Varcolla Ties Aces Record as Penguins Fall in Season Opener

by YSU

Sunday, Aug 30, 2015 10:38 pm

Youngstown State freshman Sarah Varcolla tied a school record with seven aces in her collegiate debut as the Penguins lost in five sets to Bradley on Friday evening at the Toledo Rocket Invitational. The set scores were 25-19, 18-25, 27-25, 15-25 and 15-11.

Varcolla, a native of New Philadelphia, Ohio, is the fourth player in school history and the first since Kristen Meech in 2001 to register seven aces in a match. Meech is the only other Penguin to have seven in the rally scoring era.

Varcolla added 12 kills, which was one behind team leader Sam Brown. Brown added three aces of her own, and YSU had 16 as a team, which is the most since Sept. 1, 2001.

The Penguins' aggressiveness at the service line resulted in 14 serving errors, and YSU was also aced 10 times by the Braves. YSU held a .193 to .152 edge in attack percentage despite Bradley having a 13-7 advantage in blocks.

Bradley hit .385 and went on an 8-1 run to take the first set 25-19, but Youngstown State bounced back to take the second set 25-18 and even the match. Brown had five kills and two aces in the second set, and Nikki Thompson notched eight of her 23 digs.

YSU committed four serving errors and was aced four times as Bradley held on for a 27-25 win in the third set. The Penguins had 20 kills, including five more from Brown and four each from Varcolla and Morgan Tippie, and hit .375 in the set.

Varcolla had three of her aces in the fourth set, and YSU held the Braves to a minus-.138 attack percentage in the fourth set as it cruised to a 25-15 win. The Penguins scored seven straight points on Varcolla's serve early in the set to turn a 7-6 lead into a 14-6 advantage.

Bradley scored four straight points in the decisive fifth set to go up 8-5, but Youngstown State scored five of the next seven points to tie the score at 10 on another ace by Varcolla. The Braves got a sideout and another point to go up 12-10, and Brown's kill that made it 12-11 was YSU's final point of the match.

Raegen Jackson and Kelsey Cave both had 11 kills and combined to hit .476 to pace Bradley's offense.

Youngstown State will play two more matches in Toledo on Saturday. The Penguins will play Bradley at noon and the host Rockets at 5 p.m.

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