Volleyball Wraps Up Home Stand Saturday Against Milwaukee
9/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Youngstown State volleyball team will conclude its three-match home stand this Saturday when it welcomes Milwaukee to Beeghly Center for a Horizon League contest starting at 2 p.m. Live video and live stats for the match will be available on YSUsports.com
The Penguins will be looking to win their first conference match while Milwaukee, the preseason favorite to win the conference title, will attempt to stay atop the Horizon League standings. Milwaukee will play Cleveland State on Friday in a battle of unbeaten teams.
Youngstown State will be coming off of a week-long break between matches. YSU's last match was a 3-0 loss to Cleveland State on Sept. 23 in which it was competitive in two of the three sets. The Penguins lost the first set 25-22 and the third 25-20, but they dropped the middle set 25-11. Sophomore Missy Hundelt, who was inactive for the previous two weeks, returned to have a team-high nine kills. Classmate Jackie Carlisle added eight terminations, and setter Casey D'Ambrose added 12 digs. YSU started its home stand with a four-set loss to Robert Morris.
Even though the Penguins are 1-14 at the midpoint of the season, they have been much more competitive than in 2010. They have already won two more sets than they did in all of last season, and five of their losses have come in five sets. Individually, the Penguins have four sophomores who rank in or near the league's top 10 in several categories. Hundelt is fourth in the conference in both kills and aces per set with 3.65 and 0.41 averages, respectively. Erika West ranks seventh in the league with 3.62 digs per set, and Casey D'Ambrose ranks eighth with 9.03 assists per set. Jackie Carlisle is one kill shy of ranking ninth in kills per set.
Following Saturday's match, Youngstown State will play four conference road matches in a six-day span. The Penguins will start the stretch at Loyola on Oct. 4 and conclude it on Oct. 9 at Valparaiso.
Scouting Milwaukee: Milwaukee has opened the Horizon League season with four straight victories at home, which improved its overall record to 11-4. The Panthers hit .335 last weekend in sweeps over Butler and Wright State, and they are hitting .211 as a team for the season while leading the conference in kills per set. Sophomore Rachel Neuberger is hitting a league-best .357 and ranks third in blocks per set. Defending league player of the year Kerri Schuh ranks third in the league in kills per set, and she is one of five returning starters from Milwaukee's 2010 team
