Youngstown State University
IU Indy
Volleyball Starts Busy October with Two Matches vs.IU Indy
9/30/2026 3:30:00 PM | Volleyball
Youngstown State begins an important October slate by hosting IU Indy this weekend for a pair of Horizon League matches inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. The contests against the Jaguars will be the first two of 11 conference matches YSU will play in October. Friday's meeting against IU Indy will begin at 6 p.m., and the teams will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+, and live stats will be available throughout the weekend on YSUsports.com.
The Week Ahead
Match 1 vs. IU Indy
- When: Friday, Oct. 2 | 6 p.m.
- Where: Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center | Youngstown, Ohio
- Promotion: Hawaiian Night - The first 50 YSU students receive a free t-shirt and pizza
- Watch: ESPN+
- Stats: SIDEARM Stats
- Social: Instagram | Facebook | X
Match 2 vs. IU Indy
- When: Saturday, Oct. 3 | 2 p.m.
- Where: Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center | Youngstown, Ohio
- Watch: ESPN+
- Stats: SIDEARM Stats
- Social: Instagram | Facebook | X
A Glimpse at the Guins
- The Penguins dropped their Horizon League opener at Robert Morris the last time they were on the court on Sept. 22. Due to the conference schedule, YSU will have had nine days without competition before its match against IU Indy on Oct. 2.
- Youngstown State is looking to extend its home success this season into conference play. The Penguins went 3-1 on Rosselli Court against non-league opponents, and they will play three home matches in a five-day stretch from Oct. 2-6. In addition to the two contests against IU Indy, YSU will have a rematch with Robert Morris on Tuesday.
- YSU went 2-7 in September with three of the losses — Marshall, Ohio State and Robert Morris — coming in five sets. The Penguins have played at least four sets in nine of their first 12 matches this season, including eight straight.
- Eight letterwinners and five players who started at least 14 matches return from last season's squad that went 17-14 overall while winning a school-record 11 Horizon League matches. Three of those returners — Kameron Blizniak, Layne Graffice and Abbie Householder — earned all-conference accolades in 2025. YSU was picked to finish sixth in the Horizon League preseason poll.
- Third-year head coach Riley Jarrett celebrated the 100th victory of her career on Aug. 29 with the win over Canisius. Jarrett was 72-40 over four seasons at Division II West Liberty (West Virginia) from 2020-23, and she is 30-43 at YSU.
- Junior outside hitter Kylie Surratt ranks among the top four players in the Horizon League in points (4.28), aces (0.46) and kills (3.71) per set. The UT-Martin transfer has reached double digits in kills 10 times, highlighted by a 34-kill effort against Marshall on Sept. 5.
- The Penguins have two additional hitters averaging at least 2.3 kills per set — Graffice and Ava Stratton. Graffice, a sophomore outside hitter, is averaging 2.63 kills per set for the season and 3.0 over the last three weeks. Stratton, a sophomore right-side hitter, is averaging 2.38 kills per set on a .247 attack percentage. That's a big boost from when she had 13 kills in 13 sets as a freshman.
- The Penguins rank 40th in the country and second in the Horizon League with 1.90 aces per set. They have posted at least nine aces in four of their last six matches, and their season high 14 aces in a sweep of Mercyhurst in the season opener. Surratt, Blizniak and Ava Prince rank among the top 10 in the conference individually.
Scouting IU Indy
Record: 7-8 Overall // 2-0 Horizon League // 5-1 Home // 0-4 Away // 2-3 Neutral
Last Week: IU Indy started its Horizon League schedule by topping Robert Morris twice in Indianapolis. The Jaguars swept the Colonials by hitting .372 collectively on Sept. 25, and they won 3-2 a day later. Jillian Tippmann had 11 kills and 10 digs in the three-set victory, and Bailey Sinish was the top scorer in the five-setter with 20 kills, two aces and two blocks.
Horizon League Preseason Poll: Third of 11
Stat Leaders:
Kills — Jillian Tippmann (3.68 per set)
Assists — Grace Purichia (9.56 per set)
Aces — Laura Roeder (0.40 per set)
Digs — Laura Roeder (2.89 per set)
Blocks — Chloe Macias (0.73 per set)
Notes: IU Indy leads the Horizon League with 657 total assists and 713 total kills, and it ranks third with 91 total aces. Jillian Tippmann and Grace Purichia rank in the top five in the conference in kills and assists per set, respectively.
