Penguins Post 11 Aces in Four-Set Loss to Green Bay

by YSU

Friday, Oct 7, 2016 10:21 pm

Eleven aces and 12 blocks weren't enough for the Youngstown State volleyball team on Friday evening as the Penguins dropped a four-setter to Horizon League-leading Green Bay at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19.

Lori Vanbeek finished with a match-high 13 kills, and Lauren Blanco registered 19 of YSU's 52 digs. Sarah Varcolla tied for match-high honors with seven blocks, and Aleah Hughes posted three aces.

Youngstown State had seven more kills and seven more aces than Green Bay, but the Penguins also committed 13 more serving errors, 13 more attack errors and three more blocking errors.

Green Bay scored the first three points of the match and never trailed in the first set, and six Penguins serving errors in the set helped the Phoenix keep the lead.

Youngstown State flipped the script in the second set by scoring the first five points behind Dana Borsz's serve, and the Penguins never trailed. Green Bay rallied to tie the score three times at 12-12, 18-18 and 19-19 before YSU pulled away late. A Morgan Tippie kill gave the Penguins a 20-19 lead and sparked a 4-0 run. A Sam Brown kill gave YSU a set point, and Green Bay's Abby Jeffcoat followed with an attack error resulted in the final point.

YSU was in position to go up 2-1 in the match with a 17-12 lead in the third set, but Green Bay closed the set on a 13-4 run. The Phoenix had four blocks in that stretch, and YSU had four additional attack errors.

The fourth set had 12 ties and five lead changes in the early going, and Green Bay held the upper hand after taking a 15-14 lead on a Taylor Totka kill. The Penguins closed the gap to within one again at 18-17 when Brown and Varcolla blocked Totka, but Green Bay ended strong again with a 7-2 run.

Youngstown State will host Milwaukee on Saturday at 4 p.m.