The Youngstown State volleyball team will play its final tournament of the non-conference season this week as it travels to the Buffalo area for the Ellicott Hotels Western New York Invitational. The Penguins will play three matches over the span of three days in the event that Canisius and Niagara are co-hosting.

YSU will play Canisius on its home floor on Thursday at 6 p.m., and it will then play at Niagara on Friday at 6 p.m. The Penguins will conclude their trip to Western New York by playing Bucknell in Niagara's facility on Saturday at noon. Each match will have live video streamed on three different platforms, and live stats will also be available. Live links will be posted on the volleyball schedule on YSUsports.com and the program's social media platforms.

Recapping Last Week

Youngstown State posted a 1-2 record last weekend at Eastern Kentucky's Geri Polvino Invitational to bring its season mark to 2-4. The Penguins began the weekend with a four-set victory over Radford, and they fell 3-0 to Morehead State and EKU.

Match 1: Friday, Sept. 6 vs. Radford: W, 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 26-28, 25-23) | Recap | Box Score
Match 2: Friday, Sept. 6 vs. Morehead State: L, 0-3 (19-25, 22-25, 20-25) | Recap | Box Score
Match 3: Saturday, Sept. 7 at EKU: L, 0-3 (15-25, 22-25, 21-25) | Recap | Box Score

Individual Player Notes

• Kelsey Cooper delivered in her first career start against Radford by posting a career-high 11 kills in 17 swings. She hit .588 for the match while adding four blocks. Cooper leads the Penguins with a .304 attack percentage in 56 attempts.
• Abbie Householder was named to the all-tournament team for the second straight week. She led the Horizon League with 5.60 points per set last week, and she also ranked second in the circuit with 4.50 kills per set, fifth with 0.60 aces per set, eighth with 3.90 digs per set, and 10th with 0.90 blocks per set. Householder began the tournament by setting new career highs with 24 kills and five aces while adding 17 digs in YSU's five-set victory over Radford. She then set a new career high with five blocks in YSU's three-set match against EKU. Householder's 24 kills tied for the third-most by a Penguin since 2008, and her 30 points were also third most at YSU since 2008.
• Maria Insana recorded 12 digs at EKU for her second match in double digits this season.
• Gabriela Machin registered a season-high 13 kills over three sets in the win over Radford. That came right after she had 12 kills in four sets in the win over LIU.
• Elsie McCutchan made her collegiate debut in YSU's match against Morehead State and attempted one serve.
• Isabel Schaefbauer registered double-doubles in YSU's first two matches at EKU, posting 49 assists and 12 digs against Radford and 28 assists and 17 digs versus Morehead State. She has four double-doubles in the first six matches this season.
• Nyia Setla has registered at least nine digs in every match, and she had her second performance with at least 20 digs when she had 20 against Radford. She leads the Penguins with 3.87 digs per set this season.

A Glimpse at the Guins

• Leading the League in Digs: Improving in the back row was a big priority for the Penguins in the preseason, and the emphasis has been successful so far as Youngstown State leads the Horizon League with 16.87 digs per set through the first two weeks. YSU was sixth in the conference in 2023 with 15.23 digs per set. Newcomer Nyia Setla leads the Penguins with 3.87 digs per set, Abbie Householder averages 3.61 digs, and Isabel Schaefbauer averages 3.48 digs. Youngstown State's serve receive has also shown an uptick, improving from .902 in 2023 to .916. Setla has been a big part of the improvement as she has just four errors in 83 attempts.
• Householder Stepping Up: Junior Abbie Householder is averaging career highs in kills (3.65), aces (0.35), digs (3.61) and blocks (0.57) per set over the first six matches of the season. She has posted the two highest kills totals of her career, and she is averaging 4.5 kills over her last four matches. Compared with her Horizon League peers,  Householder ranks fourth in kills and points, ninth in digs and 14th in aces.
• Changes on the fly: Youngstown State has used several different lineup combinations to try and find the winning formula during the first two weeks of the season. Of the 14 players who have traveled, 13 have appeared in at least one set. Abbie Householder, Isabel Schaefbauer and Nyia Setla have appeared in all 23 sets, and that trio plus Teagan Ng have started each match.
• Road-heavy schedule to start: Youngstown State opened a season on the road for the first time since 2018, and it is playing in its third different state this weekend in New York. Starting in 2019, YSU hosted a multiple-team event on the opening weekend of each season except for the Spring 2021 campaign that was adjusted for the pandemic. This season, the Penguins are on the road until Sept. 20 as a major renovation to the Beeghly Center seating area is in progress.
• Jarrett takes the reigns: Riley Jarrett is in her first season as YSU's head coach, and she is at the Division I level for the first time in her career. YSU's previous head coach, Aline Scott, resigned on Feb. 22 to pursue a career out of coaching, and Jarrett was hired on April 9. Jarrett had a week to practice with the Penguins in the spring, and she brought on assistant coaches Maddie Clayton and Grace Wilson in May and June, respectively. Jarrett is a Northeast Ohio native who played collegiately at Division III Mount Union in Ohio. She went on to lead Division II West Liberty in West Virginia to three straight 20-win seasons before coming to Youngstown.
• Schaefbauer, Giglio make up leadership team: Fifth-year senior Isabel Schaefbauer and junior Bianca Giglio were voted to the Leadership Team by their teammates. Both student-athletes are transfers who began their careers at other Division I schools. Schaefbauer, who began her career at Winthrop, is entering her third season as a setter for the Penguins. She has played in all 232 sets since she arrived on campus. Giglio is a transfer from Marshall who is in her first season at Youngstown State.
• Excelling in the classroom: Youngstown State juniors Abbie Householder and Julia Sell were both named Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators in 2023. They joined former Penguins Josi Borum and Isidora Sisic, a duo that also earned Academic All-Horizon League accolades. As a team, YSU earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the 11th straight season for maintaining a year-long GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. Youngstown State's GPA for the 2023-24 academic year was 3.54, and Householder, Sisic, Maria Insana, Gabriela Machin and Isabel Schaefbauer each achieved a 4.0 in both semesters.
• Horizon League preseason poll: Youngstown State was slotted to finish 10th in the Under Armour #HLVB Preseason Coaches Poll. Wright State received nine of the 10 first-place votes for 99 points, and NKU was picked second with 85 points. Milwaukee (73), Green Bay (71), Cleveland State (63) and Oakland (53) were slotted for the next four spots to round out the top six, which is how many teams qualify for the Horizon League Volleyball Championship. Purdue Fort Wayne (38), IU Indianapolis (26) and RMU (26) were seventh and tied for eighth.

