Youngstown, Ohio — Abbie Householder and Gabriela Machin both had 12 kills, and Youngstown State's volleyball team went on a big run to close the second set to beat Cleveland State in straight sets on Thursday evening. The set scores from Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center were 25-12, 25-18, 25-19.
The Penguins improved to 13-13 overall and 8-7 in Horizon League play, and they maintained control of their own fate for a conference tournament bid. YSU tied the program record for Horizon League victories in a season with three matches remaining.
Householder and Machin combined for just four attack errors in 54 attempts, and YSU committed just seven attack errors total while hitting at a .287 clip. Kameron Blizniak posted 33 assists, and 29 of the Penguins' 38 kills came over the final two sets.
Householder added a team-high 17 digs for a double-double, and she had one of the Penguins' eight aces. The 17 digs also allowed the senior outside hitter to move up to third place on YSU's career chart with a total of 1,245.
Bryn VanVleet had 10 kills to lead Cleveland State, which dropped to 6-20 overall and 4-11 in conference play.
Youngstown State went on a 9-1 run to take control of the opening set at 11-3, and it went on to win 25-12 despite having only nine kills in the stanza. YSU had five aces and two blocks, and the Vikings had eight attack errors and three service errors.
Cleveland State built a pair of three-point leads in the second set, and it was 17-14 Vikings following a VanVleet kill. Youngstown State called its second timeout of the set to regroup, and an attack error by VanVleet started an 11-1 run for the Penguins to end the set. Householder had three kills during the initial 7-0 burst on Taya Nordmann's serve, and YSU went on to score the final four points of the set.
Machin connected for five kills on six attempts in the second set.
YSU held the lead in the third set after taking a 5-4 advantage, and the margin was at least three the rest of the set after the Penguins went ahead 13-10.
The Penguins will try to complete the series sweep of the Vikings when the teams play again on Friday at 6 p.m. at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center.
