Volleyball Scoreboard (Oct. 10)
Milwaukee 3, Cleveland State 0
Oakland 3, Valparaiso 1
UIC 3, Wright State 0
Youngstown State 3, Green Bay 2
Milwaukee 3, Cleveland State 0
The Panthers were efficient in seemingly all areas in a true team win as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 win over Cleveland State University Friday evening from Woodling Gymnasium.
Milwaukee (9-8, 4-0 Horizon) played arguably their best match of the season, hitting over .300 in both the first and third sets for the 25-15, 25-22, 25-17 win.
The Panthers also had a great night defensively, tallying four blocks against the Vikings (9-9, 2-3) with three players reaching double figures in digs.
Kayla Price had a game-high 41 assists, while Julie Kolinske led the way with 14 kills. Myanna Ruiz also tallied 12 kills and Maggie Dunbar registering 10.
"This was an incredible team effort tonight," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "We were efficient all night long and we were really disciplined. It was the best we've played all season long and I'm just very proud of how we played tonight."
Milwaukee dominated the first set and won going away. Cleveland State actually led 8-6 in the early going and kept it close up to 13-12. But from there it was all UWM. A kill by Maggie Dunbar started a 6-0 Panther run. Ruiz ended the match with a kill as Milwaukee scored 12 of the final 15 points of the set.
Although the second set was a little closer, UWM jumped out in front right away and never relinquished the lead. Three-straight CSU errors gave Milwaukee an early 10-5 advantage. The Vikings tried their best to chip away, but the Panthers refused to let CSU any closer before Julie Kolinske closed it out with a kill.
It was much of the same for Milwaukee in the third. CSU held an early 2-1 lead, but the Panthers immediately regained the lead and never looked back. A service ace by Maddie Schmitz followed by a Ruiz kill quickly made it 7-3, UWM. Dunbar got in on the action with an ace of her own to make it 11-5, before Ruiz closed out the set and the match with aces on two of the three final points.
Oakland 3, Valparaiso 1
Cassie Pelloni led Oakland with 16 kills while Jessica Dood and Sammy Condon added 15 and 11 kills, respectively, as the Golden Grizzlies came back from a one-set deficit to defeat Valparaiso Friday evening, 19-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-18. With the victory, Oakland remains unbeaten in Horizon League play at 4-0 with an overall mark of 12-7, while Valparaiso slips to 16-3, 3-2.
"It was really a team effort," said head coach Rob Beam. "It all starts with ball control and defense, and I think this was our best defensive match we played all year."
Oakland's defense was up to the task, as Taylor Humm gathered 27 digs to lead the Golden Grizzlies. Melissa Deatsch (19), Ciara Schultz (11) and Allia Knight (10) also had double figures in digs.
After starting out rocky on the attack in the first set, Oakland settled down and crushed 48 kills in the final three sets, hitting .302 along the way. Guiding the offense was Schultz, who handed out 44 assists.
Oakland out-aced Valpo 8-2, with four coming from Humm's service.
UIC 3, Wright State 0
The UIC volleyball team (8-12, 2-3 HL) picked up its second Horizon League victory of the season Friday night with a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-14, 25-18) over Wright State (3-15, 0-4 HL). The Flames collected their third sweep of the season and have won five straight meetings with the Raiders, who were held to a .161 attack percentage.
The Flames hit .307 as a team, which is their third highest attack percentage of the season. UIC also had 41 kills, four service aces and six blocks. The Raiders were limited to 29 kills, the lowest by a UIC opponent this season.
Senior Sara Jo Sternard put down a match-high 12 kills on 21 attempts for a stellar .476 attack percentage. She had five kills on eight attempts in the first set and four on seven swings in the final frame.
Sternard collected her eighth double-digit effort of the season and first since Sept. 16 at Northern Illinois. She owns 941 career kills and needs 59 more to become the 16th member of UIC's 1,000 Kills Club.
Junior Stephenee Yancy, who ranks fifth in the nation with 324 kills, extended her double-digit kill streak to 20 matches with 10 kills on 19 attempts for a .316 attack percentage. Yancy used a big third set to extend her streak as she put down six kills on eight attempts. She also collected a match-high five blocks and owns 33 total blocks over her last six contests.
Redshirt freshman Nicole Johnson, who leads the nation with 900 assists, had 32 assists, eight digs, four kills and two blocks in an all-around solid performance. Johnson's four kills came on five attempts for a strong .800 attack percentage.
Senior Maggie Strus compiled 12 digs for her 13th consecutive double-digit effort. She set UIC's digs program record last weekend and increased her career total to 1,545. Strus also recorded her first ace since the win over Indiana on Sept. 12.
Sophomore Kara Johnson contributed seven kills, seven digs and two aces while senior Molly McCoy added six kills. Freshman Allie O'Reilly had six digs and an ace on defense.
The first set was the most tightly contested as it featured eight ties and three lead changes. Megan Hopkins' kill put the Raiders up 9-8 but it was their final lead of the contest. Long service runs by Kara and Nicole Johnson allowed the Flames to take a 21-16 lead. Nicole Johnson ended the set at 25-22 with her second kill of the frame.
UIC hit at a .500 clip with 12 kills on 22 attempts in a quick 25-14 second set victory. The Flames then held WSU to nine kills in the final set while hitting .353 as a team in a commanding 25-18 win.
Youngstown State 3, Green Bay 2
The Youngstown State volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit with a strong all-around effort to rally for a five-set victory over Green Bay on Friday evening at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 24-26, 25-16, 20-25, 25-14, 15-11.
Sam Brown had a team-high 14 kills and joined Lexi Egler with a double-double, and setter Val Jeffery ran an efficient offense that hit .247. Aly Ryan had eight blocks, and Nikki Thompson posted a match-high 24 digs to lead the defense. Youngstown State had 14 blocks as a team, 10 more than the Phoenix.
Green Bay was led by Taylor Kasal's 17 kills.
"Green Bay was very aggresive all night, and we seemed to make our runs when our defense picked up," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "Down the stretch in the fifth set Lexi had several key digs that turned into big points for us. I thought her defense late in set five was huge. Aly, Lauren (Thompson) and Sam all had big nights at the net, and Shannon (Watson) came through with some very timely kills after a slow start. It was not our best performance, but it was a great team effort to pull out the come-from-behind win."