Series History
Overall: YSU leads 15-14 // Current Win Streak: Two by YSU // Last 10: 6-4
Home: 7-6 // Away: 6-5 // Neutral: 2-3 // Jarrett (career): 3-1
The Penguins and Jaguars have played at least four sets in 14 straight meetings dating back to the 2019 season. IU Indy had four straight sweeps during 2017 and 2018 upon joining the Horizon League, but every matchup since has gone at least four sets. The Penguins have won nine of those 14 meetings.
Last Season: Youngstown State won both matches at IU Indy last season, beating the Jaguars 3-2 on Oct. 17, 2025, and 3-1 the following day. Abbie Householder posted 27 kills, while Layne Graffice had 20 as YSU hit .316 in the 3-2 victory on Oct. 17. On Oct. 18, that duo combined for 29 kills, and the Penguins had nine blocks in the 3-1 win.
Recapping Last Week
YSU scores are listed first
Sept. 22 at Robert Morris » L, 2-3 (25-23, 27-29, 20-25, 26-24, 7-15)
- Youngstown State dropped its Horizon League opener in five sets to Robert Morris. Three of the sets were decided by two points, and there were 48 ties and 23 lead changes in the first four sets. RMU led the entire fifth set.
- The Penguins were outhit .246-.091, and RMU finished with a 67-47 advantage in kills. The Colonials had 22 serving errors, which may have affected the flow of YSU's offense. Youngstown State had its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season and its lowest mark since the contest at Butler on Sept. 3.
- YSU finished with 11 aces for the second straight match. Layne Graffice and Kylie Surratt had three aces apiece.
- Korina Barber set a new career high with three digs.
- Kameron Blizniak surpassed 1,400 assists, finishing with 30 in the match.
- Graffice set new season highs with three aces and 19 points while finishing with 16 kills and 11 digs. It was her fourth double-double in the last six matches and the fifth time in the last six matches that she had at least 11 kills.
- Izzy Henry recorded a career-high six blocks.
- Juliana Rivera recorded 10 digs, her second time in double figures
- Journey Nicola's 12 digs gave her eight straight matches with at least nine. The freshman defensive specialist had her seventh match with at least 10 digs.
- Ava Stratton set a new career high with seven digs. She also had 10 kills, reaching double figures for the fifth time in the last seven contests.
- Surratt set a new season high 15 digs. She also had 10 kills and three aces, giving her 15 aces in the last six matches (26 sets).
Penguins In Depth
Upcoming Milestones
- Sophomore Kameron Blizniak needs 76 assists to reach 1,500 for her career. She would become the 11th Penguin to record 1,500 career assists.
- Sophomore Layne Graffice is 14 kills away from 400 in her career.
- Sophomore Brie Habeeb is seven digs shy of 400 for her career.
- Sophomore Izzy Henry needs 13 kills to record 100 for her career.
- Fifth-year senior Abbie Householder is 43 kills shy of 1,500 for her career.
- Junior Kylie Surratt needs one ace to reach 50 for her career.
- Junior Wrigley Takats is four kills shy of reaching 100 in her career.
News & Notes
Home Success
Youngstown State is on an impressive run at home, having gone 15-5 over its last 20 matches inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. The Penguins won their last two matches of 2024, went 10-4 in 2025 and are 3-1 to start the 2026 campaign. Last year's 10 victories tied the 1999 team for the most in a season in program history. Youngstown State is 18-11 overall at home in Riley Jarrett's two-plus seasons as head coach. The Penguins had 23 home wins combined in the eight seasons prior to her arrival.
Building on Last Season's Success
Youngstown State is a driven group with a large core of players returning from last season's squad that moved the program from last in the Horizon League preseason poll to the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. Eight letterwinners and five players who started at least 14 matches last season are back with a mission to take another step forward in the third season under head coach Riley Jarrett. Three of those returners — Kameron Blizniak, Layne Graffice and Abbie Householder — earned All-Horizon League accolades in 2025.
The Penguins went 17-14 overall while winning a school-record 11 Horizon League matches in 2025, and they advanced to the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship for the first time since 2014. The 11 conference wins were the second most in program history and the most since the 1999 squad was 13-1 in the Mid-Continent Conference. YSU's highest win total in its first 24 years in the Horizon League was eight, set in 2022. Youngstown State was particularly strong inside Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center, posting a 10-4 record to tie the program record from 1999.
Stratton Showing Improvement
Ava Stratton has made the biggest jump from last season among Youngstown State's returners. The sophomore right-side hitter is averaging 2.38 kills and 0.54 blocks per set while hitting .247 after 12 matches. In 2025, Stratton had 13 kills and one block over 13 sets. She began the season by hitting a school record .857 with 12 kills on 14 attempts without an error in a sweep of Mercyhurst. She has reached double digits in kills six times, including five of the last seven.
