Three Road Teams Win on Friday Night

The visitors had the advantage on Friday night in Horizon League volleyball action as three of the four road teams won. Cleveland State started the evening by going to Youngstown State and sweeping the Penguins, 3-0. Valparaiso also won in a sweep on the road, knocking off Green Bay. UIC was the final road team to win on Friday, traveling across Chicago to Loyola and knocking off the first place Ramblers, 3-1.

Milwaukee was the lone home team to win on Friday as the Panthers won three straight games to overcome a 1-0 deficit to defeat Wright State.

Friday, Oct. 12 Results
Cleveland State def. Youngstown State, 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-14)
Milwaukee def. Wright State, 3-1 (26-28, 25-18, 25-22, 27-25)
UIC def. Loyola, 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 16-25, 25-13)
Valparaiso def. Green Bay, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-19)

Cleveland State 3, Youngstown State 0
The Cleveland State volleyball team recorded its ninth three-set sweep of the season Friday evening, earning a 3-0 victory over Youngstown State. Friday's win improved CSU's overall record to 14-6, while the Vikings end the first half of Horizon League play with a 6-1 mark. YSU falls to 12-9 on the year, and 2-5 in league play.

Set scores against the Penguins were 25-13, 25-14, 25-14.

Kara Koch had a team-high 11 kills against the Penguins, while Marie Frease tallied nine, Kerry Winchester added seven and Maggie Hannon posted six. Dayna Roberts recorded 31 assists, with Amanda Medvetz leading the CSU defense with 11 digs. Jackie Dabbelt, Hannon, Frease, Roberts and Winchester each tallied two blocks at YSU.

With her 11 kills against YSU, Koch now ranks second all-time at CSU with 1,424 career kills. Koch surpassed Tenille Whiteside (1993-96) who recorded 1,416 kills during her time as a Viking with her first kill of the second set.

Youngstown State held an early lead during the opening set, but that did not last long, as the Vikings posted seven straight points to gain a 9-4 lead. CSU rattled off consecutive points multiple times throughout the remainder of the first frame, earning the 25-13 win on a Winchester kill and a Penguin error.

The second set was much like the first, as the Vikings notched four straight points early on, to gain a 9-3 advantage forcing an early YSU timeout. CSU held at least a five-point lead throughout the rest of the frame, including 11-point leads three times (19-8, 20-9, 23-12). The Penguins were able to fight off the first set point during the second frame, but Koch responded with her eighth kill of the match to put the set away.

The Penguins came out strong during the final set, as both teams battled back and forth for the first part of the frame until CSU was able to earn a four-point lead (11-7) on a Koch kill. The Vikings held the advantage for the rest of the set, closing out the match with three straight points, which included two YSU errors and another Koch kill.

Milwaukee 3, Wright State 1
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tallied 101 digs and 13 blocks in a stellar defensive effort to claim a 26-28, 25-18, 25-22, 27-25 win over Wright State Friday night at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (8-11, 3-3) limited the Raiders to a .097 hitting clip as three players tallied at least 20 dgs and Rachel Neuberger collected 10 blocks. Anna Bartz led the way in the back row with 26 digs while Julie Kolinske added 22 and Elizabeth Egerer 20.

UWM also had great balance on offense, with four players reaching double figures in kills. Egerer led the way with 18 while Neuberger added 15, Maggie Dunbar 14 and Kolinske 13.

Heidi Splinter led Wright State (2-21, 0-6) with 15 kills.

In the end, Milwaukee was dominant on the stat sheet, owning big edges in kills (63-45), digs (101-89) and blocks (13-2). Even though the Panthers were never able to truly seize control of the match, they also never let it slip away thanks to their defensive strength and some key kills late in the fourth set.

UWM finished off the match with a tough win in the fourth set. The Panthers led much of the early going, claiming advantages of 8-2 and 13-7. Wright State did fight back to grab an 18-16 lead and again led 23-21 on a pair of UWM errors. The Panthers then had to fight off a pair of set-points for Wright State but did so each time thanks to kills by Dunbar. Then, Kolinske stepped up with two kills of her own to seal the win.

The teams had split the first two sets. The Raiders used a huge comeback to pull out the first set. UWM bolted out to a 13-4 lead but Wright State steadily fought back. WSU eventually tied things at 24 and then used kills by Splinter and Natalie Catani to pull out the 28-26 win.

UWM struck back in the second set. The Panthers used a six-point run to claim an 11-7 advantage and went ahead 20-15 on a kill by Dunbar. The lead hit 24-17 on another Dunbar kill and then the freshman then closed out the frame with her fourth kill of the set.

The Panthers controlled the third set. The jumped out to an 11-4 lead and then used a six-point run to claim a 19-10 advantage. The Raiders did pull to within 23-20 and 24-22 but a kill by Egerer finished things off for Milwaukee.

