Friday (Jan. 22) and hosting Rider for a 12:00 pm dual on Sunday (Jan. 24).
•    The Vikings defeated George Mason, 21-16, in an EWL dual on Saturday afternoon.
•    Trailing 16-14, the Vikings received an 11-0 win at 174 pounds from Gabe Stark and Xavier Dye clinched the win with a 6-1 victory at 184 pounds in his first dual match of the season after returning from shoulder surgery.

VIKING OF THE WEEK

Xavier Dye, Wrestling, Senior, McClure, Ohio

Competing in his first dual since shoulder surgery, Dye clinched CSU’s win over George Mason on Saturday with a 6-1 victory at 184 pounds. The Vikings held a slim 18-16 lead heading into the winner-take-all final match and Dye scored four points in the final period to lift the Vikings to their first EWL win of the season.

OTHER TOP PEROFRMERS

Ashanti Abshaw: The women’s basketball freshman scored a career-high 23 points with 10 rebounds to lead CSU past Youngstown State on Saturday.

Kenny Carpenter: The men’s basketball sophomore came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points in Saturday’s win at Northern Kentucky.

Philipp Sikatzki: The junior men’s swimmer had five first place finishes over two duals last weekend and also had a part in three winning relays.

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE

MONDAY, JANUARY 18
Men’s Basketball hosts UIC, 7:00 pm

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
Women’s Basketball at Valparaiso, 8:00 pm

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22
Women’s Tennis hosts Toledo, 7:00 pm
Wrestling at Clarion, 7:00 pm

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23
Men’s Tennis hosts Duquesne, 11:00 am
Women’s Tennis hosts Duquesne, 3:00 pm
Women’s Basketball at UIC, 6:00 pm
Men’s Tennis hosts Tiffin, 7:00 pm

SUNDAY, JANUARY 24
Wrestling hosts Rider, 12:00 pm
Men’s Basketball hosts Youngstown St, 1:00 pm
at Quicken Loans Arena