The Youngstown State volleyball team fought late into extra points in the fifth set but had a disappointing result with a 3-2 loss to Cleveland State on Tuesday in the Horizon League opener for both teams. The set scores were 14-25, 25-15, 25-20, 15-25, 18-16.
The Penguins were dominant in the first and fourth sets, but they sputtered in the second and third and had to go five sets for the second straight home match. Youngstown State overcame a 12-8 deficit in the fifth and saved three match points before ultimately falling to the Vikings.
There were several noteworthy individual performances for the Penguins, who had 11 more kills and 11 more digs while hitting 57 points better than their Northeast Ohio opponents. Paula Gursching posted just the second 20-20 match by a Penguin in the last 15 years with 25 kills and 24 digs, and she hit .261 on her 69 attempts. Josi Borum had her second straight triple-double with 11 kills, 29 assists and 12 digs, and Abbie Householder posted 29 digs, which tied for the 10th-most by a YSU player in the rally-scoring format.
Isabel Schaefbauer added 24 digs as the third Penguin with at least 24, and she also had 27 assists. Kiyah Franklin posted 10 kills in 20 attempts with just one error, and Dayan Malave finished with five kills and seven blocks.
Laken Voss was Cleveland State's top attacker with 13 kills in 52 attempts. The Vikings had two more blocks than the Penguins, and the visitors had just one receiving error in 102 chances.
Youngstown State jumped out to an 11-4 lead and cruised to a 25-14 win in the opening set, but Cleveland State flipped the script in the second set and outscored the Penguins 10-4 down the stretch to win 25-15. The Vikings followed with a 25-20 win in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Penguins hit .250, which was their highest mark in the match, in the fourth set to win 25-15 and force the tiebreaker.
Youngstown State led 5-3 in the fifth set following a dig-and-kill from libero Isidora Sisic that forced Cleveland State to call a timeout. Sisic followed with what appeared to be YSU's second ace of the match that would have resulted in a 6-3 lead, but a replay challenge indicated that a premature whistle overruled the shanked pass. Cleveland State won the replay point and went on a three-point spurt to take a 6-5 lead.
YSU had an 8-7 advantage at the midway point following a block by Borum and Malave, but Cleveland State scored the next five points to go up 12-8. With their backs against the wall, the Penguins scored the next four points behind Cameren George's serve to tie the score at 12, but they were never able to regain the lead. Cleveland State had match points at 14-13, 15-14 and 16-15 before Voss and Karly Klaer had back-to-back kills to finish the match at 18-16.
Youngstown State will face its first road challenges in the conference schedule this weekend as it travels to Wisconsin. The Penguins will play at Milwaukee on Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern, and they'll take on Green Bay on Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
