Aug. 29, 2009

Penguins Sweep Stony Brook, Go Toe-to-Toe with Maryland

Maryland Box Score | Stony Brook Box Score

College Park, Md. -- The Youngstown State volleyball team defeated Stony Brook by at least eight in each set and took Maryland to five sets in splitting two matches at the Maryland Invitational on Saturday.

Dani Soubliere had 71 assists and 16 digs in the two matches.

Senior Ruth Boscaljon collected 28 kills in the two matches, and freshman Suzanne Lasseigne had a double-double in her first career start against the Terrapins.

"This tournament was a building process for us against some great competition," head coach Joe Bonner said. "I'm very pleased that we improved every match defensively, and I'm proud of the character we showed in coming back to play as solidly as we did against Stony Brook. We grew as a team this weekend."

Less than two hours after suffering a tough, five-set loss to Maryland, the Penguins rebounded to sweep Stony Brook 25-15, 25-17 and 25-17. YSU hit .294 and accumulated 10 blocks as the Seawolves hit just .054. Boscaljon had 13 kills, hit .522 and had six blocks, and fellow senior Allison Heinz had 10 kills. Dani Soubliere, Lasseigne, Laurie Shives and Brittany McNeal each had at least 10 digs.

Aside from Harmonie Calinda, Stony Brook had 17 kills and 23 errors in 93 attempts.

The Seawolves never led later than 10-9 in either of the first two sets, but they led 13-9 in the third set on a Calinda kill. YSU went on to score 13 of the next 14 points, three of which came on kills from Kaitlin O'Hara to seize control of the set at 22-14.

The Penguins won the first two sets against the Terrapins, 25-21 and 25-23, but Maryland came back to win the final three sets 25-15, 25-17 and 16-14.

Maryland had nine hitting errors, four serving errors and four ball handling errors in the first set, and YSU hit .278 in the second set behind six Boscaljon kills. The Penguins were held to a .048 clip in the third set, but they rebounded to hit .206 in the fourth set.

In the final set, Maryland led 10-5 before YSU rallied to tie the score at 12-12. A Maryland service error gave YSU the serve with the score tied 14-14, but two straight kills gave the Terrapins the win.

"We handled the ball well in the first two sets, but our ball control broke down a little bit in the next two," Bonner said. "We did a nice job in game five to not give up."

Youngstown State plays three matches next weekend at the Cincinnati Bearcat Invitational.