The Youngstown State volleyball team had one of its best sets in recent memory to start but couldn't find the same results over the next three as it fell 3-1 to Oakland on Tuesday evening at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 10-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-20.
The Penguins have now dropped five consecutive matches, and they've had a 1-0 lead in four of them. Youngstown State is 6-9 overall and will be looking to win its first Horizon League match this Friday against IUPUI. Oakland improved to 6-10 overall and 2-2 against the conference.
YSU certainly gave a glimpse into its potential in the opening set on Tuesday as it went 11-for-11 on sideout opportunities and hit .609 as a team. The Penguins had 16 kills on just 23 attempts while posting two errors as they cruised to a 25-10 win. After that opening set, YSU struggled with consistency in the serving game and was held to a .162 attack percentage the rest of the match.
Senior setter/right-side hitter Josi Borum posted her fifth triple-double of the season, which leads all Division I players. She finished with 13 kills, 18 assists and 18 digs while posting a .375 attack percentage. Paula Gursching reached the 20-kill plateau for the sixth time in the last seven matches, finishing with 20 on 52 attempts while adding four aces and three blocks. Abbie Householder added 11 kills.
Patti Cesarini led Oakland with 17 kills, and Jessica Riedl posted 12 kills in 20 swings while adding five blocks.
Youngstown State held Oakland to five kills and a negative-.043 attack percentage in the opening set as it went perfect in sideout chances. The Penguins never trailed in the set and jumped out to a 12-3 advantage following Gursching's third kill in the early going. YSU went on to win 25-10, but Oakland flipped the momentum in the second set by outhitting the Penguins .394-.138. YSU was ahead 9-7, but the Golden Grizzlies went on a 10-2 run to go up 17-11. The margin was at least three the rest of the set.
Oakland led 18-11 in the third set after its fifth ace, but the Penguins showed fight by going on a 12-4 run to take a 23-22 lead. That point came on Borum's 10th kill of the night, which gave her the triple-double and forced an Oakland timeout. After the timeout, YSU had a serving error and back-to-back subpar passes that led to kills by Oakland middle blocker Anna Nie.
After Oakland had leads of 3-0 and 5-3, the fourth set was played within a point until the Golden Grizzlies pulled away in the final moments. YSU's final lead was 16-15 before three straight attack errors gave Oakland an 18-16 advantage. The Penguins got a sideout after a timeout on a serving error but returned the favor immediately to make the score 19-7, and Oakland went on to end the match on a 7-3 run.
The Penguins will look to rebound on Friday as they continue their four-match homestand against IUPUI. The match against the Jaguars is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Beeghly Center.
