The Youngstown State volleyball team hit .319 and had three players finish with at least nine kills in a sweep of Cleveland State on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament.

Freshman Sam Brown had a match-high 14 kills, and senior Shannon Watson had 12 with three blocks as YSU avenged a four-set loss to the Vikings a week ago in the regular-season finale. Lexi Egler added nine kills and 10 digs, and Val Jeffery had 36 assists and three kills.

Youngstown State, which advances to the semifinals for the second straight season, will play top-seed and tournament host Oakland on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Athletics O'rena.

YSU improved across the board from Friday's loss to Cleveland State. The Penguins upped their hitting percentage by .243, averaged 5.2 more kills per set and, perhaps most importantly, did not allow one Vikings service ace after surrendering nine a week ago.

"I'm really proud of how the team approached this match," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "They were very involved in scouting Cleveland State, and we played with great energy and effort from start to finish. A big key was how well we served and passed the ball. Shannon and Sam both had tremendous performances, and Aly came through with kills at critical times."

The Penguins fought through 15 ties and five lead changes in the opening set, and neither team led by more than a point until Cleveland State went up 14-12. The Vikings led 16-13 after a Christina Toth block, and they still led 18-16 on Maggie Hannon's kill. YSU, though, scored the next three points on a block by Watson and Jeffery, a Nikki Thompson ace and a Jeffery kill, and the Penguins did not trail again. Cleveland State tied the set at 19 and 23 before the Penguins scored the final two points to close it out. CSU's Grace Kauth was whistled for a ball-handling error to give YSU set point, and Jeffery's kill finished it.

YSU trailed just once in the second set, and it was at 1-0, The Penguins scored the next three points to go ahead 3-1, and they did not trail for the rest of the match. Another Jeffery kill put the Penguins up 13-9, and YSU pulled away late by scoring seven of the final eight points of the set. Watson had a kill to start and end the spurt, and she added a solo block of Hannon to set up the set point chance.

Youngstown state opened the third set by scoring the first five points, and Cleveland State got no closer than when the score was 5-2 and 6-3. YSU expanded the lead to 10-3 and went up by double digits for the first time at 15-5 after three straight Vikings attack errors.

Cleveland State hit .385 in the opening set but just .143 in the second and .000 in the third.