Volleyball Makes Short Trip to RMU to Finish First Half of League Slate

The Youngstown State volleyball team will conclude its first tour of Horizon League play this Friday as it makes the short trip to Robert Morris.

The match against the Colonials at the UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa., will begin at 6 p.m., and it will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will also be available through YSUsports.com.

Gameday Info

YSU at Robert Morris

Youngstown State University Logo Robert Morris

When: Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 | 6 p.m.
Where: UPMC Events Center | Moon Township, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: rmucolonials.com
Social: X | Instagram | Facebook

Recapping Last Week

YSU split its two matches in Indiana last week as it began this road-heavy October. With seven of its nine matches away from Youngstown this month, Youngstown State started the month with a four-set win at Purdue Fort Wayne before a five-set loss at IUPUI.

Match 1: Friday, Oct. 6 at Purdue Fort Wayne » W, 3-1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22) | Recap | Box Score Match 2: Saturday, Oct. 7 at IUPUI » L, 2-3 (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 19-25, 13-15) | Recap | Box Score

With Friday's win, Youngstown State earned its fourth straight victory over the Mastodons. The Penguins hit a season-best .310 in the match, which included at least .250 in each set. Jazmin Vergara had a career-high 21 kills on a .383 clip, and Jocelyn Jourdan finished with a career-high 12 kills in 19 attempts and a .526 percentage.
The Penguins took a 2-0 lead at IUPUI but dropped the next three sets in Indianapolis. YSU had 11 fewer kills against the Jaguars than it did against the Mastodons despite playing one more set and having 20 extra attempts.
Vergara led the Penguins with 3.89 kills per set while hitting .308 last week. Abbie Householder ranked second in kills with 3.56 per set.
Householder extended her streak of reaching double digits in kills to 10 matches. She is one of just four Penguins since YSU joined the Horizon League in 2001 to have at least 10 kills in 10 straight matches. Paula Guersching did it in 2021 and 2022, and the other two Guins were Ruth Boscaljon (2009) and Jessica Fraley (2007). Householder tied her career high with 17 kills at IUPUI on Saturday.
Julia Sell had 11 blocks in nine sets last week, averaging 1.22 blocks per set. That upped her season average to 1.11 per set, which ranks third in the Horizon League.
Dayan Malave connected for nine kills on 19 attempts last week while adding eight blocks. She is averaging 0.88 blocks per set, which slots her 10th in the conference. Malave surpassed 200 kills as a Penguin in the match against IUPUI.
Isidora Sisic registered 38 digs in nine sets for an impressive 4.22 digs per set average. She ranks fifth in the conference with 4.47 digs per set for the season.

A Glimpse at the Guins

Milestone Watch:

Josi Borum needs seven blocks to reach 200 for her career and 79 assists to reach 2,000 for her career.
Abbie Householder needs eight kills to reach 400 for her career.
Dayan Malave needs six kills to reach 200 and eight blocks to reach 150 in her YSU career.
Isabel Schaefbauer is 36 assists from reaching 1,000 in her YSU career.
Isidora Sisic is five aces from reaching 100 in her career and 95 digs from reaching 1,000 in her career.

Spotlight Shines on Borum for Career Milestones: Youngstown State fifth-year senior Josi Borum's career triple-quadruple received plenty of media attention. Her impressive accomplishment of reaching 1,000 career assists, digs and kills was covered by the NCAA Volleyball social media channels, and WKBN-TV and the Tribune Chronicle locally. Borum became the only active Division I player to have 1,000 in each career category. This season, she recorded her 1,000th dig against Akron on Sept. 14 and her 1,000th kill at Oakland on Sept. 22.

Road-Heavy Stretch Awaits: After playing eight of its first 17 matches overall and four of its first six Horizon League contests at home, the Penguins are in a stretch of playing seven out of nine tilts on the road. The Penguins will be home just twice in October, and it begins with four consecutive road matches at Purdue Fort Wayne (Oct. 6), IUPUI (Oct. 7), Robert Morris (Oct. 13) and Wright State (Oct. 17). The Penguins are an impressive 6-5 this season in road and neutral site matches, and that is a trend that has carried over from 2022. Last season, the Penguins were 7-6 in road matches and 2-2 on neutral courts.

October Keyed Last-Season's Success: The Penguins had their best season since 2014 last year by posting a 14-16 record and qualifying for the Horizon League Volleyball Championship for the first time in eight years. Youngstown State set a new school record with eight Horizon League wins, and those eight wins came in an 11-match stretch from Oct. 1 through Nov. 4.

Returners Overview: Youngstown State returns nine players who appeared in at least 16 matches last season, including Second-Team All-Horizon League selection Josi Borum and Horizon League All-Freshman Team honoree Abbie Householder. Borum was a setter and right-side hitter in YSU's 6-2 offense who led the country in triple-doubles in 2022. Householder ranked third on the team in kills and digs last season as an outside hitter.

Borum is Active Triple-Double Queen: Fifth-year senior Josi Borum has posted four triple-doubles this season, bringing her career total to 19. That is the most among all active Division I players. Borum had four triple-doubles as a true freshman at Chicago State in 2019, and she has 15 in her three-plus seasons at Youngstown State. In 2022, Borum had 10 triple-doubles, which was four more than any other Division I player and the fourth-most in the country regardless of division. She has been one kill away from additional triple-doubles four times.

All-Tournament Team Selections in Non-Conference Play:

Josi Borum: Toledo Invitational, Owls Paradise Classic
Jazmin Vergara: DoubleTree By Hilton YSU Invitational, Toledo Invitational

Vergara Impressing: Junior outside hitter Jazmin Vergara leads the Penguins with 203 kills and 3.12 kills per set in her first season as a Division I student-athlete. The transfer from Miami Dade College was an all-tournament team selection in each of the first two weeks of the season. She currently ranks sixth in the Horizon League with her 3.12 kills per set, and she is ninth in points.

Captains: Josi Borum, Elise Moeller, Isabel Schaefbauer and Isidora Sisic will serve as team captains in 2023. Borum and Sisic are repeat captains from 2022. All four student-athletes are transfers from other Division I institutions. Borum and Sisic arrived from Chicago State, Moeller is from Evansville, and Schaefbauer came from Winthrop.

New Coaching Roles: There are two new assistant coaches on YSU's staff this season as Keith Lundgren and Kelly Kiger have joined the program. Additionally, Jesus Echevarria was promoted to the title of Associate Head Coach.

International Flavor: The YSU volleyball program is a melting pot of cultures with six countries being represented on the bench. Josi Borum, Kiyah Franklin, Michelle Fredrick, Abbie Householder, Maria Insana, Jocelyn Jourdan, Kiley Mitchell, Elise Moeller, Isabel Schaefbauer, Julia Sell and assistant coach Kelly Kiger are from the continental United States. Gabriela Machin, Dayan Malave and Associate Head Coach Jesus Echevarriahail from Puerto Rico. Additionally, Jazmin Vergara hails from Colombia, Isidora Sisic is from Serbia, Head Coach Aline Scott is from Brazil, and Assistant Coach Keith Lundgren is from Canada.

Next Week

Youngstown State will ply three times next week as it begins the second half of its Horizon League slate. The Penguins will start the week with a match at Wright State on Tuesday, and they'll host Cleveland State and Oakland next Friday and Saturday.