Volleyball Begins Road Stretch at Cleveland State on Friday

Youngstown State's volleyball team will begin the final stretch of the 2024 regular season this weekend as it heads north to Cleveland State for two matches against the Vikings.

Friday's match at Woodling Gymnasium between the two Northeast Ohio opponents will begin at 6 p.m., and Saturday's contest will start at 2 p.m. Live stats for both matches will be available through links on YSUsports.com.

The two contests against the Vikings begin a four-match road stretch for the Penguins that will end the regular season. YSU will play at Purdue Fort Wayne next week.

Match 1 at Cleveland State

Youngstown State University Logo Cleveland State

When: Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 | 6 p.m.
Where: Woodling Gymnasium | Cleveland, Ohio
Stats: SIDEARM Stats
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Match 2 at Cleveland State

Youngstown State University Logo Cleveland State

When: Saturday, Nov. 9 | 2 p.m.
Where: Woodling Gymnasium | Cleveland, Ohio
Stats: SIDEARM Stats
Social: X | Instagram | Facebook

Recapping Last Week

Youngstown State went 2-1 in its three home matches last week to improve its record to 9-17 overall and 3-11 in Horizon League play. The Penguins dropped their first five sets of the week but bounced back to win their last six. YSU was swept in a close match against Robert Morris on Oct. 29, and it trailed Oakland 2-0 on Nov. 1 before rallying to win 3-2. Youngstown State then swept the Golden Grizzlies 3-0 the following day on the program's Senior Day at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.

Friday's 3-2 victory over Oakland marked the first time since at least 1998 that the Penguins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win at home. Additionally, the Penguins beat the Golden Grizzlies in Youngstown for the first time since Nov. 11, 2000, when both schools were members of the Mid-Continent Conference.
The Penguins stayed hot on Saturday and beat Oakland 3-0 for their first sweep of the Golden Grizzlies since Nov. 13, 1999.
YSU has now won four of the last five contests against Oakland after the Golden Grizzlies won 20 consecutive matches in the series from when it joined the Horizon League in 2013 until Oct. 18, 2022.
Youngstown State had its best hitting percentage ever in a Horizon League contest in Sunday's win as it hit .362. That topped the previous mark of .352 that was set against Robert Morris in the 2023 season finale. Overall, it was the Penguins' 11th-best hitting percentage in a match since 2001. YSU had 47 kills and just nine errors in 105 attempts against the Golden Grizzlies.
YSU tied its season high with 13 blocks in Friday's win over Oakland. It was the Penguins' fourth time reaching double digits in blocks this season.
The Penguins celebrated their four seniors - fourth-year senior Kiyah Franklin and fifth-year seniors Dayan Malave, Isabel Schaefbauer and Nyia Setla - before Saturday's match.
Franklin had one of her best matches of the season on Saturday, posting 11 kills in 20 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage. She also recorded her 300th career kill in the match.
Kelsey Cooper set new career highs with three aces and six blocks in Friday's comeback win over Oakland. She hit .439 and averaged 1.18 blocks per set last week, which both ranked among the top six marks in the Horizon League for the week.
Bianca Giglio registered career highs of 13 kills and four blocks in the match against Robert Morris. She then captured her first career double-double in Friday's five-setter against Oakland with 10 kills and 10 digs.
Abbie Householder was named a Horizon League Player of the Week after leading the league with 5.32 points per set and tying for the top line with 4.45 kills per set. She also ranked among the top eight in aces and digs per set. It was the first weekly award of Householder's career, and she became the first Penguin to win the award in the last two seasons.
Gabriela Machin gave the Penguins a big boost off the bench on Friday with eight kills in 11 attempts over three sets.
Isabel Schaefbauer's 39 assists in Saturday's match were the most by a Penguin in a three-set match since Alexia Byrnes had 40 in a contest in 2019.
Nyia Setla recorded her 400th dig of the season in Saturday's match. She is the 12th player in program history to have at least 400 in a season, and she is the sixth to do it in the 25-point, rally-scoring era.

A Glimpse at the Guins

Horizon League Leaders

Kelsey Cooper - 6th in blocks per set (0.92); 17th in hitting percentage (.226)
Abbie Householder - 2nd in kills per set (4.04); 2nd in points per set (4.65); 7th in aces per set (0.37); 14th in digs per set (3.20)
Dayan Malave - 9th in blocks per set (0.85); 21st in hitting percentage (.222)
Teagan Ng - 11th in aces per set (0.33)
Isabel Schaefbauer - 5th in assists per set (8.67); 13th in digs per set (3.27)
Nyia Setla - 8th in digs per set (4.21); 16th in aces per set (0.28)

Upcoming Milestones

Kiyah Franklin needs six digs to reach 100 for her career
Abbie Householder is 16 kills away from reaching 400 this season. There have been only eight instances of 400-kill seasons in program history, and only two have come in the current 25-point, rally-scoring format. Householder is also five aces away from 100 in her career.
Dayan Malave needs six blocks to reach 250 as a Penguin.
Isabel Schaefbauer is 39 assists away from reaching 2,000 at Youngstown State. She needs 159 assists to reach 2,500 for her collegiate career.

Scouting Cleveland State

Cleveland State is 17-8 overall and 8-6 in Horizon League play entering this weekend's matches at Woodling Gymnasium. The Vikings won six of their last seven matches in October but dropped both of their matches at IU Indy to begin November.
The Vikings lead the Horizon League with 2.28 blocks per set, and they also rank among the top four in points, kills, digs and assists per set. The Vikings are 21st in the country in digs per set at 16.96.
Cleveland State is very well-rounded individually as five different players rank among the top three in the Horizon League in various categories. Allana Appleby ranks second in blocks, Ella Mihacevich sits second in assists, Liberty Torres is third in kills and points, JeriLynn Koehler is third in hitting percentage, and Emma Walker is third in digs.

Up Next

Youngstown State will finish up the 2024 regular season next week with a pair of matches at Purdue Fort Wayne. The Penguins and Mastodons will play at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15, and they'll play at 3 p.m. the following day.