#HLVB Scoreboard (Oct. 3)
Cleveland State 3, UIC 1
Milwaukee 3, Green Bay 1
Oakland 3, Wright State 0
Valparaiso 3, Youngstown State 1
Cleveland State 3, UIC 1
The Cleveland State volleyball team continued Horizon League play Friday evening, capturing a 3-1 victory at UIC. With the win, the Vikings now stand at 9-7 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Set scores against UIC were 25-21, 25-9, 19-25, 25-19.
The Vikings once again had a strong blocking performance, as they posted 13 total team blocks against the Flames. Maggie Hannon recorded six block assists and four solo blocks on the night, tying her career-high with 10 total blocks. Christina Toth and Aaliyah Slappy each posted four blocks for the Vikings, while Alexis Middlebrooks tallied two and Grace Kauth added one.
Kauth and Slappy led the Viking offense against UIC, Kauth with a team-high 14 kills and Slappy with a career-best 10 kills on a career-high .562 attack percentage (10-1-16). Gina Kilner recorded 21 assists on the match, while Dayna Roberts added 19 helpers. Kauth and Ally Beck led the defensive efforts, combining for 23 of Cleveland State's 42 digs.
During the opening set, Cleveland State came back from a four-point deficit at the 15-11 mark to tie the frame at 15-15 after a 4-0 run. During this stretch, CSU got points from Slappy and Kauth kills, a Beck service ace and a block from Slappy and Hannon. The two teams traded leads four times over the next eight points, before the Vikings were finally able to distance themselves with back-to-back points from a Beck kill and a Hannon block to put the score at 21-19. CSU then closed out the match on a 4-2 run, including back-to-back points on a UIC error and Kauth kill, to claim the 25-21 victory.
The Vikings then cruised to a 25-9 victory during set two, before UIC claimed a 25-19 victory during the third frame. Entering the fourth set, CSU held a 2-1 advantage, and clinched the match with a 25-19 win during the final frame.
During the fourth set the two teams were evenly matched for the majority of the frame, until the Vikings were able to post back-to-back points on a Toth kill and a Hannon block to gain a two-point advantage at 19-17. Cleveland State then held the lead for the remainder of the frame, closing out the set and the match on a 5-0 run that included kills from Slappy and Kauth.
Milwaukee 3, Green Bay 1
Sophomore Myanna Ruiz collected her third triple-double of the season and three University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee volleyball players recorded double-figure kills to highlight a 25-18, 23-25, 25-10, 25-15 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Friday night at the Klotsche Center.
"She's just such an important player for us because she does a lot for us – she sets, she digs, she hits and she blocks," UWM head coach Susie Johnson said. "She is a very critical person for us in the lineup and I am excited she had another good night."
The Panthers (8-8, 3-0 Horizon League) improved to a perfect 6-0 at home this season with the 3-1 victory over the Phoenix (2-12, 0-3 Horizon League), played in front of a crowd of 819 on Alumni and Family Night.
"We had to settle in and I feel like we did a good job of that, but it really took until about set three for us to really settle in," Johnson said. "I thought we really took care of business after that."
Ruiz finished with 12 kills, 24 assists and picked up her 10th dig near the end of the fourth set to become just the second player to have three-or-more triple-doubles in a UWM career. She added four blocks and also become the second-ever UWM player with back-to-back triple-doubles (Leanne Felsing in 2007).
Senior Julie Kolinske played well, finishing with 19 kills (.400 hitting percentage) for her third-consecutive double-figure kill effort. Junior Maggie Dunbar also got in on the action with 13 kills, hitting .370 on the evening. Junior Nicole Latzig paced the team with five blocks.
"I thought they did a really nice job," Johnson said. "The setters did a good job of getting them the ball and they finished. And that is what we have been working on."
Senior Taylor Golabowski passed an impressive achievement at the end of the third set, recording her 1,000th career dig to become the 11th player in Milwaukee program history to eclipse that plateau. She ended the match with 22 of them, her third consecutive outing of 20-or-more digs and a season-high for a four-setter.
"She is doing really well for us," Johnson said. "She is a great leader for us on the court but she is also a great defensive player and passer. It was nice to see her get that 1,000th dig, but it was also nice to see how many she had in the match."
Milwaukee controlled the final two sets from start to finish. Golabowski served her team to a 5-1 start in set four, but a Green Bay rally did make it 11-8 at the time. With the score 14-10, Golabowski again served a big run, accounting for seven points in a row with an ace making it 21-10. Ruiz got service back with a kill at 24-15 and a Phoenix hitting error ended it.
Set three had a similar tone. This time, freshman Mykie Olsen served UWM to a 6-0 start and the advantage was built to 9-1 on a Kolinske kill, forcing a Green Bay timeout. It didn't change anything as the Panthers maintained at least a 10-point lead the rest of the way in the 25-10 victory.
