Youngstown, Ohio — Youngstown State's volleyball team couldn't keep up offensively with Akron over the final three sets and fell 3-1 to the Zips on Thursday evening at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 23-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18.

YSU rallied to take the opening set, but Akron hit .398 the rest of the way. The Zips had 52 kills on 103 attempts over the final three sets, and the Penguins were out of system too often to match their opponents.

Abbie Householder was celebrated before the match for reaching 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs during YSU's six-match road stretch, and the senior outside hitter posted 15 kills and nine digs against the Zips. Gabriela Machin had 11 kills, and those two Penguins combined to hit .311. Brie Habeeb led the defense with 16 digs.

Presley Stokes had a career-high seven kills in her home debut, and Julia Sell returned from an injury to have a kill and two blocks in her first action since Oct. 1, 2024.

Akron had three players finish between 14 and 19 kills, and Delaney Gash led the way with 19 kills on 41 attempts.

The Penguins trailed by as many as five points in the first set, and Akron held a 23-21 lead following a Gash kill. The Zips had three straight attack errors out of a YSU timeout, and Bianca Gilgio's kill on set point put the Penguins ahead 1-0 in the match.

YSU led 3-1 in the second set, but Akron went on a 15-1 run behind Vanessa Del Real and Reilly Chausse at the service line. The Penguins then jumped out to leads of 7-2 and 9-4 in the third set, but Akron scored eight straight points to surge ahead 12-9. Youngstown State rallied to go up 14-13 and 17-16, but the Zips finished the set on a 9-1 burst. Akron built a 13-5 lead in the fourth set and held an advantage of at least six the rest of the way.

Youngstown State will host Kent State on Friday at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.