By Marissa Masano
The Youngstown State University women’s volleyball team continued its Horizon League schedule against Cleveland State University, Oakland University and Northern Kentucky University. The ‘Guins entered the matchups 7-14 overall and 2-8 in conference play.
The Penguins played Cleveland State on Oct. 20 in the Beeghly Center. The team fell to the Vikings in four sets.
In the first set, the Penguins held a 7-0 lead and a 14-9 advantage. However, Cleveland State rallied, took the lead, 20-16, and won the set by a score of 25-21.
The Penguins trailed the entire second set. CSU won 25-22 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The ‘Guins took the third set, 25-15, to extend the match. Sophomore Abbie Householder had three aces during the set.
In the fourth set, the Penguins and Vikings were knotted at 20 apiece until CSU had a kill to take a 21-20 advantage. The Vikings went on to take the fourth set, 25-20.
The Penguins had fewer errors than the Vikings and out-hit them 148-140. The Penguins led in blocks, accumulating 10.
Freshman Gabriela Machin led the team with 10 kills and five blocks. Senior Malave Dayan led the team with five blocks.
Senior Elise Moeller, who had been sidelined with an injury since Sept. 2, returned for the team and had nine kills and 10 digs.
Graduate student Josi Borum led the team in assists with 20, finishing with 10 digs and eight kills.
Householder led the team with a match-high 24 digs. Householder also led the team in aces with four. Three of her four aces occurred at the start of the third set.
Youngstown State hosted Oakland on Oct. 21 in the Beeghly Center in the next Horizon League match. The Golden Grizzlies swept the Penguins with scores of 25-20, 25-19 and 25-15.
Oakland held the Penguins to a .088 hitting percentage and led the match in kills, attempts, assists and aces.
In the first set, the Penguins got within a one-point margin of the Golden Grizzlies but fell after Oakland went on a 6-2 scoring run.
In the second set, Oakland scored seven of the final 10 points to win 25-19, and in the third, it went on a 10-3 run to close out the matchup.
Junior Jazmin Vergara had a match-high 11 kills and posted two blocks and six digs.
Borum had a match-best 19 assists and led the team in aces. The graduate student also posted six digs and five kills.
Freshman Maria Insana led all players with 14 digs. Insana also posted an assist.
Sophomore Julia Sell led the team in blocks with five.
The lady ‘Guins traveled to Regents Hall on the campus of Northern Kentucky on Oct. 24, where the Penguins were defeated by the Norse 3 sets to 2.
The Norse took the first and second sets, but YSU was able to take the third and fourth sets. Even though the ‘Guins could force a fifth set, they were defeated by a score of 13-15.
The Norse led in aces, 13-1, and blocks, 12-8. Youngstown had more kills, assists and digs. The team also accumulated more errors than Northern Kentucky. Nine of these errors came in the second set.
Householder led the team in kills, aces and digs. She recorded 17 kills, one ace and 18 digs. Senior Isabel Schaefbauer had a match-best 30 assists, and Sell led the team in blocks with six.
After the conclusion of these games, Sell ranks fourth in blocks in the Horizon League. Householder is 14th in points, 16th in digs and 16th in kills in the Horizon League.
The team ranks fourth in blocks and sixth in digs in the conference. The ‘Guins have a 2-11 conference record and sit 10th in the standings.
Youngstown will stay on the road as it plays the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Oct. 27 and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on Oct. 28.
To watch the games, check out ESPN+ and for stats, highlights and more visit ysusports.com.