Box Score
Youngstown State senior volleyball player Shannon Watson had 13 of her career-high 18 kills in the final two sets, and the Penguins rallied to beat UIC in four sets on Friday evening at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 17-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22.
Watson's 18 kills came on a .485 attack percentage, and she tied for match-high honors with six blocks. YSU hit .250 as a team, including .294 over the final three sets. Lexi Egler added 13 kills, and Sam Brown posted 10. Setter Val Jeffery posted 41 assists and seven kills, and Nikki Thompson registered 14 digs.
UIC junior Stephenee Yancy had 23 kills on a .583 attack percentage to lead all players.
"I'm really pleased with how we responded after the first set," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "UIC dictated the pace the first set, and with a player like Yancy, you can't let them dictate the pace. We put more pressure on them from the service line, and our two seniors really stepped up tonight."
The Flames scored 10 of the final 12 points of the first set to pull away for the 25-17 win. YSU answered in the second set with a 25-21 win, which was keyed by a four-point run when the score was tied at 16-16.
Watson had six kills without an error in the third set, and YSU went on a 13-4 run when it got down 10-7. Watson had three kills during that stretch, and she scored the Penguins' final three points of the set on two kills and a solo block of Yancy.
One of Watson's seven kills in the fourth set started a 5-1 run that put the Penguins up 17-14, and they held the lead the rest of the way. Aly Ryan's kill gave YSU its largest lead of the set at 21-17, and Watson added two more kills to finish off the match once UIC climbed to within 22-21.
Brown recorded her 200th dig of the season in the first set. Egler and she are the only two Penguins freshmen in the last 10 years to record both 200 kills and 200 digs.
Youngstown State will host Valparaiso on Saturday at 5 p.m.
