The Youngstown State volleyball team got 20 kills and a double-double performance from sophomore Paula Gursching as it swept Purdue Fort Wayne 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 25-22, 25-22, 27-25.

Gursching's 20 kills came in 37 attempts, and she had just four errors to hit .432 from the outside hitter position. She also had a match-high four aces to account for 24 of Youngstown State's 60 points, and she added 11 digs for a double-double. Josi Borum also had a double-double with 18 assists and 12 digs, Isabel Schaefabuer matched her with 18 of her own assists, and Dayan Malave had five kills and four bocks.

Iris Riegel led Purdue Fort Wayne with 10 kills.

Youngstown State snapped a six-match skid in which it had at least a one-set lead in five of the losses. The Penguins are now 7-10 overall to surpass their overall win total from 2021, and they earned their first Horizon League victory. The Mastodons dropped to 5-11 overall and 1-4 against the conference.

Gursching had eight kills in 11 swings in the opening set, and she had two of those kills during a 5-1 Penguins run to end the set at 25-22. Youngstown State then scored seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead in the second set and went on to win 25-20 for a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Penguins were also ahead 2-0 on Friday evening against IUPUI in an eventual five-set loss to the Jaguars, but they found a way to prevail in the deciding moments on Saturday. The Mastodons led 23-21 in the third set after a Riegel kill, but Gursching and Borum responded with consecutive kills out of a timeout to tie the set. Gursching then had an ace to give YSU its first of three match points at 24-23, and the Penguins finished the set at 27-25 after a Purdue Fort Wayne attack error.

Elise Moeller, who made her first start in nearly a month, came up big with five of her season-best 10 kills in the third set. Moeller added an ace, four digs and two blocks.

For Gursching, she finished a weekend in which her dominance continued to be on display. In the two matches against IUPUI and Purdue Fort Wayne, Gursching had 51 kills on 103 attempts while hitting .388. The sophomore from Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany, is averaging more than one kill more per set than any other player in the Horizon League.

Youngstown State will complete its four-match homestand on Friday as it hosts Robert Morris at 6 p.m.