Cleveland, Ohio — Youngstown State sophomore outside hitter Abbie Householder posted a career-high 17 kills as the Youngstown State volleyball team fell in four sets at Cleveland State on Saturday. The set scores at Woodling Gum were 23-25, 25-23, 20-25, 18-25.
Householder's 17 kills came on 38 swings, and she added 13 digs for a double-double. Josi Borum was a kill shy of a triple-double with 19 assists, 11 digs and nine kills, and Juila Sell finished with a match-best six blocks.
The Penguins had more aces and blocks and fewer serving errors, but the Vikings had a 13-kill edge on just 13 more attempts. Six different CSU players had between seven and 13 kills.
Youngstown State split its first Horizon League road trip of the season, and it is now 6-8 overall and 1-2 in conference play. The Penguins beat Oakland in four sets on Friday before traveling to Cleveland. The Vikings are now 8-6 overall and 2-1 against league opponents.
The Penguins shaved five points from a late six-point deficit in the opening set before the Vikings prevailed 25-23.
Householder had six kills in the second set, and YSU hit .300 collectively as it won 25-23 to even the match. The Penguins scored eight of the first 10 points of the set, but Cleveland State answered with a 10-1 run behind Laken Voss's serve to go up 12-9. The Vikings held the upper hand until the Penguins scored the set's final four points to win 25-23. Householder tied it at 23 with a kill, and Dayan Malave and Gabriela Machin had a block to put YSU up 24-23. Voss had an attack error on set point.
With the match tied at a set apiece, YSU had seven attack errors and four serving errors while dropping the third set 25-20. The deficit was just 20-19 following a Householder kill, but the Vikings scored five of the final six points. In the fourth, a 7-1 burst gave the Vikings a 16-9 cushion that YSU could not overcome.
Youngstown State will host three Horizon League matches at Beeghly Center next week, beginning with a contest against Wright State on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
