Volleyball Returns Home to Face Green Bay, Milwaukee This Weekend

Youngstown State vs. Green Bay, Milwaukee
Match 1	Friday, Oct. 21 \| 6 p.m. \| Youngstown, Ohio
Opponent & Coverage	vs. Green Bay - ESPN+ \| International Stream \| Live Stats
Match 2	Saturday, Oct. 22 \| 4 p.m. \| Youngstown, Ohio
Opponent & Coverage	vs. Milwaukee - ESPN+ \| International Stream \| Live Stats
Live Tweets	@YSUVolleyball
Hash Tags	#GoGuins \| #HLVB
Mobile App	iOS Download \| Android Download

The Youngstown State volleyball team will welcome the Horizon League's two Wisconsin teams to Beeghly Center this weekend as it continues the second half of conference play. The Penguins will host Green Bay on Friday at 6 p.m., and they'll take on Milwaukee on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+ as well as the new Penguins All-Access platform for international viewers. For more information on the international stream, CLICK HERE. Live stats will also be available through SIDEARM Sports through links on the YSU volleyball schedule.

The Penguins are coming off a big come-from-behind win over Oakland on Tuesday evening in which they trailed 2-0 and faced five match points in the third set. Youngstown State also trailed by five points twice in the fifth set but rallied to win 15-12 in the set and 3-2 in the match. It was the Penguins' first Horizon League road victory of the season, and they'll need several more in the second half of the conference slate if they want to qualify for the Horizon League Championship. In its eight remaining matches, Youngstown State will host the teams that currently occupy the top four positions in the league standings, and it will travel to face four teams that are currently in the bottom six.

Fan Information

Gameday Guide

There will be free admission to both matches this weekend.
There will be a key chain giveaway for Friday evening's volleyball match against Green Bay.
Saturday's match will be YSU's Breast Cancer Awareness Match, and fans are encouraged to wear pink. Fans will also receive a Chick-fil-A sandwich gift card.

Recapping the Road Trip

Youngstown State went 1-2 on its three-match road stretch that began at Wright State on Friday and continued to Oakland on Tuesday. The Penguins were swept by the league-leading Raiders in Dayton, and they dropped a tough five-set decision at Northern Kentucky on Saturday. They were down 2-0 at Oakland but rallied to beat the Golden Grizzlies 3-2 to earn an important road victory.
In the win over Oakland, the Penguins fought off five match points in the third set and prevailed 31-29. YSU then trailed 7-2 and 9-4 in the fifth set before rallying to win 15-12.
Josi Borum notched back-to-back double-doubles last week in the five-set matches against Northern Kentucky and Oakland. She had 15 kills, a season-high 31 assists, and 13 digs at NKU, and she posted 12 kills, 23 assists and 18 digs at Oakland. Borum is up to eight triple-doubles this season, which is twice as many as any other Division I player.
Kiyah Franklin tied her season and career high with 11 kills in the win at Oakland. She hit .304 in the match and added four blocks, which was one shy of her career high.
Paula Gursching had another historic effort in YSU's five-setter at Northern Kentucky on Saturday. She broke single-match school records, regardless of length or format, with 35 kills and 87 attempts. The 35 kills also tied for the most ever in a match by a Horizon League player since rally scoring was instituted in 2001. Cleveland State's Kara Koch also had 35 in a match in 2011. The 35 kills are tied for the third-most by any Division I player this season.
In the first 47 seasons of YSU volleyball, there were three matches in which a Penguin had at least 30 kills. Gursching has had 30-plus three times in her last six matches. Gursching and Delaware's Lani Mason are the only two Division I players to have multiple 30-kill matches this season.
Abbie Housholder reached double digits in digs in all three matches on the road last week. She had 13 at Wright State, 10 at Northern Kentucky and 13 at Oakland. The freshman added five kills, two aces and three blocks against the Golden Grizzlies.
Dayan Malave had a big night against Oakland with seven kills in 12 attempts without an attack error, and she added five blocks. Three of those blocks came in the fifth set as YSU rallied from a pair of five-point deficits in the set.
Isabel Schaefbuaer had her highest two assist totals of the season last week with 31 at NKU and 30 at Oakland. She added 15 digs against the Norse for her seventh double-double of 2022.
Isidora Sisic notched 20 digs in back-to-back matches at Northern Kentucky and Oakland. She had a season-high 29 at NKU, and she added 23 against the Golden Grizzlies. It was the first time this season she had consecutive matches with at least 20 digs.

