EDINBURG, Texas – Chicago State volleyball concluded its weekend trip to Texas after dropping a 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-18) decision to Houston Baptist in a neutral-site Saturday afternoon at the UTPA Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas. The Huskies moved to 18-5 on the year and the Cougars dropped their season record to 0-23.
Houston Baptist jumped out to a 6-0 advantage early in the first set thanks to a kill from Ivana Djordjevic. CSU bounced back with a 5-1 run to close within 7-5 on a kill by sophomore Hope Lockett (St. Paul, MN/Central) (St. Paul, Minn.), but the Huskies would score nine of the next 13 points to increase their lead at 16-9 after a CSU service error. A Jessica Barbera kill at 17-10 opened an 8-5 set-closing drive as HBU captured a one-set lead.
Both teams battled through several ties and lead changes in the beginning of the second set before kills from Megan Klimitchek and Natalie Magat gave the Huskies a short 11-9 lead. Houston Baptist increased its advantage to 15-10 after three consecutive kills from Barbera and back-to-back service aces from Bryce Zimmerman later hiked the Huskies' lead to 18-11. HBU headed into intermission with a two-set advantage after scoring seven of the final 12 points.
In the third set, Brittany Connelly recorded four service points, including a service ace, in helping the Huskies capture a 5-2 lead. CSU rebounded by producing five of the next six points to close within a point at 8-7 after a kill from junior Chy Crichton (The Dalles, OR/Mt. Hood CC) (The Dalles, Ore.). An 11-6 scoring run helped the Huskies reclaim the lead at 19-13 on another Zimmerman service ace. The Cougars scored four straight points which sliced their deficit to 19-17 on a solo bock from freshman Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Durham, N.C.) and a kill by junior Jean Keenan (/) (Braidwood, Ill.). A Djordjevic kill sparked a 6-1 run to end the match for Houston Baptist.
Sophomore Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led Chicago State with a match high-tying nine kills. Crichton nearly tallied a double-double as she posted 11 assists and nine digs, while junior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (Chicago, Ill.) recorded nine digs and Lockett added four kills. Maziveyi contributed eight digs and a match-high three blocks. Junior Megan Granko (Lockport, IL/Lincoln College) (Lockport, Ill.) also posted eight digs for the Cougars.
Klimitchek tallied nine kills and Natalie Magat recorded a match-best 35 assists to pace Houston Baptist. Jolie Graf added eight kills and posted a .636 hitting clip, while Djordjevic contributed six assists and a match-best four service aces. The Huskies' defensive unit was led by Courtney Whittleman with 11 digs.
CSU is back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 21 with an intra-city battle against DePaul at the Jacoby Dickens Center with the first serve set for 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
