Oakland, UWM, Valpo and YSU Win on Halloween Night

Volleyball Scoreboard (Oct. 31)
Milwaukee 3, Green Bay 0
Oakland 3, Wright State 0
Valparaiso 3, Cleveland State 0
Youngstown State 3, UIC 1

Milwaukee 3, Green Bay 0
Senior Julie Kolinske had 18 kills and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball team held Green Bay to a .044 hitting percentage on the night in recording a 3-0 sweep Friday at the Kress Center.

"I thought this was an efficient match for us – we came to play and we were very prepared and focused," Milwaukee head coach Susie Johnson said. "I was proud of the team for coming out with a 3-0 win."

The Panthers (14-10, 8-2 Horizon League) came out on top against the Phoenix (4-18, 1-9 Horizon League) in a close first set and then stepped on the gas pedal from there, claiming the 25-20, 25-10, 25-21 victory.

"Offensively, we were really strong," Johnson said. "Kayla set a really nice match and look at the stats - Julie and Maggie had great matches, Myanna and Nicole's numbers were good too. The defense was solid as well."

The offense was clicking all match, finishing with a .351 hitting percentage overall. Kolinske hit .351 individually as well, with junior Maggie Dunbar also in double-figures with 11 kills on .429 hitting. Junior Kayla Price distributed 41 assists and senior Taylor Golabowski led the defense with 12 digs.

No Phoenix player had more than seven kills as UWM made just 10 errors on the night and put up a 44-25 margin in team kills.

Tied 15-15 in the first set, Milwaukee forced three straight Green Bay hitting errors to open up some room. The Phoenix were back within two at 21-19, but a service error made it 22-19. Kolinske provided two of the final three points with emphatic kills to take the first set.

The Panthers dominated the second set. An early 11-6 hole forced a GB timeout. From there, Golabowski took over, going on a long service run that included nine total points and a pair of service aces that eventually grew the margin to 21-7 en route to the easy win, hitting .423 in the frame.

Milwaukee trailed early in the third but took the lead at 9-8 and never were behind again, holding a comfortable margin the rest of the way.

Oakland 3, Wright State 0
Jessica Dood was one of three Oakland players in double figures in kills Friday night, as her 12 kills led the Golden Grizzlies to a 25-22, 25-19, 25-16 victory at Wright State. Oakland pushed its winning streak to four matches and improved to 16-9, 8-2 HL while the Raiders dropped to 4-20, 1-9 HL.

"This was a good team win against a Wright State team that played well and that has been playing their best volleyball of the season," Oakland head coach Rob Beam said. "We had different players step up at key times in each set. I am proud of our team and the way we executed tonight."

Dood hit .500 on the way to her match-best total in kills, while Sammy Condon hit .304 with 11 kills. Cassie Pelloni, the defending Horizon League offensive player of the week, added 10 kills.

The Golden Grizzlies blitzed Wright State with eight service aces, led by Melissa Deatsch's five. Ciara Schultz added two aces to go with 37 assists.

Oakland's defense was up to the task, as four players were in double figures in digs. Led by Taylor Humm's 21 digs, Oakland also had double-digit efforts from Deatsch (13), Allia Knight (12) and Schultz (10).

Valparaiso 3, Cleveland State 0
The Valparaiso volleyball program made it 13 consecutive seasons with 20 or more victories on Friday evening, sweeping Cleveland State (25-13, 25-9, 25-18) in Cleveland to reach the milestone in 2014 and improve to 6-4 in Horizon League play.

Valpo entered this season as one of just ten programs nationwide which had won at least 20 matches every season since 2002.  The Crusaders were the fifth program to extend that streak to at least 13 straight 20-win seasons this year, joining Colorado State, Penn State, Stanford and Western Kentucky.

The 20th win came with ease Friday night for Valpo, as there was just one lead change over the match’s three sets.  That lead change would come after the Vikings claimed the first two points of the match.  The Crusaders eventually took the lead for good in the opening frame at 7-6, and after CSU briefly tied things up, Valpo put up six straight points – including two kills from freshman Taylor Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio/Upper Sandusky) – to take control.  That six-point spurt was the start of a 18-6 run which would end the opener in Valpo’s favor, as the Crusaders hit .400 in the first set while holding the Vikings to negative hitting.

The second set was never in doubt, as sophomore Emily Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) tallied four early kills and freshman Allison Ketcham (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) picked up a pair of service aces as part of a 9-2 spurt to start the frame.  Sophomore Rachel Bruinsma (New Era, Mich./Western Michigan Christian) would later tally three straight aces as Valpo limited Cleveland State to just five kills and kept the Vikings to single digits in a full set for the first time since joining the Horizon League.

The third set looked like it would be more of the same, as Valpo jumped out to a 10-4 edge.  But Cleveland State responded with six straight points to tie the set at 10-10 and make things interesting.  It was still just a 17-16 Crusader lead before the offense of Campbell and senior Kelsey Victor (Logansport, Ind./Logansport) took over late.  Victor and Campbell each had three kills in the late stages of the third set as the Crusaders closed on an 8-2 run to finish out the sweep.

As she has done most of the season, Campbell led the way offensively, posting 12 kills while also tallying 13 digs for another double-double.  Victor and Graboski both added eight kills while hitting .385 and .368, respectively, as the Crusaders hit .257 for the match.  Junior Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) dished out 29 assists in the win.

Bruinsma picked up five aces over the three sets Friday, tying for the fifth-most in a three-set match in Crusader history and leading the way as Valpo totaled nine service aces in the win.  Sophomore Morganne Longoria (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) registered a match-best 21 digs, while Graboski was in on five of Valpo’s seven blocks, including a pair of solo rejections.

Valpo limited Cleveland State (11-12, 4-6 Horizon) to just .017 hitting and 21 kills on the night, as three CSU players combined for 19 of the team’s 21 kills, led by seven terminations from Grace Kauth.  Dayna Roberts posted a double-double with 11 assists and ten digs.

Youngstown State 3, UIC 1
Youngstown State senior volleyball player Shannon Watson had 13 of her career-high 18 kills in the final two sets, and the Penguins rallied to beat UIC in four sets on Friday evening at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 17-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22.

Watson's 18 kills came on a .485 attack percentage, and she tied for match-high honors with six blocks. YSU hit .250 as a team, including .294 over the final three sets. Lexi Egler added 13 kills, and Sam Brown posted 10. Setter Val Jeffery posted 41 assists and seven kills, and Nikki Thompson registered 14 digs.

UIC junior Stephenee Yancy had 23 kills on a .583 attack percentage to lead all players.

"I'm really pleased with how we responded after the first set," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "UIC dictated the pace the first set, and with a player like Yancy, you can't let them dictate the pace. We put more pressure on them from the service line, and our two seniors really stepped up tonight."

The Flames scored 10 of the final 12 points of the first set to pull away for the 25-17 win. YSU answered in the second set with a 25-21 win, which was keyed by a four-point run when the score was tied at 16-16.

Watson had six kills without an error in the third set, and YSU went on a 13-4 run when it got down 10-7. Watson had three kills during that stretch, and she scored the Penguins' final three points of the set on two kills and a solo block of Yancy.

One of Watson's seven kills in the fourth set started a 5-1 run that put the Penguins up 17-14, and they held the lead the rest of the way. Aly Ryan's kill gave YSU its largest lead of the set at 21-17, and Watson added two more kills to finish off the match once UIC climbed to within 22-21.

Brown recorded her 200th dig of the season in the first set. Egler and she are the only two Penguins freshmen in the last 10 years to record both 200 kills and 200 digs.