Youngstown, Ohio — Behind 20 kills from Abbie Householder, Youngstown State's volleyball team swept Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday evening to secure a spot in next week's Horizon League Volleyball Championship. The set scores from Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center were 25-16, 25-14, 25-13.

The Penguins improved to 15-13 overall and extended their school record for Horizon League wins to 10. YSU will take a 10-7 conference record into Friday's regular-season finale, and it will finish at least in a tie for fifth. Purdue Fort Wayne dropped to 3-25 overall and 1-16 in Horizon League play.

Householder's 20 kills came in just 40 attempts, and she finished with a .375 hitting percentage. She became just the third Penguin in the rally-scoring era to record at least 20 kills in a three-set match, joining Ebony Barbosa and Paula Gursching.

Gabriela Machin was also efficient with 13 kills and just one error in 19 attempts for a .632 hitting percentage, and the Penguins hit .312 as a team behind Kameron Blizniak's 35 assists. Householder added 12 digs for a double-double.

Householder had nine kills in 12 attempts in the opening set, which was one more than the Mastodons had as a team, as YSU won 25-16.

The second set had seven ties, the final coming at 8-8 before the Penguins pulled away. Machin had three straight kills to start the run, and YSU went on to score 10 of the final 12 points of the set. The Penguins had four of their eight blocks in the match in the set, with Julia Sell, Taya Nordmann and Householder each contributing two block assists.

Youngstown State went on an 8-1 run in the third set to take a 15-8 lead, and Householder had three kills in the final four points to increase her match total to 20.

The Penguins will salute Householder, Sell and Bianca Giglio before Friday's match at approximately 5:45 p.m. as they play their final contest at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. The match against the Mastodons will begin at 6 p.m.