CSU, Loyola, UIC and YSU have Winning Efforts on Friday Night

It was a night of great volleyball action in the Horizon League on Friday. The day ended with two five-set matches going on simultaneously as Cleveland State held off Valparaiso’s rally to win and Loyola completed its comeback against Milwaukee to capture the victory. With the wins the Vikings and Ramblers stay tied atop the League standings with 4-1 conference marks.

Earlier in the evening, Youngstown State won its first conference road match of the season with a 3-0 victory over Wright State. UIC was also victorious on Friday, defeating Green Bay, 3-0 for its fourth-straight home win.

Friday, Oct. 5 Results
Cleveland State def. Valparaiso, 3-2 (25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 15-10)
Loyola def. Milwaukee, 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 20-25, 25-16, 15-9)
UIC def. Green Bay,  3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-14)
Youngstown State def. Wright State, 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-22)

Cleveland State 3, Valparaiso 2
Behind a career-high tying 16 kills from Kerry Winchester and a season-best 71 kills as a team, the Cleveland State volleyball team earned a five-set victory at Valparaiso Friday evening.

Set scores against the Crusaders were 25-17, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 15-10.

Along with Winchester, Marie Frease and Kara Koch also tallied double-digit kills for the Vikings, Koch with 23 and Frease with 15.Dayna Roberts captained the Viking offense, recording a career-high 61 assists on the night. Koch and Amanda Medvetz each notched their fourth 20-dig matches of the season against the Crusaders, Koch with 20 digs and Medvetz with a team-high 28. Nikki Holmes also posted a career-best 18 digs, while Maggie Hannon tallied a career-high eight blocks, including one solo block.

The Vikings were in control throughout the entire first set, jumping out to an 11-3 lead forcing Valparaiso to take both timeouts early in the frame. The Crusaders were able to come within four points twice during the rest of the frame, but that would be as close as they could get as Cleveland State pulled out the 25-17 victory. The Vikings had six kills from Koch and Winchester during the opening set, along with seven digs from Medvetz and five from Holmes.

The second set was much closer, as the Crusaders and Vikings battled back and forth throughout the first part of the frame. Neither team held more than a two-point lead until the 19-16 mark when Cleveland State gained a three-point advantage on a Frease kill. The Vikings earned six out of the next nine points, including three-straight to end the set on kills from Koch and Jackie Dabbelt.

After dropping the third and fourth sets, the Vikings came out strong during the final frame, earning the 15-10 victory. CSU held the advantage during the entire set, and distanced themselves with a Winchester kill at the 10-6 mark. The Vikings closed the frame with two straight points on a Koch kill and a Crusader error.

Valparaiso had three players reach double-figures in kills, led by sophomore Morgan Beil who had 18 kills on a .385 hitting percentage. Taylor Root had a career-high 39 digs for the Crusaders, the second-most in a match in program history.

Loyola 3, Milwaukee 2
Anna Eytchison had 25 kills and 20 digs and Loyola used solid contributions across the board to rally past Milwaukee 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 20-25, 25-16, 15-9) tonight at Gentile Arena.

The first set was tight in the early stages until Loyola opened up a 13-10 lead after back-to-back Eytchison kills. Four straight UWM points later turned a 16-13 deficit into a 17-16 Panthers lead but the Ramblers bounced back to take a 20-18 lead on a Kathleen Vogel solo block. Milwaukee hung in there and battled back, rattling off the next four points to regain the lead, and the teams battled to 23-all before two UWM kills gave the visitors the opening set.

The second set was all Loyola as three Vogel kills jumpstarted a 7-0 Rambler run that made it a 12-5 game. Eytchison had a kill and an ace later in a four-point burst that extended the margin to 10 (20-10) and the home team was never threatened with Brittany Brown closing out a 25-13 set with a kill and an ace.

Milwaukee roared out the gates in the third set, taking it to the Ramblers early. The Panthers opened up a 12-4 lead on a Rachel Neuberger kill but Loyola immediately responded, going on a 10-3 run that included three Vogel aces to get within a point, 15-14. A service error helped UWM slow the Loyola charge and the Panthers quickly extended to an 18-14 lead. Kills from Eytchison and Libby Bresser later helped get LU within two (21-19) but the Ramblers could not get over the hump, dropping the third set, 25-20.

The fourth set followed a similar pattern to the second frame and Loyola found itself with a 10-6 lead after two Eytchison kills and another from Bresser. It was a 13-10 lead when the Ramblers gained some separation. A five-point scoring run comprised of three Vogel kills and two from Brown made it 18-10 and LU was able to keep the Panthers at bay the rest of the way with Laura Purcell sealing a 25-16 win to send the match to a fifth set.

