By Cameron Stubbs
The Youngstown State University volleyball team continued its homestand against two opponents over the weekend.
The first match was against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, where the Penguins fell in five sets.
YSU was led by sophomore Paula Gursching who tallied a career-high 31 kills to lead all scorers.
Senior Josi Borum contributed to the effort with eight kills and a match-high 28 assists.
The team is in the midst of a six-game losing streak and Borum commented on the team’s mistakes over that stretch.
“It’s the biggest thing,” Borum said. “If we aren’t communicating then all is lost, and I think when we are communicating and we all are telling each other we got this, that’s when things start to look up.”
Things looked up the next day as the Penguins swept Purdue University Fort Wayne in three sets to earn their first conference win.
The Penguins were led by Gursching and Borum who both recorded double-doubles versus the Mastodons.
Gursching had 20 kills with 11 digs, while Borum had 18 assists with 11 digs.
Head coach Aline Scott is relieved to see the team back in the win column.
“We need that win.” Scott said. “We had been playing well and not able to finish matches, we haven’t gotten the win even though we had the numbers.”
This win ended the six-game losing streak by the Penguins and eclipsed last year’s win total of six, taking 17 matches to do so instead of 26 matches a year ago.
Gursching was named Horizon League Player-of-the-Week for the third time this season and the fifth time in her career. She leads the Horizon League with 4.47 kills per set.
Scott also commented on Gursching’s latest accomplishment.
“Her [Gursching’s] numbers are incredible and I think she deserves it every week,” Scott said. “No ones putting up numbers like she is, she’s so [consistent], her error ratio is so low, she deserves every bit of recognition that she can get.”
The last game of this homestand will be against Robert Morris University on Oct. 8. Catch the game on ESPN+ and live stats on ysusports.com
