Volleyball Starts Road-Heavy October in Indiana

The Youngstown State volleyball team will play seven of its nine October matches on the road, and the grueling stretch begins this week in Indiana.

The Penguins will play the Horizon League's two teams from the Hoosier State, starting with a contest at Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday at 6 p.m. That match against the Mastodons will stream live on ESPN+. YSU will then play at IUPUI on Saturday at 4 p.m. Live stats will be available for both tilts.

Gameday Info

Match 1 at Purdue Fort Wayne

Youngstown State University Logo Purdue Fort Wayne

When: Friday, Oct. 6, 2023 | 6 p.m.
Where: Gates Sports Center | Fort Wayne, Ind.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: GoMastodons.com
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Match 2 at IUPUI

Youngstown State University Logo IUPUI

When: Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023 | 4 p.m.
Where: The Jungle | Indianapolis, Ind.
Watch: N/A
Stats: IUPUIJags.com
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Recapping Last Week

The Penguins dropped all three of their matches at Beeghly Center last week to extend their losing streak to four matches. The Penguins were swept by Wright State and Green Bay, and they took a set from Milwaukee in a four-set loss to the Panthers.

Abbie Householder extended her streak of reaching double digits in kills to eight matches by having 11 against Wright State, 10 versus Green Bay and 12 against Milwaukee. Householder is one of two Penguins to have at least 10 kills in at least eight straight matches over the last nine seasons. Paula Guersching did it three times over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Before her, the last Penguin to do it was Lexi Egler in 2014.
Householder led YSU with 3.30 kills per set, and she did it on a .207 attack percentage.
Dayan Malave had an impressive week both offensively and defensively in the middle. She averaged 1.7 kills on a .484 attack percentage while also averaging a block per set.
Jocelyn Jourdan played in all 10 sets last week, and she had a great week offensively in her most extensive action as a freshman. She had a career-high 11 kills in 22 attempts in the four-set match against Milwaukee on Saturday, and she had three kills in seven swings against Wright State.
Middle blocker Kiley Mitchell had a career-high two digs against Green Bay, and she made her first start since 2021 in the contest against Milwaukee on Saturday.
Maria Insasa had a career-high four assists and tied her career high with six digs against Milwaukee. She served as the Penguins' libero for the final two sets in the match with the Panthers.
The Penguins struggled in both facets of serving last week. YSU had 34 errors in serve receive, and 16 of those came in the three-set loss to Green Bay on Friday. YSU also had 23 serving errors against nine aces.

News & Notes

A Glimpse at the Guins

Milestone Watch:

Josi Borum needs nine blocks to reach 200 for her career and 127 assists to reach 2,000 for her career.
Abbie Householder needs 40 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 75 assists from reaching 75 in her YSU career.
Isidora Sisic is seven aces from reaching 100 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 last week. 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 is 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 will play seven of their next 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 5-4 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 10 more than any other active Division I student-athlete. 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 168 kills and 3.00 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 eighth in the Horizon League with her 3.00 kills per set, and she is eighth in points and 22nd in digs. per set.

An Uptick in Blocking: Youngstown State is averaging 2.16 blocks per set this season, which is its highest mark since the 2016 campaign. The Penguins' high in Coach Aline Scott's five full seasons is 1.80 in 2018. Julia Sell is leading the group with 1.10 blocks per set, which is the highest average by a Penguin since 2017. The Penguins haven't had an individual average more than one block per set since Sarah Varcolla in 2018.

Sisic Leading Back Row Defense: The Penguins are averaging 15.55 digs per set, which is their highest total since 2019. Libero Isidora Sisic is leading that group with 4.51 digs per set, which is on pace to be the fourth-best average over a single season in school history. Sisic has had at least nine digs in every match, and she has had recorded 20-or-more digs seven times.

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.

Scouting the Opponents

Purdue Fort Wayne

Team Overview: Purdue Fort Wayne is 6-11 overall and 1-4 in Horizon League contests. The Mastodons are coming off a four-set home win over IUPUI on Saturday, which snapped a seven-game slide. The 'Dons were picked to finish seventh, one slot ahead of Youngstown State, in the Horizon League's Preseason Poll.
Series History: Purdue Fort Wayne holds a 6-3 edge in the all-time series, but the Penguins have won each of the last three meetings. Two of those three victories came in Fort Wayne, a four-set win in 2021 and a five-set victory last season on Oct. 28. The Penguins also swept the Mastodons in Youngstown in 2022.
Individual Leaders: Panna Ratkai leads the Horizon League with 3.92 kills per set, which is 0.5 more than any other player in the conference. She ranks among the top 20 nationally in total points, total kills and total attacks. LonDynn Betts ranks sixth in the Horizon League with 4.38 digs per set.

IUPUI

Team Overview: IUPUI will enter Friday's match against Robert Morris looking for its first Horizon League win. The Jaguars were 6-5 against non-league opponents, and they have a pair of five-set losses to Green Bay and Oakland in the first two weeks of conference play.
Series History: IUPUI owns a slim 12-11 edge all-time against the Penguins, but YSU has won five of the last eight meetings dating back to 2019. The teams split a pair of five-setters last season with each winning on the road. Josi Borum had 20 kills and 26 assists in the match, becoming the first YSU player to have at least 20 of each in the same match in last season's victory.
Individual Leaders: IUPUI ranks 21st in the country in aces per set, and two Jaguars sit among the top seven individually in the conference. Grade Purichia averages 0.45 aces per set, which ranks fourth in the conference, and Addie Evans ranks seventh with 0.39 per set. Purichia also ranks fourth in the circuit with 8.32 assists per set. Maia Long is the top attacker with 2.76 kills per set.

Next Week

Youngstown State will play just once next week, and it will be less than 60 miles from campus. The Penguins will play at Robert Morris on Friday, Oct. 13, at 6 p.m., at the UPMC Events Center.

Volleyball Starts Road-Heavy October in Indiana