ELGIN, Ill. – Chicago State volleyball made history here tonight as it snapped a three-year, 94-match losing streak with a 3-0 (32-30, 25-19, 25-15) win over host Judson at the Lindner Fitness Center. With the win, the Cougars improved to 1-4 on the young season, while the Eagles fell to 0-1 following its season-opening match.
The visitors captured an early 12-5 lead in the first set following a kill from junior Sydney Van Munster (Hudsonville, Mich./Portland) (Hudsonville, Mich.), but Judson would later produce a 12-5 run of its own to even the score at 17-17. The Eagles then tallied seven of the next 11 points to take a 24-21 lead that ended with a kill by junior Carissa Oelke before the Green and White rallied with five straight points to regain the lead at 25-24.
Both teams then battled through six ties and five lead changes before CSU took a 1-0 match lead thanks to kills from junior Rachel Levitt (Willow Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) (Willow Springs, Ill.) and senior Alexandra Mason (Beaverton, OR/Harper College) (Beaverton, Ore.).
The second set was started by the serve of sophomore Mysta Townsell (Gardnerville, Nev./Douglas) (Gardnerville, Nev.) as she scored five straight service points to give CSU a 5-0 lead and the lead later increased to 6-1 when freshman Angelica Brewer (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) (Indianapolis, Ind.) tallied a kill. CSU later broke a 14-14 tie by producing an 11-5 scoring drive that included a pair of kills from Van Munster and senior Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Harare, Zimbabwe) to head into intermission with a two-set advantage.
Van Munster recorded a kill and three service points as the Green and White opened the third set with a 10-4 lead. The Cougars later used a 12-4 scoring drive to hike its leading margin to 22-8 after a kill by freshman Emily Kramolisch (Bolingbrook, IL/Bolingbrook) (Bolingbrook, Ill.) en route to closing out the match.
Levitt paced Chicago State with 13 kills and produced a .310 hitting percentage (13-4-29), while Maziveyi added 12 kills and Van Munster recorded nine kills. Brewer posted her first-ever collegiate double-double with 20 assists and 11 digs, Kramolisch added 20 assists, Townsell contributed a match-leading 19 digs, and Mason produced four solo blocks.
Oelke and sophomore Kirsten Kohlstedt recorded match highs of 14 kills and 25 assists, respectively, to lead Judson.
The Cougars travel east to Virginia this weekend to compete in the Radford University Tournament beginning Friday afternoon against UMKC at 3 p.m.
~CSU~