Surratt Among League Leaders
Kylie Surratt has had an impressive first five weeks at Youngstown State. A junior outside hitter who transferred from UT-Martin in January, Surratt currently ranks second in the Horizon League with 4.28 points per set. Additionally, she ranks third in the conference with 0.46 aces per set and fourth with 3.71 kills per set. Her previous career highs came as a freshman for the Skyhawks when she averaged 2.98 kills and 3.34 points per set. Surratt's best match came against Marshall on Sept. 5 when she had 34 kills on 71 attempts in a five-setter. That was the highest kill total in the country that week and one kill shy of the YSU record.
Records Fall in Season Opener
Two school records were set and another was tied in YSU's season-opening victory over Mercyhurst. As a team, YSU's 14 aces were the most in program history in a three-set, rally-scoring match, surpassing the previous mark of 11 at Canisius in 2022. Individually, Ava Prince tied the record for aces in a three-set, rally-scoring match with six, equaling the effort of teammate Brie Habeeb (2025) and Colleen Royer (2001). Ava Stratton set the individual record for hitting percentage in a match by hitting .857 with 12 kills on 14 attempts without an error.
Four Comprise Leadership Group
Youngstown State has a junior and three sophomores as its leaders this season as junior Ava Prince and sophomores Kameron Blizniak, Layne Graffice and Brie Habeeb comprise the leadership team. The group was elected by their teammates, and each member of the quartet is in a leadership role for the first time.
Strong Sophomore Class Looks for Second-Year Jump
Youngstown State's strong five-member sophomore class of Kameron Blizniak, Layne Graffice, Brie Habeeb, Izzy Henry and Ava Stratton is looking to provide the foundation for a solid 2026 and beyond. The group combined for 88 starts in 2025, and Blizniak and Graffice headlined the accomplishments by being named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team. Blizniak started every match and set a new school record for the 25-point rally scoring era with 1,116 assists. Graffice was a six-rotation left side who averaged 2.67 kills and 2.60 digs per set in her freshman season.
Householder Returns After Record-Breaking 2025
Abbie Householder returns to the Penguins as a fifth-year senior after a record-breaking 2025 campaign. The outside hitter from nearby Canfield, Ohio, is YSU's career record holder with 1,457 kills and one of six players in program history with at least 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. Her 1,345 digs rank second in YSU's career chart. Among her long list of accomplishments in 2025, she was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, the Horizon League Player of the Year, the YSU Female Student-Athlete of the Year and the Horizon League Female Fall Scholar-Athlete of the Season.
Penguins Add Three Division I Transfers in January
Youngstown State added experience before the 2026 spring semester as juniors Ashlee Gnau, Kylie Surratt and Wrigley Takats arrived from Division I institutions. Gnau, a defensive specialist, played in 34 matches over two seasons at Syracuse. Surratt had two prolific seasons as an outside hitter at UT-Martin, posting totals of 539 kills, 392 digs and 77 blocks while being named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference Second Team as a freshman. Takats, a middle blocker and right side hitter who arrived from Eastern Michigan, recorded 60 kills and 58 blocks as a sophomore.
Freshman Class of Five
Youngstown State has a talented and position-balanced class of five freshmen on this year's roster. The group includes pin hitter Natalie Carr, defensive specialist Journey Nicola, setter Hayden Rodriguez, and middle blockers Korina Barber and Makayla Keibler. Nicola, Rodriguez and Barber are Ohioans, and Carr and Keibler are from the Pittsburgh, Pa. area. Carr and Keibler were club teammates with Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball, and Nicola and Barber both played club ball with Mintonette.
Penguins Slotted Sixth in HL Preseason Poll
Youngstown State was selected to finish sixth in the Horizon League this season in a preseason poll of the conference's 11 head coaches. YSU received 68 points in the poll, which was just eight points behind fourth-place Milwaukee. Sixth place ties the highest preseason ranking for the Penguins since they joined the conference in 2001. The top eight teams in the regular season will advance to the Horizon League Volleyball Championship on Nov. 19-22.
AVCA Team Academic Award Regulars
Youngstown State earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for high achievement in the classroom for the 13th consecutive year during the 2025-26 campaign. YSU began the streak in 2013-14, and its 13-year run is tied for the longest streak in the Horizon League for maintaining a year-long grade-point average of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. The Penguins registered a 3.411 team GPA during the 2025-26 academic year, posting a 3.329 in the fall and a 3.505 in the spring.
Up Next
Youngstown State's busy October continues with three matches next week. The Penguins will host Robert Morris on Tuesday at 6 p.m. before traveling to Purdue Fort Wayne for two contests.
