Volleyball Splits Five-Set Matches With Iowa, Wofford

by YSU

Sunday, Sep 1, 2013 10:39 am

The Youngstown State volleyball team split two five-set matches on Saturday at the Coastal Carolina Tournament, losing to Iowa before rallying to beat Wofford.

The Penguins, who battled through a five-set victory Friday evening, led the Hawkeyes 2-1 before dropping the final two sets. YSU then started its match with Wofford less than an hour later, and it showed grit by rallying from a two-set deficit to win 3-2.

Missy Hundelt, YSU's representative on the all-tournament team, had 18 kills and a career-high 30 digs against Iowa. She then had 11 kills, seven digs and six blocks in the victory over Wofford.

"It was great comeback, and I'm so proud of this team for gutting it out," YSU head coach Mark Hardaway said. "Wofford played great in the first two sets and took us completely out of our game. Lexi (Egler) had a very good match, and Missy really stepped it up offensively. Nichelle (Johnson) came off the bench and did a great job blocking. It was just an awesome team effort."

Against the Hawkeyes, YSU scored five straight points to go up 8-4 in the opening set and led by at least two the rest of the way in the 25-20 victory. Hundelt had five kills on 10 swings in that set, but she was held to one kill and four errors in the second set as YSU fell 25-16.

The Penguins won the third set 25-23 despite hitting just .075 as a team. Iowa evened up the match with a 25-18 victory in the fourth, a set in which it never trailed. The Hawkeyes scored four of the first five points in the fifth set, and YSU used a 4-1 run to pull within 7-6. Iowa led 11-6 when a three-point run gave the Penguins some hope and forced the Hawkeyes to call timeout, but YSU was never able to catch up. Alessandra Dietz had three kills over the final four points and finished with 26 for the match.

Had YSU been able to hold on against Iowa, it would have been the first victory over a team from the Big Ten Conference in school history.

Wofford had posted a .323 attack percentage and four aces in the first set to win 25-15, and it took the second set 25-18 despite being outhit .280 to .171.

Egler and Johnson both had three kills in the third set in which YSU scored seven of the final eight points. After a Penguins timeout, a Wofford service error, a block by Hundelt and Aly Ryan and an ace from Erika West gave YSU a 21-20 lead. An Egler kill and a Wofford attack error stretched the run to five, and Egler and Ryan combined for a block on match point as YSU stayed alive at 25-21.

Egler had four kills and Johnson had three blocks in the fourth set as YSU cruised to a 25-16 win. The Penguins went on a 10-2 run to go up 10-4, and Wofford did not get closer than five the rest of the way.

YSU built an 11-8 lead in the fifth set behind Chelsea Guerrieri's serve, but Wofford battled back to tie it at 13-13. Egler had a kill for a side out and set up a match point, and Amanda Liguori had a bad set for Wofford to give the Penguins the win.

The Penguins will host Saint Francis (Pa.), Tulane and Toledo on Friday and Saturday at the YSU Invitational at Beeghly Center. YSU will play SFU at 11 a.m. on Friday and Tulane at 7 p.m. The Penguins and Rockets will play at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

No comments posted...