UIC 3, Loyola 1

The UIC volleyball team (12-10,5-2) defeated Loyola (13-7, 5-2), 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 16-25, 25-13) Friday inside the Gentile Arena. The victory improves UIC's conference record to 5-2.

Senior Janise Dismuke posted her fifth-straight .400 plus hitting percentage match as the middle hitter knocked down 12 kills at .524. Kelsey Safranek led the Flames in kills with 15, while Aubrey Sniegowski chipped in 10.

Nicole Allgood collected 14 digs, while knocking down eight kills. Junior MaryKate Imrie dished out 48 assists.

The Flames began the first set in a three-point deficit (3-0), which forced UIC to call a timeout. The Ramblers then went on to lead the Flames 7-4, before UIC posted a four-point run to gain an 8-7 advantage. Loyola then echoed with its own four-point run for an 11-8 lead.

The teams traded points until Sniegowski ignited a six-point run with a kill, and the run led to an 18-15 tilt for UIC. The run proved to be too much for Loyola as the Flames were able to hold on to the lead and capture the set 25-22.

With UIC leading the match 1-0, the Flames began with a two-point lead in the second set. The Flames controlled the game as they posted a six-point run, and led the Ramblers by 10 points on six separate occasions. The Flames closed out the set with a 12-point advantage, 25-13.

The Ramblers then won the third set in a 25-15 decision to place the match score at 2-1, UIC.

The Flames and Ramblers played in a back-and-forth fashion to begin the fourth set, before the Flames went on to outscore Loyola 11-2. The rally resulted in a 10-point lead, 21-11. UIC then won four of the next five points to win the set, 25-13, and the match 3-1.

Valparaiso 3, Green Bay 0
A school-record performance from senior Taylor Root (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) propelled her into the top-10 in NCAA history in digs, while junior Ellen Vanden Berg (Little Chute, Wis./Little Chute) registered one of the best matches in program history on both sides of the ball as Valparaiso swept Green Bay, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) in Horizon League play Friday evening in Green Bay, Wis.

Root tallied nine digs in the first set Friday before recording an astounding 17 digs in the second frame.  With her fifth dig of the third set, Root moved past Jacksonville’s Michelle Walroth into the top-10 in NCAA history in digs and also matched her own school record for digs in a three-set match.  Root would end the night with 34 digs, bettering by three her previous program record for digs in a sweep, to give her 2,460 career digs, just 15 shy of ninth all-time in NCAA Division I volleyball.

Meanwhile, Vanden Berg had a huge match of her own on both sides of the net.  The junior picked up five kills on 11 swings without an error and also posted three blocks in the opening set.  Vanden Berg         then one-upped her performance in set two, tallying seven kills on nine attacks to go with three more blocks.  While the Little Chute native didn’t register a block in the final frame, she did pick up four more kills on six swings, ending the night hitting .615 (16 kills, 0 errors, 26 attacks) with six blocks.

The three-set match featured just five ties and one lead change, as Valpo never allowed Green Bay within closer than two points past the opening stage of any of the three sets.  The opening set saw the Crusaders turn a 2-1 deficit into a 12-5 lead thanks to a 11-3 run, including kills from four different players as well as three blocks, all of which Vanden Berg was in on.  The Phoenix never got closer than four points the rest of the way as Valpo took the opener.

Valpo went on an early 8-1 spurt in the second set to go ahead 10-3, as Vanden Berg picked up three more blocks as well as two kills, while redshirt sophomore Kelsey Victor combined with Vanden Berg with a pair of the rejections and also picked up a kill of her own.  The lead was cut to five late at 20-15, but the Crusaders scored the last five points of the set, including three kills by senior Mary Dent, to go into the in-game break up two sets.

The third set was the closest of the night, as after a six-point lead at the midway point, the Crusaders saw their lead whittled to two at 19-17.  A pair of Dent kills sandwiched a successful setter dump by freshman Kelsey Berrington to push the edge to 22-17, but a pair of blocks by the Phoenix made it 22-19.  Victor registered a kill to get the Crusaders the serve back, and following a service ace by redshirt sophomore Lindsey Hauch, Valpo converted its first match point on an error by Green Bay.

Dent added a solid offensive weapon to Vanden Berg’s impressive night, closing the night with 12 kills on .297 hitting.  Overall, the Crusaders out-killed Green Bay (10-10, 1-5 Horizon) by 20 kills, a 51-31 advantage, and hit over 100 points better.  Berrington handed out 23 assists, while junior Ariel Cudney added 17 assists of her own.  Junior Sarah Dooms tallied 19 digs and Hauch 12 to go along with Root in the back row, while Victor was part of four of the Crusaders’ eight blocks.

The Crusaders held all of Green Bay’s attackers into single figures in the kills category, as Lyndsay Zabkowicz led the way for the Phoenix with nine kills.  Brittany Groth paced Green Bay with 24 digs, while Katie Mroczenski and Carmen Leitermann were both part of five of the Phoenix’s ten blocks.