Volleyball Takes Unbeaten Mark to Cornell This Weekend

The Youngstown State volleyball team will try to carry momentum from its undefeated start to the season onto the road this weekend for its first away matches of the campaign. The Penguins will play Niagara at noon and Cornell at 7 pm. on Friday at the Cornell Invitational, and they will finish the round-robin tournament in Ithica, N.Y., against Hartford on Saturday at 1 p.m. All three of YSU's matches will be streamed live on ESPN+, and live stats will be available through cornellbigred.com.

Youngstown State at Cornell Invitational
Match 1: Friday, Sept. 6	vs. Niagara @ Noon - Live Video \| Live Stats
Match 2: Friday, Sept. 6	at Cornell @ 7 p.m. - Live Video \| Live Stats
Match 3: Saturday, Sept. 7	vs. Hartford @ 1 p.m. - Live Video \| Live Stats
Live Tweets	@YSUVolleyball \| @YSUsports \| #HLVB
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Recapping Last Week

Youngstown State lost just two sets in three matches as it went unbeaten at the Penguin Classic to begin the season last weekend. The Penguins earned 3-0 and 3-1 victories over Bucknell on Friday, and they followed that up with a 3-1 win against The Citadel on Saturday to clinch the tournament title at Beeghly Center.
Sophomore right-side hitter Brooklen Pe'a was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after posting at least 11 kills, a .333 attack percentage and nine digs in each match. She notched two double-doubles and set career highs kills and blocks during the tournament. She posted the first two double-doubles of her career with 11 kills and 14 digs versus Saint Francis U and 14 kills and 10 digs against The Citadel.
Senior outside hitter Aleah Hughes and sophomore setter Alexia Byrnes joined Pe'a on the all-tournament team. Hughes matches Pe'a with 3.64 kills per set, and she averaged a team-best 3.55 digs per set. Byrnes averaged 10.09 assists and 3.0 digs during the weekend, and she as the primary setter for a Penguins squad that totaled an impressive .243 attack percentage.
Freshman Bailey Ramlow got the bulk of the work at libero in the opening weekend and averaged 24 digs over eight sets. Fellow freshman Reilly Seagroves started in the win over Bucknell and averaged 2.55 digs per set.

Match-By-Match Summary

Match 1 vs. Saint Francis U | W, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-16) | Recap | Box Score
Match 2 vs. Bucknell | W, 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 18-25, 25-17)| Recap | Box Score
Match 3 vs. The Citadel | W, 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-14) | Recap | Box Score

Previewing the Opponents

Scouting Niagara

Niagara split two matches last weekend in a shortened FAU Invitational. The Purple Eagles were swept by Stetson in the season opener last Friday, and they rebounded to sweep Grambling State. Saturday's scheduled match versus Florida Atlantic was canceled due to the threat of Hurricane Dorian.
Emillie Wright averaged an impressive 6.25 digs per set in the opening weekend, and Mary Redl posted a team-best 16 kills. Two setters averaged at least 3.8 assists per set, and the Purple Eagles blocked 1.67 attacks per set.
Niagara was picked to finish seventh out of 10 teams in the MAAC preseason coaches poll. The Purple Eagles were 9-19 overall and 9-9 in conference play last season behind second-team all-conference outside hitter Caroline Leitch.

Scouting Cornell

Cornell is opening its season this weekend by hosting its invitational. The Big Red was picked third in the Ivy League preseason poll, which is the same spot it finished last season. Cornell was 14-10 overall and 9-5 against conference opponents in 2018.
Cornell returns 16 letter winners from last year's squad, including Second-Team All-Ivy League selections Jenna Phelps, Samanta Arenas and Jillienne Bennett.

Scouting Hartford

Hartford went 1-2 at the George Washington Invitational last weekend, falling to Howard and George Washington in straight sets on Friday and beating American in four on Saturday.
Senior middle blocker Jenna Bridges averaged 4.88 kills and totaled 14 blocks at the tournament to earn America East Player of the Week accolades. Freshman Maddie Lindsay had a strong debut with 46 kills in three matches.
Hartford was picked to finish third in the America East Preseason Poll. The Hawks won 11 matches, its most since 2014, last season and earned a spot in the America East Tournament for the first ime since 1996. Bridges led the conference in hitting percentage, kills per set, blocks per set and points last season to be named the America East Player of the Year.

Up Next

Youngstown State will have its busiest week thus far of 2019 with four matches next week. The Penguins will host Kent State on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and they'll play three matches at the Towson Invitational over the weekend.