Scouting the Opponents

Canisius

• Canisius enters Thursday's match with a 4-2 record, and five of its six matches have been played in New York. The Golden Griffins split four matches at the Salt City Classic in Syracuse the opening weekend, and they swept Mercyhurst in a home-and-home last week.
• Kara Zaucha was named MAAC Player of the Week, and sophomore Ella Bourque earned MAAC Setter of the Week accolades for their efforts on the opening weekend of the season. Zaucha leads the Golden Griffins with 3.43 kills per set on an impressive .420 attack percentage, and Lauren Hubert is averaging 3.19 kills per set. Canisius is hitting .252 collectively.
• Canisius went 10-16 overall and 8-10 in MAAC play last season, and it returns seven letterwinners. The Golden Griffins were picked to finish eighth in the conference preseason poll.
• YSU and Canisius have played 20 times previously, and last season's opening day match was the first meeting in Beeghly Center between the teams. The Penguins swept the Golden Griffins in Buffalo in 2022, and they won in five sets in 2023 for their 12th straight win between the two schools whose mascots are Pete the Penguin and Petey Griffin. YSU is 18-2 all-time against Canisius.

Niagara

• Niagara will bring a 2-4 record into its match on Friday against Youngstown State. Like YSU, the Purple Eagles went 1-2 in each of their first two tournaments of the season. Niagara has three-set victories over Central Connecticut State and Robert Morris, three-set losses to St. John's and Coppin State, and four-set setbacks to Northeastern and Duquesne.
• Middle blocker Laryssa Imbuzeiro was named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team after being an all-conference performer in 2023. She registered 129 total blocks last season as a junior, and she is averaging 1.1 blocks per set in 2024. Imbuzeiro was a high school teammate of YSU's Nyia Setla. Liana Tolliver has been Niagara's top attacker the first two weeks with 2.45 kills per set, and Bella Peroni is averaging a team-high 5.65 blocks per set.
• Niagara went 13-14 overall, 12-6 in MAAC contests and 8-3 on its home floor in 2023. The Purple Eagles were picked to finish fifth in the preseason conference poll.
• Youngstown State is 13-3 all-time against Niagara, and it is playing on the Purple Eagles' court for the first time since 2003. The Penguins won the last meeting in four sets on Sept. 6, 2019, in a tournament hosted by Cornell.

Bucknell

• Bucknell owns a 5-1 record through the first two weeks of the season, and the Bison will play Canisius on Friday before their match against YSU on Saturday. Four of Bucknell's wins have come in three sets, including a sweep of Quinnipiac, which was picked second in the MAAC preseason poll. The Bison's only loss was to Toledo in four sets in the season opener.
• Bucknell was picked to finish third in the Patriot League preseason poll after posting a 15-11 overall record and an 11-5 mark in conference play in 2023. Jordan Hardy is the returning Patriot League Libero of the Year, and she earned All-Region accolades in 2023 after ranking seventh in the country with 5.54 digs per set.
• Hardy became Bucknell's all-time leader in digs last week, and she is the reigning conference player of the week. The senior is averaging five digs per set this season. Offensively, Bri Frazilus is the top attacker with 3.33 kills per set, and Sidney Shaffer is averaging 2.43 kills to go along with 1.24 blocks per set.
• The Penguins are 7-0 against Bucknell all-time. Youngstown State beat the Bison 3-2 in the most recent matchup on Sept. 10, 2022, in Buffalo. That contest was played at Canisius.

Up Next

• Youngstown State will play a pair of Northeast Ohio foes from the Mid-American Conference for its final weekend of non-league competition. The Penguins will play at Akron on Sept. 19 at 6 p.m., and they will host Kent State on Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. in the 2024 home opener.