Volleyball Scoreboard (Oct. 25)
Cleveland State 3, Wright State 0
Milwaukee 3, UIC 0
Oakland 3, Youngstown State 2
Valparaiso 3, Green Bay 0
Cleveland State 3, Wright State 0
The Cleveland State volleyball team got back on the winning track Saturday afternoon, earning a 3-0 victory over Wright State. With the win, the Vikings now stand at 11-11 overall this season and 4-5 in Horizon League play.
Set scores against Wright State were 25-20, 25-21, 25-19.
Maggie Hannon led the CSU offense with 11 kills on a .526 hitting percentage (11-1-19), while Christina Toth added nine kills. Dayna Roberts guided the CSU offense, recording 23 assists.
Nikki Holmes posted a team-high 15 digs to lead the Vikings defense, while Aaliyah Slappy and Toth each posted three blocks.
During the opening set, the Vikings had to battle their way back from a five-point deficit at the midway point, going on a 7-1 run to gain a one-point advantage at the 17-16 mark. From here, CSU was able to control play, closing out the frame with four straight points including a pair of Toth kills.
CSU was able to control play throughout the majority of the second frame, gaining a four-point lead at the 12-8 mark following an Ally Beck kill. The Vikings held the advantage for the remainder of the set then, posting back-to-back points on kills from Toth and Hannon to close out the frame.
The third set was much of the same, as the two teams battled back-and-forth during the first part of the set before CSU was able to distance itself at the 16-13 mark following back-to-back kills from Hannon. The Vikings held a slight advantage for the remainder of the frame then, closing out the match with an Alexis Middlebrooks kill.
Milwaukee 3, UIC 0
Kayla Price tallied a team-high 31 assists to help lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team to a 3-0 win over UIC Saturday afternoon from the Flames Athletic Center.
Milwaukee (13-10, 7-2 Horizon) jumped out to a quick first-set win before battling in the final two for a well-deserved 25-18, 29-27, 25-21 win – their second Horizon League road victory in less than 24 hours.
"It was really important to get that second set," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "This was a tough match – it wasn't easy. It was another really good team effort and I'm really proud of this team for putting two matches together back to back. That's hard to do. You have to be really focused. We had a very good game plan, the team executed very well, defensively we were solid and the block was great tonight."
The Panthers had 14 blocks in the three-set sweep and held the Flames to just a .077 hitting percentage on the night.
Julie Kolinske led the team with 11 kills, while Maggie Dunbar had 10. Taylor Golabowski had a team-high 15 digs and Myanna Ruiz just missed a double-double with nine kills and nine digs.
UWM stormed out to a commanding 7-3 lead early to start things off in set No. 1. UIC was able to battle back and knot things up at 13-13, but from there it was all Milwaukee. A kill by Dunbar closed out an impressive 9-3 run by the Panthers to claim the first set in convincing fashion.
Things didn't come as easily for UWM in the second. Milwaukee actually trailed 24-20 late in the frame, but Johnson's club battled off four-straight set points to bring things even at 24 apiece. After trading the first few points in extras, Milwaukee forced back-to-back attack errors by UIC to claim win.
Milwaukee again jumped out to an early lead in the third set, taking the first three points, before the Flames rallied for an 8-5 lead of their own. UWM rattled off a 7-2 run, capped by a Nicole Latzig kill to retake the lead at 12-10. UIC was able to keep things close, drawing things level at 20-20, but kills from Latzig, Kolinske and Price sparked a 5-1 run to end the set and close out the win for Milwaukee.
Oakland 3, Youngstown State 2
In a battle between two first-place teams, it was Oakland's Cassie Pelloni who led the way with a match-high and season-high 22 kills as the Golden Grizzlies prevailed after a two-set deficit to defeat Youngstown State Saturday afternoon, 19-25, 25-27, 25-20, 25-14, 18-16.
Oakland remained tied for first place in the Horizon League race with the win, improving to 15-9, 7-2 HL. Youngstown State suffered its first loss in six outings, dropping to 15-9, 6-3 HL.
"I thought our team displayed a lot of composure and a great competitive fight coming out of the locker room between sets two and three," Oakland head coach Rob Beam said. "Our team definitely loves a comeback. They are very competitive, and I thought they did a tremendous job down the stretch facing off match points."
Pelloni was one of four Oakland players in double figures in kills. Melissa Deatsch had a double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs, while Sammy Condon and Jessica Dood added 10 kills apiece.
Ciara Schultz, who capped the match with a service ace for the final point, was one off her career-high with 52 assists. As a team, Oakland rang up 10 service aces, including three to start the match by Deatsch.
Blocks also bolstered the Golden Grizzlies in their rally, as the team had nine after the second set, including five blocks in the fourth set. Amanda Baker had seven blocks with Dood adding six and Sammy Condon notching five.
After dropping the opening two sets, Oakland made adjustments out of the intermission and found a groove, hitting .290 over the final three sets. Youngstown State tried to recover in the fifth, taking a 6-2 lead early, but the Golden Grizzlies chipped away to tie the match at 13. From there, Youngstown State had two match points, but Oakland held them off and made good on their second match point of the night.
Valparaiso 3, Green Bay 0
The Valparaiso volleyball team got back on the winning track Saturday afternoon at the ARC, taking care of business against Green Bay in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-21) sweep in Horizon League action.
Sophomore Emily Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) continued her strong performance on the offensive side of the ball, hitting .316 with a match-high 17 kills. Senior Kelsey Victor (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) added 12 kills on .429 hitting, while senior Morgan Beil (St. Louis, Mo./Marquette) added eight kills without an error on 17 swings. Junior Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) handed out 38 assists on the match as the Crusaders hit .269 as a team.
Defensively, Valpo limited Green Bay to just 29 kills on .067 hitting, tallying 49 digs and seven blocks. Sophomore Morganne Longoria (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) led a balanced effort in the back row with 11 digs, while Campbell came up one dig shy of a double-double, posting nine of her own. At the net, Victor was part of six Crusader rejections as she leads the Horizon League in blocks/set, while Beil joined in on four blocks.
“Today was a good match to get back into our rhythm,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery. “Last night, we had trouble producing kills, and today, we had hitters step up and finish points. We also did a nice job closing out the sets that were tight down the stretch. Hopefully this serves us well heading into a challenging weekend.”
The Crusaders cruised to the first-set win, leading from the opening point as they forced the Phoenix to hit -061 for the set. Valpo used an 8-3 run mid-set to take a 12-8 lead and push it open to 20-11, eventually ending the opening set on a Phoenix attack error.
The second set would be much more difficult for Valpo to secure, as it featured 11 ties and six lead changes. The Crusaders erased an early deficit with a 7-1 run, which gave Valpo a 16-14 lead. But Green Bay would fight back, going ahead 19-18 before the Crusaders answered with four straight points, including two kills and a block by Victor. The teams would just trade side-outs the rest of the way, with kills from Beil accounting for each of the Crusaders’ final two points as they entered the locker room with a 2-0 edge.
Green Bay earned the first point of the third set, but Valpo scored six of the next seven, including four kills by Campbell, to take the lead for good. But it wouldn’t come easy for the Crusaders, as the Phoenix erased all but one point of a seven-point deficit to close within 20-19. Valpo responded with a kill from freshman Taylor Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio/Upper Sandusky) to prevent the Phoenix from tying things up, and back-to-back Green Bay errors gave Valpo match point. The Crusaders eventually converted on their second chance to end the match thanks to a Campbell kill.
Taylor Totka led Green Bay (3-17, 1-8 Horizon) with nine kills, but no other Phoenix player had more than six kills. Taylor Kasal paced all players with 15 digs.
