DEKALB, Ill. – Chicago State volleyball (0-3) dropped a pair of matches to conclude the Northern Illinois Invite I today at Victor E. Court in DeKalb, Ill. The Cougars fell to Connecticut (2-1) via a 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-9) margin in the first contest of the day before falling to Cleveland State in three sets (25-14, 25-14, 25-9), in their final match of the tournament.
In the first match, UConn posted a blistering .597 hitting percentage which included a .667 hitting clip in the final set en route to the win. The Huskies were led by senior Megan Frey, who posted a match-best eight kills to go along with a .800 hitting clip. Sophomore Rebecca Murray produced a 1.000 hitting percentage after converting all seven of her kill attempts. Freshman Anne Lursen tallied a match-high 35 assists and four service aces and junior Jessica Isaac recorded a match-best nine digs for UConn.
Junior Chy Crichton (The Dalles, Ore.) led Chicago State with three kills in addition to posting two assists and two digs, while sophomore Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, Minn.) tallied five assists and a pair of kills with a .333 hitting clip. Sophomore Hope Lockett (St. Paul, Minn.) recorded a team-high five digs in addition to two kills.
Cleveland State utilized 10 service aces to go along with a .392 hitting percentage to capture the win in the tourney finale for both teams, led by junior Alexis Korovich’s match-high 13 kills. Freshman Megan Barhorst added seven kills and posted a .538 hitting clip, sophomore Ami Benz recorded six kills with a match-high three blocks, freshman Jordan Goad tallied 21 assists and senior Jordan Bateman contributed nine digs.
Minta and senior Jessica Schmidt (Walnut Hill, Ill.) each produced four kills to pace the Cougars. Crichton recorded eight digs, seven assists and two service aces, while redshirt junior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, Ind.) added six digs. For her efforts, Crichton was named to the All-Tournament Team.
CSU opens its home schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 2 as it welcomes Loyola to the Jacoby Dickens Center with the first serve set for 7 p.m.