News & Notes

Youngstown State is averaging 1.08 more kills, 1.01 more assists, 0.27 more digs and 0.47 more blocks per set than in 2021. Additionally, the Penguins are hitting .219 as a team, up from .181 in 2021. They have their most kills and assists per set since 2014, their best blocking average since 2017, and their best attack percentage since 1999.
Josi Borum has twice as many triple-doubles as any other Division I player in the country this season with eight. She has 13 in her career, nine as a Penguin and four as a freshman at Chicago State, which is the second most among all active Division I players. Morgan Ilsley, a senior at Division III Huntingdon College in Alabama, is the only player in the NCAA regardless of division with more triple-doubles than Borum in 2022. Before this season, there were only three triple-doubles in program history.
Paula Gursching has 415 kills so far this season, which is already 54 more than Ruth Boscaljon's previous school record for kills by a sophomore of 361 in 2007. With at least eight matches remaining on Youngstown State's schedule, Gursching's total is the seventh-most in school history and just 15 off of her total from 2021. Her total of 415 as a freshman was the third-best mark in school history. The top two kills totals are 513 by Amy Hermann in 1998 and 468 by Heather Luben in 1996. Both of those top two were both achieved before rally scoring.
Gursching is averaging 5.00 kills per set in 2022. The current school record is 4.62 by Amy Hermann in 1998.
Gursching ranks second in the country in total kills (415) and total points (468.0) behind South Dakota's Elizabeth Juhnke. Gursching leads the nation with 1,038 total attacks. In per-set averages, Gursching is sixth in points per set, seventh in kills per set and ninth in attacks per set.

Milestone Watch

Josi Borum needs 65 assists to become the 13th player to reach 1,000 career assists as a Penguin. Borum had 440 assists as a freshman at Chicago State, meaning she has already reached 1,000 in her personal career.
Isabel Schaefbauer needs three assists to reach 800 for her collegiate career, which includes two previous seasons at Winthrop.

Scouting the Opponents

Green Bay

Green Bay is 17-7 overall and 8-2 in Horizon League play entering this week. The Phoenix is tied for the highest overall win total in the conference, and they are second in the standings with their 8-2 league mark. Green Bay is coming off a four-match homestand in which it won its last three matches.
Green Bay leads the Horizon League in hitting percentage (.252) and opponent hitting percentage (.167), and it ranks second in assists (12.45) and kills (13.24) per set. It is in the top half of every statistical category except digs, which it ranks seventh in.
Individually, Tiffany Paalman paces the league in hitting percentage at .371, and she is fourth in blocks per set with 1.11. Alexandra Zakutney is the top attacker with 3.32 kills per set, and setter Calli Gentry ranks second in the conference with 10 assists per set.

Milwaukee

Milwaukee enters this week with a 7-14 overall record and a 6-4 mark against conference opponents, which puts the Panthers fourth in the league standings. UWM is 5-0 at home in league play but 1-4 on the road.
The Panthers rank second in the Horizon League in hitting percentage at .223, but opponents are hitting .259 against them. Milwaukee is also fourth in the conference with 12.37 kills per set and fifth in blocks with 1.97 per set.
Individually, Ari Miller leads Milwaukee with 3.17 kills per set, 0.99 blocks per set and a .343 hitting percentage. All three of those rank among the top seven in the Horizon League.
Milwaukee will play at Robert Morris on Friday before coming to Youngstown.

Up Next

Youngstown State will travel to Indiana to begin a string of four-match road matches that will play a major factor in whether or not the Penguins qualify for the Horizon League Championship. The Penguins will play at Purdue Fort Wayne on Oct. 28 at 6 p.m., and they'll play at IUPUI on Oct. 29 at 4 p.m.