Indianapolis, Ind. — Abbie Householder and Layne Graffice combined for 47 kills, and Youngstown State's volleyball team outlasted IU Indy in five sets for a big road victory on Friday evening. The set scores in the close match at The Jungle were 25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-11.
YSU is now 8-11 overall and 3-5 in Horizon League play, while IU Indy dropped to 11-9 and 5-3. The Jaguars had won five consecutive matches entering Friday's contest.
Householder finished with 27 kills, the second-highest total of her career, to lead all players, while Graffice had a career-best 20 kills to go along with 14 digs. Gabriela Machin added 13 kills on 28 attempts, and that trio combined for an .341 hitting percentage. Kameron Blizniak orchestrated the offense with 57 assists, and the Penguins hit .316 as a team.
Elle Patterson led IU Indy with 20 kills.
There were 40 ties and 19 lead changes in the match, and each of the first three sets were decided by two points.
Neither team led by more than two points in the opening set until the Penguins went ahead 22-19. A Machin kill extended the margin to 23-19, and she had another kill once the Jaguars closed to within 24-23. Graffice had seven kills on nine attempts in the set.
YSU's final lead in the second set was 13-12, but the score remained within four points to allow the Penguins to make a late charge. The visitors trailed 21-17 and clawed back to within 24-23 before Maia Long had a kill on IU Indy's third set-point opportunity to even the match.
Householder had eight kills in the third set, and her final one came following a challenge on set point. The initial ruling had Householder hitting long at 25-24 to allow IU Indy to tie the score, but replay confirmed a block touch, awarding the point to YSU.
In the fourth, IU Indy opened up the first lead in the match of more than four points when it took a 15-10 lead. The Jaguars kept the Penguins from getting closer than four to force the fifth set.
IU Indy held a 6-5 lead in the tiebreaker following a block by Morgan Ostrowski and Grace Purichia, but the Penguins answered with a 6-1 run to take control of the set. Machin started the spurt with a kill, Graffice registered two kills, and a block by Householder and Taya Nordmann finished it and gave YSU an 11-7 advantage. Youngstown State led by at least two the rest of the match, and Householder's final kill came when the Jaguars closed to within 12-10.
Youngstown State will try to complete the weekend sweep on Saturday when the teams play again at 2 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