Although it was Loyola's first five-set match of the season, they came out aggressive. After splitting the first four points, Purcell and Bresser came up with two big blocks, the second of which also included Eytchison, to give the Ramblers some momentum. An Eytchison kill followed and Bresser drilled three more after that to give LU a commanding 9-2 lead. However, the final six points would not come easy and Milwaukee scored the next four to get within three, 9-6. A Vicki Wrobel ace helped Loyola extend back to a six-point lead (12-6) but, again, the Panthers battled back, getting to 12-9 on a Neuberger kill to prompt a Rambler timeout. Eytchison had a big kill coming out of the break to restore order and Loyola scored the final two points to wrap up the win.

Eytchison notched her first career 20-20 match, leading the way with her 25 kills and 20 digs. Vogel had another solid match, racking up 15 kills and three aces, while Bresser also reached double figures in kills, adding 10 to her four blocks. Purcell keyed a strong blocking effort with a career-high seven stuffs and Nichole Riedel was solid in the middle, finishing with five kills and eight digs in addition to some solid serving in the fifth set.

Brown had a nice match running the offense, racking up seven kills and 56 assists while guiding the attack to a .277 hitting percentage and Stephanie Kinane was rock solid in the back, digging a match-high 25 balls.

Elizabeth Egerer led UWM with 18 kills, while Neuberger contributed 14 on a .444 attack percentage. Julie Kolinske had a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs.

UIC 3, Green Bay 0
The UIC volleyball team (10-10, 3-2) handled Green Bay (9-8, 1-3) in straight sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-14) Friday inside the Flames Athletic Center. The win is UIC's fourth-straight home win.

Janise Dismuke and Sara Sternard piloted the Flames to the victory by logging double-digit kills, 13 and 12, respectively. Dismuke hit at .400 in the victory, while Sternard hit at .429.

MaryKate Imrie handed out 41 helpers in the match to lead all players.

Dismuke and Kelsey Safranek led all players in kills during the first set of play with five, while hitting at .444 and .364, respectively. The Flames squad hit at .378 in comparison to Green Bay at .205. Imrie dished out 15 assists in the frame.

The Flames outscored Green Bay 8-2 early in the game to place the score at 9-5. Soon after, Dismuke scored three-consecutive points for UIC to notch the team's first five-point lead of the set. The next five-point edge was at 21-17.

The Flames secured four of the final six points of the frame to secure the win at 25-19.

Dismuke again led all players in kills with six (.286) in the frame, while Imrie dished out 12 helpers.

The Phoenix outscored the Flames 6-3 to begin the set. UIC then went on a six-point run, which was ignited with a kill by Sternard. Sternard then chipped in on the following two points, including a block with senior Nicole Allgood and Safranek held serve during the run.

In a back-and-forth battle, including four lead changes, UIC was finally able to close out the set by scoring the final four points to earn a 25-21 win and take a match lead of 2-0.

UIC hit at .464 in the deciding set of play, while outscoring the Phoenix 14-6 to begin the frame. The Flames didn't let up as they captured the set 25-14 and the match in straight sets.

Carmen Leitermann was the only Phoenix player able to reach double-figures in kills Friday night, finishing with 11 kills on a .450 attack percentage.  Brittany Groth, the league leader in digs, led the defensive effort for Green Bay, finishing with 20 digs.

Youngstown State 3, Wright State 0
The Youngstown State volleyball team fought off two set points to win the first set and went on to sweep Wright State on Friday evening at McLin Gym, 26-24, 25-19, 25-22.

Shannon Watson finished with a match-high 12 kills and added four blocks, and Jenna Cavanaugh added seven blocks, and Erika West posted 17 digs.

Marisa Aiello registered 12 kills, and Katie Glassmeyer had a match-high 21 digs to lead Wright State’s efforts.

Youngstown State fought off the two set points by scoring four straight points to win the first set 26-24. YSU led by as many as four at 10-6 on a Casey D'Ambrose ace, but Wright State rallied and took its first lead at 15-14 on an Alexis Egler error. The Raiders scored three straight points, two of which were on kills by Aiello, to go up 24-22 and give themselves two set points. Egler had a kill for a YSU side out, and Nikki Thompson followed with an ace to make the score 24-24. Hundelt then put YSU up 25-24 with a kill, and the Penguins took the set on an attack error by Aiello.

YSU never trailed in the second set and jumped out to a 5-1 lead as Cavanaugh picked up two early blocks. The Penguins eventually built an 11-4 lead, and Wright State got no closer than four the rest of the set. YSU's largest lead came at 22-12 on an Egler kill.

YSU scored the first five points and led 7-1 in the third set behind three early blocks from Cavanaugh and Watson. YSU led 10-3 on a Watson kill, but Wright State went on a run and cut the margin to 11-10. YSU then went on an 8-3 run to go up 19-13 after a Watson kill. An Aly Ryan kill put YSU up 23-14 and a Kelsey Wagy kill made the score 24-15. Wright State scored seven straight points to make the score 24-22 before Mariah Nussbaum's serving error ended the match.