Barbosa, Everhart to Play Home Finale Friday Against Cleveland State
11/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Youngstown -- The Youngstown
State volleyball team will host in-state rival Cleveland State on
Friday at 7 p.m. at the Beeghly Center in the regular-season finale
for both teams.
YSU seniors Ebony Barbosa and Karla
Everhart will be honored prior to the match in what will be their
final home contest.
YSU enters the match coming off a solid
effort last weekend on its Wisconsin road trip. The Penguins beat
Green Bay in straight sets for their first-ever sweep of a Horizon
League opponent on the road. YSU then took league-leading Milwaukee
to four games, and it controlled the serve when the score was tied
23-23 and 24-24 in game four before falling 26-24.
Cleveland State also split its Wisconsin
swing, sweeping Green Bay and falling in straight sets to
Milwaukee. The Vikings have won three of their last five they had
dropped four straight. Cleveland State won the league title last
season and was picked to repeat in the preseason coaches poll. CSU
is currently sixth in the standings with a 6-9 league record while
YSU sits ninth at 4-11.
The Penguins will compete in the Horizon
League Volleyball Championship in Cleveland next week. Seedings and
match times will be released after this weekend's matches.
Barbosa, Everhart Nearing End at YSU
Barbosa and Everhart have been
anchors for the Penguins in their four seasons, combing to appear
in 738 sets. They have led YSU to nine conference wins the past two
seasons after the program had four victories in the previous six
years. Barbosa has 1,034 digs and 962 kills in her career, and she
has posted 11 double-doubles this season. Everhart ranks fourth in
YSU history with 3,263 assists, and she's one of four setters in
school history with at least 900 digs.
Last Time Versus Cleveland State
Cleveland State worked around 11
Youngstown State blocks to defeat the Penguins in straight sets
earlier this year on Oct. 7. Barbosa and Ruth Boscaljon had nine
kills apiece to lead YSU. Beth Greulich had 16 kills for CSU while
Kayla Lefeld had 12. The Vikings have won 16 straight matches in
the series dating back to Sept. 29, 2001. YSU's four-set win that
night was its first in the Horizon League.
Strong Service Effort Helps at Green
Bay
The Penguins had their best overall
performance in serving and serve receiving against Green Bay last
Friday. YSU had 10 aces against the Phoenix, which was the
second-most of the season regardless of the number of sets and the
most for a three-set match by three. The Penguins also had a
season-best .982 reception percentage. YSU also had 11 aces against
Butler on Nov. 1, which was the match right before Green Bay. Other
than the Green Bay and Butler matches, YSU has not had more than
seven aces in a match.
Offense Awakens in Milwaukee
YSU had its best offensive performance in
nearly a month against Milwaukee on Saturday. The Penguins hit .229
as a team, which was its best since a .289 effort against Green Bay
on Oct. 12. The 53 kills were also the second-most for a four-set
match, trailing only the 55-kill performance against the Phoenix in
October.
O'Hara Ties Career-High in
Milwaukee
Kaitlin O'Hara tied a career-high
with 16 kills against Milwaukee on Saturday. She also hit .394,
which was her third-highest percentage of the season. She has
accumulated more than 10 kills in two of the past three matches
after reaching double figures five times in the first 23 matches.
O'Hara currently ranks third on the team with 198 kills this
season, which is a career-high.
Reid Leads Offense
Redshirt freshman Tasha Reid had
17 kills and hit a team-best .277 in the two matches last weekend.
She had eight kills against one error in 21 attempts for a .333
percentage in YSU's sweep of Green Bay on Friday. Reid also
had four of her five blocks during the weekend against the Phoenix.
She then had nine kills and hit .231 against Milwaukee on
Saturday.
Barbosa Shores Up Defense
Barbosa posted 26 digs, which
ranked second on the team, and was solid in serve receiving in two
matches last weekend. She had double-doubles in digs and kills in
both matches, with 10 kills and 16 digs against the Phoenix and 11
kills and 10 digs against the Panthers. Her .948 reception
percentage was nearly 20 points higher than her percentage entering
the weekend. Barbosa also added three blocks.