The second set witnessed 14 ties and three lead changes, with the biggest lead by either side just a slim two points. It was 23-23 to give Milwaukee life, but an attack error and a Phoenix block sealed the deal.
Kolinske (6 kills) and Ruiz (5 kills) led Milwaukee to a comfortable 25-18 win in the opener.
Oakland 3, Wright State 0
Jessica Dood led a balanced Oakland attack with a match-high 11 kills Friday evening as the Golden Grizzlies volleyball team defeated Wright State, 25-12, 25-13, 25-19. The victory moves Oakland to 11-7 overall and 3-0 against Horizon League foes, while the Raiders slip to 3-14, 0-3.
"The team played well; I thought we rebounded nicely from our loss on Tuesday," said head coach Rob Beam. "I thought we played great defense, and I'm really proud of the win."
Dood hit .444 on her way to 11 kills while adding three blocks in the win. Sammy Condon added seven kills with two blocks, while Melissa Deatsch also had seven kills and two blocks.
Oakland combined for nine blocks on the night, led by four blocks (three assists, one solo) by Amanda Baker.
Ciara Schultz had 29 assists along with an impressive five kills at the setter position, while also leading Oakland with 12 digs and three service aces. Taylor Humm added 11 digs, with Allia Knight (9 digs) and Deatsch (8 digs) helping on the defensive side.
Valparaiso 3, Youngstown State 1
The Valparaiso volleyball team continued its stellar run this season on Friday evening at the ARC, bouncing back after dropping the opening set to Youngstown State to earn a 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-13) victory over the Penguins in Horizon League play.
“I’m very proud of the team for the adjustments we made after the first set tonight,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery. “In the first set, we did not do a good job of executing our game plan. I thought it takes a really mature team to put that behind us, learn from it and make the adjustments we needed to make in the next three sets to come out with the win.”
The Crusaders struggled with YSU in the opening frame, tallying just nine kills while the Penguins registered 17 terminations. Youngstown State took an 8-7 lead and scored 16 of the next 22 points to earn set point at 24-13. Valpo was able to hold off three set point chances, but a kill from YSU’s Shannon Watson eventually gave the visitors the first set.
Valpo rebounded in the second set, leading the frame start-to-finish. The Crusaders got out to a strong start, forcing a YSU timeout at 11-5 after a solo block from Emily Campbell (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) and another timeout at 18-11 following a Taylor Graboski (Upper Sandusky, Ohio/Upper Sandusky) kill. Valpo pushed the frame to set point at 24-19, but YSU reeled off three straight points to force a Crusader timeout with the lead cut to 24-22. Out of the stoppage, though, freshman Allison Ketcham (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian) picked up a kill to send the match into the in-game break tied at one set apiece.
The third set was back-and-forth early on, featuring seven ties and a pair of lead changes. The final tie came at 11-11, after which point the Crusaders stepped up with a 7-1 spurt, including two kills by Campbell and a pair of blocks from the combination of Campbell and Kelsey Victor (Logansport, Ind./Logansport), to go ahead 18-12. YSU scored four straight points to close to within 18-16, but Victor registered back-to-back kills to push the lead back to four points, and Valpo’s advantage was at least three the rest of the way.
The Crusaders cruised to the fourth-set win, hitting .353 with 14 kills in the final frame while limiting the Penguins to .053 hitting. Valpo led from the opening point, and pushed a three-point edge at 8-5 to nine points with a 6-0 run, including a pair of service aces by Rachel Bruinsma (New Era, Mich./Western Michigan Christian). YSU crawled back within six points at 15-9, but the Crusaders scored ten of the match’s final 14 points to pull away for the win.
Campbell led a balanced offensive attack for the Crusaders on Friday with 15 kills, as six different Valpo players totaled at least six kills. Victor hit .346 with 11 kills, while Ketcham ended the night in double figures as well, tallying ten terminations. The Crusaders hit 256 as a team, with Kelsey Berrington (Britton, Mich./Tecumseh) handing out 43 assists to go with six kills on .417 hitting.
Defensively, Valpo was strong on Friday evening, totaling 92 digs. Morganne Longoria (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) led the way in the back with 22 digs, one of five Crusaders to end the night in double figures in that category. Berrington (16 digs), Ketcham (16 digs) and Campbell (15 digs) all recorded double-doubles, while Bruinsma reached double figures for the second time this year, tallying 12 digs. At the net, Victor posted a match-best five blocks, leaving her just one rejection shy of 300 for her career.
Lexi Egler led Youngstown State (10-8, 1-2 Horizon) with 14 kills and 14 digs, reaching 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs, both in the fourth set. Shannon Watson added 12 kills in the losing effort, while Nikki Thompson totaled a match-high 27 digs.
