The Youngstown State volleyball team had its best of 12 seasons in the Horizon League during the regular season, and it's hoping to have its best showing in the Horizon League Tournament when postseason begins Friday in Milwaukee. The Penguins are the fifth seed in the field and will play fourth-seeded Green Bay at 5:30 p.m. Eastern in the first match of the tournament. Live video and live stats will be available throughout the tournament on HorizonLeague.com.

The Penguins enter the postseason with a 15-14 overall record and a program-best 7-7 mark in Horizon League play. YSU beat three (Cleveland State twice, Green Bay and Valparaiso) of the other five teams in the tournament field and was competitive with the other two (Milwaukee and Oakland) during the regular season, which gives the Penguins realistic optimism for a tournament run. Youngstown State and Green Bay split two matches during the regular season with each team winning on the road. YSU won in four sets in Green Bay on Oct. 18, and the Phoenix beat the Penguins in straight sets in the final match of the regular season on Saturday.

With a win over Green Bay, YSU would advance to play either top-seeded Milwaukee or second-seeded Valparaiso on Saturday. No. 3 Oakland plays No. 6 Cleveland State in the other opening round match, and Milwaukee gets the lowest advancing seed in the semifinals.

Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year Jenna Cavanaugh ranks 13th in the country in blocks per set, and she has led Youngstown State's strong defensive efforts all season. YSU is 27th nationally in blocking, and the .174 opponent hitting percentage is second-best in the conference. Alexis Egler joined Cavanaugh on the All-Horizon League team after averaging 2.98 kills and 2.63 digs per set during conference play.

@YSUVolleyball Quick Hitters

• Mark Hardaway is in his second season as YSU's head coach. The Penguins are 30-28 under his direction and have won 15 matches in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1998-99. YSU was 7-51 in the two seasons prior to his arrival.
• The Penguins have two All-Horizon League players (Jenna Cavanaugh and Alexis Egler) for the first time since joining the conference in 2001.
• Four different Penguins – Jenna Cavanaugh, Missy Hundelt, Aly Ryan and Erika West – earned Horizon League player-of-the-week honors this season. Green Bay was the only other team to have four different players earn weekly honors.
• Youngstown State is looking for its first Horizon League Tournament victory since 2004, the only year the tournament was held in Youngstown.

Recapping Last Weekend

• L, 3-2 vs. Milwaukee – YSU pushed league-champion Milwaukee to five sets before falling 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 29-31, 15-8 on Friday evening. UWM won the first two sets convincingly before YSU rallied to win the next two and force the fifth set. UWM led 20-14 in the third set and 19-15 in the fourth. Alexis Egler had 11 of her 16 kills in the third and fourth set.
• L, 3-0 vs. Green Bay – Green Bay outlasted YSU 28-26 in the opening set then won the next two 25-17, 25-21 to spoil senior day. YSU saved three set points in the first set before falling 28-26, and there were 11 ties in the third set. Nichele Johnson finished with a match-high-tying 11 kills to lead the Penguins.

Scouting Green Bay

• Green Bay won five of its final six matches of the regular season to finish 14-13 overall and 9-5 in Horizon League play. The Phoenix tied with Oakland for third place in the standings but is the fourth seed in the tournament due to a worse head-to-head record against YSU.
• Four Phoenix players earned Horizon League accolades with Shannon Hurley taking home the most notable as Freshman of the Year. Senior Leah Van Zeeland and sophomores Jillian Bauer and Emily Riese were named to the all-conference team.
• Against YSU in two matches, Hurley (4.0 kills per set) and Van Zeeland (3.43 k/s) did the most damage. The Penguins held a .184-.160 edge in attack percentage due to 3.5 blocks per set.

Breaking Down Barriers

• In the second season under Mark Hardaway, the Penguins continued to break down long-standing barriers.
• The Penguins have won 15 matches in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1998-99, and they set a new school record with seven Horizon League victories.
• Youngstown State beat Kent State, Akron and Cleveland State (twice) in the same season for the first time in school history. Add in a victory over Robert Morris, and Youngstown State went 5-0 against teams located within 75 miles of campus this season.
• YSU stopped a 25-match losing streak to Cleveland State dating back to 2001 with its victory to open league play on Sept. 27. The Penguins then won in Cleveland for the first time since 1998 and beat the Vikings twice in the same season for the first time since 1995. YSU's group of seniors had not taken a set from CSU prior to the 3-0 win on Sept. 27.
• The Penguins snapped a 28-match losing streak to Akron dating back to 1985 and a 17-match losing streak to MAC teams with its win over the Zips on Sept. 21. YSU beat Kent State for the first time since 1995.

