Sept. 30, 2009

Penguins Open Horizon League Road Schedule in Wisconsin

Live Stats: Milwaukee, Green Bay | Live Video: Milwaukee, Green Bay

Youngstown -- The Youngstown State volleyball team will play a Horizon League match on the road for the first time this season when it makes its annual Wisconsin trip this weekend.

The Penguins, winners of two straight contests that evened their league record to 2-2, play at Milwaukee on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern and at Green Bay at 5 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Milwaukee, the Horizon League preseason favorite, sits in a four-way tie for second place in the standings at 2-1. Green Bay is one of two teams sitting at 0-3.

Youngstown State had what could turn out to be a turning point in its season last weekend with wins over Loyola and UIC. The Penguins, who had not won a match in three weeks, defeated Loyola in four sets on Friday and UIC in five sets on Saturday. YSU hit .336 as a team against Loyola, which was its best hitting percentage ever in nine years of competing in Horizon League matches. The Guins then rallied from a 2-1 deficit against UIC to knock off the Flames for the first time in five meetings.

Reigning Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week Ruth Boscaljon was a force at the net all weekend. The senior middle hitter registered 44 kills against just four errors to hit .548 in the two matches. She posted 20 kills against Loyola and a season-high 24 kills against UIC. It was the first time since her freshman year that she went over 20 kills in back-to-back matches. Boscaljon also registered 11 blocks and leads the Horizon League with 1.19 blocks per set. Her .370 hitting percentage also leads the circuit.

Scouting Milwaukee

Milwaukee (5-9, 2-1) has won three of its last four matches after starting the season 2-8. The Panthers beat Green Bay in four sets last weekend behind 40 digs from senior libero Lauren Felsing, and Jena Berg had 12 kills. Milwaukee beat Loyola to start the conference season but lost at UIC in straight sets. UWM was without junior middle hitter Maddie Sueppel, who ranks second in the league behind Boscaljon in blocking, for both of those matches. The Panthers have won the last six Horizon League regular season titles. Additionally, Milwaukee has won 37 straight Horizon League matches at home and 128 of their last 146 home matches overall. YSU took the Panthers to four sets last season in Milwaukee, and that final set wasn't decided until 26-24. The Penguins won the first set 25-22 and were up 18-13 in the fourth before committing seven hitting errors before the set was over. YSU has lost 18 straight to Milwaukee.

Scouting Green Bay

Green Bay (4-10, 0-3) ended a five-match losing streak with a three-set win over Chicago State on Tuesday. Prior to that, the Phoenix had lost five straight matches to Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, Loyola, UIC and Milwaukee. Nikki Hintze has 148 kills, Holly Visser has 142 and sophomore libero Laura Garrow leads the Horizon League with 4.58 digs per set. YSU defeated Green Bay twice last season, but the Phoenix had won 15 straight matches against the Penguins since 1999.

Boscaljon Moves Into Third in Kills, Blocks

Senior middle hitter Ruth Boscaljon moved into third place in school history in career kills and blocks last weekend. Boscaljon has 1,173 kills and needs 198 to reach Amy Hermann's second-place total of 1,371. With at least 14 matches remaining, Boscaljon will need to average 14.2 kills per match to reach her. Vickie Robinson's school record is 1,408. Boscaljon's 428 total blocks are 49 fewer than Annie Buschur's second-place mark of 477. Amy Herann holds that record with 562. Boscaljon will need to average 3.5 blocks per match to reach Buschur.

Grove Gets to Double Figures for Fourth Straight Match

Sophomore outside hitter Brittany Grove has reached double figures in kills in four straight matches. In fact, 58 of her 75 kills this season and all of her double-digit kills matches have come in the last four matches. Grove had 14 kills in back-to-back matches against UMES and Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, and she had 13 behind a career-best .429 attack percentage against Loyola on Sept. 25. Grove then ripped a career-high 17 kills against UIC in her last match on Sept. 26. She added 10 digs against Loyola to record her first career double-double.