Youngstown State University
7-10 (1-2)
Valparaiso
7-10 (1-2)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youngstown State | 25 | 16 | 18 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
| Valparaiso | 17 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 13 | 2 |
Volleyball Rallies for Five-Set Win at Valparaiso
9/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sarah Varcolla posted her first career double-double, and the Youngstown State volleyball team rallied for a five-set victory at Valparaiso on Friday night. The set scores were 25-17, 16-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-13 as the Penguins earned their first Horizon League win.
After winning handily 25-17 in the opening set, the Penguins lost the next two sets and fell behind 23-19 in the fourth. YSU scored the next six points – three of which Varcolla was part of – to even the match, and the Penguins held on to win the fifth set 15-13.
Varcolla had 13 kills and a career-high 10 blocks, and Lori Vanbeek led all players with 16 kills. Sam Brown also had a double-double with 13 kills and 19 digs, and Lauren Blanco posted a match-best 23 digs.
For the match, Youngstown State had eight more kills and seven more blocks, and the Penguins also got help from six ball-handling errors. One of those ball-handling errors came on match point. Valparaiso took advantage of 16 YSU serving errors and 10 blocking errors.
Although YSU won the opening set by eight, there were eight ties and five lead changes early. With the score tied at 9-9, consecutive kills by Vanbeek and Erin Kalahar started a 3-0 run, and the Penguins did not trail again in the set.
After the end of the first set, Valparaiso was ahead or tied until YSU's 6-0 run to close out the fourth. The Crusaders led 23-19 following a YSU attack error when a block by Aleah Hughes and Varcolla kickstarted the Penguins. Varcolla had another block with Valor Haggerty to get cut the deficit to 23-22, and Varcolla's kill tied the set. Brown followed with a kill to put YSU up, and a setting error by Lizzie Zaleski completed the comeback.
YSU scored the first two points in the fifth set before Valpo rallied to go up 8-6. YSU scored the next three points to take a 9-8 lead, and the Penguins used a 3-0 run to go up 12-9. The Crusaders got within one twice, including 14-13 following a serving error, before Zaleski was whistled for a ball-handling error on match point.
Youngstown State will try to sweep the weekend when it plays at Wright State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