Cavanaugh, Egler Earn All-Horizon League Honors

• Youngstown State has two All-Horizon League honors for the first time in senior middle blocker Jenna Cavanaugh and junior outside hitter Alexis Egler. Cavanaugh was also voted the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year.
• Cavanaugh is the first Penguin to earn conference player-of-the-year honors since Jill Raslevich was the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year in 1995. Cavanaugh led the circuit in blocking for the second straight season with 1.47 per set, which is 0.21 more per set than the closest league player. She added a .335 attack percentage in league matches, which ranked third in the conference.
• Egler averaged 2.98 kills per set in Horizon League play, the seventh-most in the conference. She also averaged an impressive 2.63 digs and 0.44 blocks per set in league matches as a six-rotation player.

Responding Without Hundelt

• Youngstown State endured a potential major blow on Oct. 4 when senior Missy Hundelt suffered a knee injury that would end her career. Hundelt was an All-Horizon League selection last season and was the conference's only player ranking among the top 10 in kills, digs and blocks at the time of her injury.
• Since Hundelt went down, the Penguins have responded to go 6-6 and set a new school record for Horizon League victories. Alexis Egler has been the primary offensive weapon after Hundelt's injury and has averaged 2.89 kills and 2.82 digs in the 12 matches since. Nichele Johnson moved into Hundelt's spot in the rotation on the right side and has averaged 1.82 kills and 1.02 blocks.
• The Penguins were winless in six games that Hundelt missed over the previous three years.

Top Seeds Fresh in Mind

• Youngstown State ended the regular season by playing each of the top four seeds in their last five matches. The Penguins won in five sets at No. 2 seed Valparaiso on Nov. 9, but they lost to Milwaukee in five sets, to Oakland in four sets and to Green Bay in three sets.
• YSU had won 10 of its last 13 matches heading into that five-match stretch but finished the season dropping four of its last five contests.

Blocking With The Best Of 'Em

• Youngstown State leads the Horizon League and ranks 27th in the country with an average of 2.73 blocks per set. That is also third-best in the state behind Dayton and Ohio. YSU has averaged at least 2.7 blocks per set just three times in its history – 1995, 1999, 2000.
• Individually, Jenna Cavanaugh ranks 13th nationally in blocks per set with 1.47. The most by a YSU player in the rally scoring era (since 2001) is 1.28 by Annie Buschur in 2003. Only Kristen Meech's 1.92 blocks per set average in 1999 ranks better in school history than Cavanaugh's current clip.

Seniors Among Career Leaders

• Four members of Youngstown State's senior class will end their careers ranking among the school's all-time leaders in various categories.
• Missy Hundelt will finish her career ranking fifth in school history in kills (1,125) despite missing the final 12 matches of the regular season. Her 3.12 career kills per set is the fifth-best in school history. Additionally, Hundelt had the third-most attempts and the eighth-most points in YSU history.
• Casey D'Ambrose has 2,615 assists in her career, which is the fifth-most in school history. All but 50 of those have come in the last three seasons. D'Ambrose's 6.50 assists per set average is sixth-best in school history.
• Erika West ranks 10th in YSU history with 1,128 digs in just three seasons. Her 3.47 digs per set average is fourth-best in the program's history.
• Jenna Cavanaugh is tied-for-sixth in school history with 363 blocks while also ranking fourth in block assists (321). Her 1.17 blocks per set average ranks second.

Progression of the Senior Class

• Youngstown State's senior class has seen quite a turnaround from the 2010 season. The class was 2-27 as freshmen and lost its final 19 matches. The Penguins won a total of six sets in Horizon League play.
• YSU then lost its first seven matches in 2011 before picking up momentum at the end of the season with wins in three of its final five contests in a 5-24 campaign. The Penguins were 3-13 in league play in 2011.
• Mark Hardaway was hired after the 2011 season with seven would-be juniors on the roster, and the Penguins are 30-28 since. They had a 7-51 record over the 2010-11 seasons.
• YSU's 10-win improvement in 2012 - going from five to 15 - tied for the 10th-best mark in the country. Further, its 99-spot improvement in the RPI was 15th-best in the country.

Surpassing External Expectations

• Despite having seven seniors and returning the largest percentage in the Horizon League of kills, blocks and digs from last season, the Penguins were picked to finish seventh in the conference's preseason poll. That was one spot lower than last seaosn.
• The Penguins were tied-for-third with Oakland and Green Bay heading into the final weekend of the regular season with a 7-5 conference record. YSU dropped its final two league matches to slide down to fifth.