Comeback Falls Short as Penguins Fall in Five to Butler

    Youngstown -- The Youngstown State volleyball team rallied from two sets down behind three players with double-digit totals in kills before falling to Butler in five sets on Saturday at the Beeghly Center.
     Kaitlin O'Hara and Ruth Boscaljon had 11 kills apiece while Ebony Barbosa had a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs. Boscaljon eclipsed the 950-kill plateau in her career as her 11 terminations gave her 957.
     Porshia Allen had a match-high 24 kills for Butler, and Katie Daprile had 36 of Butler's 102 digs. The Bulldogs also posted 12 blocks while the Penguins had nine.
     The match featured 29 ties and 14 lead changes as Butler won 25-22, 26-24, 17-25, 22-25, 15-9. YSU had two set points in the second set before Butler rallied, but the Penguins won the next two sets to force a tiebreaker. Butler hit a match-high .318 in the fifth set while YSU had four errors against four kills to hit .000.
     Butler took the first two sets by going on runs late in each. A 20-20 deadlock was the fifth tie in the first set, but Butler came out of a time out to score five of the final seven points in a 25-22 victory. YSU trailed only once in the second set until Butler scored the final four points to escape with a 26-24 victory.
     The Penguins went on a 7-1 run in the third set en route to a 25-17 victory, and they trailed the entire fourth set before tying the score at 18. Butler pulled ahead by two twice, 20-18 and 22-20, before YSU scored the final five points to take the fourth set 25-22. The final three points all came on Butler attack errors.
     The Bulldogs only missed three attempts in the fifth set and scored six of the final seven points to win the tiebreaker 15-9.
     Youngstown State will play at Green Bay on Friday at 8 p.m.