By China Goodson
The Youngstown State University volleyball team struggled to come away with victories on the beginning of its road trip. The team fell to Wright State University Oct. 14. and Northern Kentucky University Oct. 15.
The Penguins quickly fell in three straight sets to Wright State University at C.J. McLin Gymnasium. The set scores were 25-13, 25-22, and 25-15.
Sophomore Paula Gursching led the team with 10 kills, but the Raiders locked Gursching down, forcing her into 10 attack errors.
Head coach Aline Scott said she knew their opponents would lock in on Gursching.
“Everyone’s going to just focus on Paula in our conference. Everyone preps to play against her so we knew that, but the issue had nothing to do with Paula, we just couldn’t pass the ball. It had less to do with her hitting and more to do with our passing.” Scott said.
Senior Josi Borum and freshman Abbie Householder both had six kills and Householder posted a team-high of 13 digs.
The Penguins fought hard, but it wasn’t enough to bring down the Raiders in the evening match Oct. 14.
The team traveled to Northern Kentucky Oct. 15 where the Penguins gave their all, but dropped a close match in five sets.
Despite the loss, there were some Penguins with stellar performances.
Scott explained the impact Gursching and Borum had on the team while on the road trip.
“Gursching certainly was the workhorse for us on Saturday and put the team on her back and got us to the fifth set. Josi Borum does so much for us between setting and hitting and she plays incredible defense. Those two tend to carry a lot of the load for us,” Scott said.
Gursching broke her own record from last week with 31 kills. During these games, she set two more school records with 35 kills on 87 attempts.
Borum commented on what the team needed to do prior to playing Oakland University.
“I think we have to learn and let go and take it forward with all that we learned from these past two weeks and that’ll kind of help us tomorrow because we know what we need to do and since we played Oakland once, we already have a better understanding of what to do,” Borum said.
Borum continues to lead Division I after posting her seventh triple-double of the season with 15 kills, 31 assists and 13 digs.
Borum shared her excitement on her triple-double accolade.
“It feels awesome, it’s really cool.” Borum said. “Hopefully we get some more and I’m just happy to have teammates who help me.”
Senior Isidora Sisic performed a career-best in the loss against NKU.
Sophomore Isabel Schaefbauer contributed to the Penguins effort with 31 assists and 15 digs.
The volleyball team ended its three-match road trip with a victory at Oakland University Oct. 18. For more on this match, visit ysusports.com.
The volleyball team will return home to Beeghly Center for two matches this weekend. The Penguins will first take on University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Oct. 21 at 6 p.m., and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Oct 22 at 4 p.m. Tune in on ESPN+ and for live stats visit ysuports.com.