Moon Township, Pa. — Youngstown State fifth-year setter Isabel Schaefbauer recorded the 2,000th assist of her collegiate career on Tuesday as the Penguins fell 3-2 at Robert Morris. The set scores were 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 15-12.
YSU trailed 2-0 in the match but battled back to win the next two sets to force a fifth. RMU went on a 5-1 midway through the final set to take an 8-5 lead, and the Penguins weren't able to catch the Colonials.
In addition to Schaefbauer reaching the career milestone, junior Abbie Householder recorded a career-high 26 kills to go along with 16 digs. Paula Guershing is the only Penguin to have more than 26 kills in a match since 25-point scoring was implemented in 2008. Householder's 16 digs gave her a double-double for the third straight match to open Horizon League play.
Kiyah Franklin added 10 kills, and Nyia Setla led all players with 28 digs to pace the defense.
Jaaliyah Evans had 20 kills and hit .320 for Robert Morris, which improved to 2-1 to start Horizon League play for the first time ever.
The Penguins had 14 attack errors in the opening set as they fell 25-20, but they were better the rest of the way with 20 over the final four sets. RMU won the first set 25-20, and the Colonials hit .483 in the second set to win 25-17.
Schaefbauer notched her 2,000th career assist in the third set, and Householder had eight kills in 16 attempts without an error as YSU did not trail despite a narrow 25-23 win. The fourth set featured 14 ties and four lead changes, and the final deadlock came at 18. YSU scored four of the next five points, and Householder's 22nd kill gave YSU an insurmountable 22-19 advantage.
Both teams had 11 kills and YSU out hit the Colonials .321-.312 in the final set, but RMU emerged for a 15-12 win to hang on for the match victory. YSU held a 4-3 lead on a kill by Gabriela Machin, but Robert Morris scored five of the next six points to go up 8-5. The margin grew to 13-7 following a kill by Natalie Stepanovich, but the Penguins had one more charge in them to get within 13-11. Householder had two kills during the run, the last of which upped her total to a career-high 25, and Franklin's kill made it 13-11.
YSU had an out-of-system free ball go into the net to give RMU a match-point opportunity, and Householder's 26th kill extended the match to 14-12. Stepanovich had a kill, her fourth of the set, on the next point to end the match.
Youngstown State will play a pair of matches at Northern Kentucky this weekend. Friday's match against the Norse will be at 6 p.m., and Saturday's contest will be at 2 p.m. Live stats will be available for both matches through links on YSUsports.com.
