Volleyball SLU Day 1 Recaps - September 2, 2022
The Youngstown State volleyball team dropped a pair of three-set matches on Friday at the Billiken Invitational. The Penguins fell 3-0 to Central Michigan in the morning session, and they dropped a 3-0 decision to host Saint Louis in the evening.
Against the Chippewas, Youngstown State hurt itself with attack errors and serving errors in a 3-0 loss.
The Penguins had 18 attack errors, 11 of which came without a CMU block, and 11 serving errors as they fell 25-20, 25-17, 25-18. Central Michigan added seven aces for 18 points in just aces and YSU's serving errors.
Paula Gursching posted a match-high 10 kills in 28 attempts, and five of those terminations came on 11 swings in the third set. Josi Borum recorded the match's lone double-double with 12 assists and 11 digs, and she added six kills.
Natalia Rejment led Central Michigan with nine kills and two aces, while Aly Gurtiza notched a match-high 15 digs.
The first set had seven ties and five lead changes, and Youngstown State's final lead came at 8-7 on a CMU attack error. The Chippewas scored six of the next seven points, three of which came on two YSU attack errors and a serving error, to take a 13-9 lead. YSU climbed back to within a point three different times, the final time coming on a kill by Elise Moeller that made the score 18-17. Central Michigan had three kills during a four-point run that gave it a 22-17 lead, and YSU got no closer than four the rest of the set.
The Penguins had three more kills than the Chippewas, but YSU also had nine attack errors and three serving errors in the set.
With the score tied at 4-4 in the second set, Central Michigan scored four straight points as part of a 9-2 spurt that gave it a 13-6 lead. The margin grew to 16-8, and it was at least six the rest of the set.
Youngstown State registered its highest attack percentage of the match in the second set at .200, but it had just eight kills on 25 attempts.
YSU scored the first three points of the third set and led 4-1 following Gursching's third kill in the early going. Central Michigan scored nine of the next 11 points to go up 10-6, and it led the rest of the session. YSU made a late run to get back within a point at 18-17, but the Chippewas called timeout and scored four consecutive points as part of a 7-1 run to end the match.
In the evening match that began nine hours after YSU's match against Central Michigan started, Saint Louis was fresh in its first match of the tournament and won behind an aggressive serve. The Billikens, who came into the weekend leading the country in aces, laced a dozen against the Penguins as then won 25-17, 25-13, 25-19.
Gursching tied for match-high honors with eight kills, and Kiyah Franklin had a career-best seven kills in just 10 attempts.
In addition to Saint Louis getting 12 points from aces, it also scored nine points from YSU serving errors. The Billikens also had a 12-point edge in kills as five different SLU players finished with at least five kills.
The teams played within a point of each other in the opening set until SLU took a 12-10 lead on a kill by Emily Henken. That was part of a 6-2 Billiken run that resulted in a 15-12 lead, and YSU got no closer than two the rest of the set. Saint Louis then scored five straight points in the middle of the second set to turn a 7-6 advantage into a 12-6 edge, and it led by at least four through the end of the set.
SLU led 2-1 in the third set, but YSU scored five straight points to take a 6-2 lead on a block by Borum and Dayan Malave. The Penguins led 14-11 later on a Franklin kill, but SLU scored the next three points to tie the score at 14 and eventually reclaimed the lead at 17-16. That was the BIllikens' first lead since it was 2-1.
YSU tied the score at 17 on a bad set, but a Penguin serving error gave SLU a quick sideout. That prompted a 6-0 run for the Billikens that made the score 23-17, and they finished out the match at 25-19.
Youngstown State will take on St. Thomas on Saturday at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available through links on YSUsports.com.