News and Notes

Team Horizon League Rankings: Through the first week of the season, Youngstown State leads the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.243), kills per set (13.36) and assists per set (12.82). YSU also ranks in the top three in opponent hitting percentage (.119), aces (1.82 per set) and digs (16.55).

Individual Horizon League Rankings: Alexia Byrnes ranks second in the Horizon League with 10.09 assists per set. Brooklen Pe'a sits third in points per set (4.32), and she is tied-for-fourth in kills per set and sixth in hitting percentage.

Milestones Achieved Last Week

Libbie Darling notched her 500th career assist in the match versus The Citadel. She had 492 assists in 2017 as a true freshman, and she sat out all of 2018 with a knee injury.
Aleah Hughes surpassed 400 career kills and 600 career digs last weekend. She had 273 kills and 391 digs, which were both team highs, as a junior in 2018.
Junior Margaux Thompson posted the 500th kill of her career in the win over Bucknell on Friday.

Milestone Watch

Alexia Byrnes needs five assist to reach 600 in her career
Valor Haggerty needs one block to reach 100 total blocks in her career
Margaux Thompson needs five digs to reach 700 for her career.

Recent Success in Non-Conference Play

Youngstown State has done well getting off to solid starts in non-conference play in recent years. The Penguins have won at least six non-conference matches in seven straight seasons, including winning six in 2018.
The Penguins won six of their first nine matches of the season and went unbeaten in the first weekend at the Bucknell Invitational. This is the third straight season that Youngstown State has won its first three matches.

Home Heavy Schedule

Youngstown State is scheduled to play a school-record 15 home matches in 2019. The previous high was 13 in 2013 and 1990.
In addition to playing all eight Horizon League teams at Beeghly Center, YSU will have six home matches as part of two tournaments and another non-conference contest against Kent State in 2019. Youngstown State is hosting two non-conference tournaments for the first time in program history in 2019. YSU last hosted a similar four-team tournament in 2017.

Hughes Was Impact Player In Return

Aleah Hughes returned after a year away from volleyball and made a major impact on the program in 2018. She led the team with 2.70 kills and 3.87 digs per set, becoming the first Penguin to lead the team in both kills and digs per set since Colleen Royer in 2003.
Hughes was the only player in the Horizon League to lead her team in both kills and digs per set, and she was also the only player it the conference to rank in the top 10 in both categories.
One of the highlights of Hughes' season was when she posted 20 kills and 21 digs in a four-set match at Kent State on Aug. 28. It was the first time that a Penguin registered at least 20 kills and 20 digs in a match since Jessica Fraley did it in 2007.

Thompson's Impressive First Two Years

Outside hitter Margaux Thompson entered her junior year with career totals of 495 kills and 672 digs. Only two Penguins (Jill Raslevich and Erika West) had more digs in their first two years, and just five (Ruth Boscaljon, Sam Brown, Missy Hundelt, Vickie Robinson and Lori Vanbeek) had more kills than Thompson.
Thompson posted 247 kills and 312 digs as a freshman in 2017, and she followed that up with 248 kills and 360 digs in 2018. She led YSU with 15 double-doubles last season, and 10 of those came in 13 non-conference matches. Thompson played primarily in a defensive role in the opening weekend as she battles an injury. She posted 23 digs and six kills in 11 sets in the three YSU wins.

Penguins Earn Academic Awards in 2018

YSU earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award for the 2018-19 season. It was the sixth straight season that the Penguins earned the award for having at least a 3.3 GP. The Penguins posted an impressive 3.551 team GPA in the 2018-19 academic year.
Individually, Aleah Hughes and Erin Kalahar were both named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team. It was the first time since 2014 and just the second time in program history that the Penguins had two honorees on the volleyball academic all-conference team.

New Assistant Coaches Join Scott

In addition to YSU having many new faces expected to contribute on the floor this season, there will also be three new assistant coaches on Aline Scott's staff in 2019.
Destiny Clark joined the staff after spending the 2018 season as an assistant coach at Providence College in the Big East Conference. She was previously a head coach at the Division II level for three seasons at Newman University. Clark replaces Calaeb Campbell, who is now the head coach at Division II Ursuline College, at YSU.
Kajetan Borecki joins the coaching staff after a year as a volunteer assistant coach at Florida. Borecki previously coached at Division II Valdosta State. Canfield native and former College of Wooster volleyball player McKenzie Reese is serving as a volunteer assistant.