Volleyball Loses Another Closes One, Falling in Five to Valparaiso

by YSU

Sunday, Oct 18, 2015 8:22 pm

Valparaiso got 25 kills from Emily Campbell and rallied for a five-set victory over the Youngstown State volleyball team on Saturday afternoon at Beeghly Center. The set scores were 21-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-20, 15-11.

The Penguins had just 11 attack errors in five sets, which helped them outhit the Crusaders .265 to .259. Valparaiso finished with 81 kills, 20 more than the Penguins, and the Crusaders posted 104 digs. The teams combined for 21 aces, with 11 coming from Valparaiso and 10 coming from Youngstown State.

Sam Brown led YSU with 15 kills while having just one error, and Sarah Varcolla posted 14. Lori Vanbeek had 10 kills – the most by a Penguin this season, and Nikki Thompson finished with 21 digs.

Valparaiso improved to 18-5 overall in 5-3 in Horizon League play, and YSU is now 8-15 and 2-6. Saturday's match concluded the first half of conference play for both teams.

Youngstown State never trailed in the first set, and nine Crusader attack errors helped the Penguins take a 25-21 victory. Allison Ketchum, who started the match as Valpo's libero, switched to outside hitter for the second set and posted eight kills to lead the Crusaders to a 25-23 win.

Youngstown State trailed by as much as 14-9 in the third set before rallying for a 26-24 win. Brown and Varcolla both had five kills in the set, which saw the Penguins hit .390 collectively. Valparaiso jumped out to an 11-1 lead in the fourth set, and YSU fought back to get as close at 16-14 before falling.

YSU never led in the fifth set, and the last tie was at 5-5 on a Brown kill. Aly Ryan's kill had YSU within 10-9, but Valparaiso scored five of the final seven points of the match.

Youngstown State's next game will be at Milwaukee on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern.