CHICAGO — The Chicago State women's volleyball team (10-7, 2-3) took on New Mexico State tonight and suffered a 3-2 loss after a five-set thriller, 25-20, 20-25, 25-14, 12-25, 11-15.
To start off the match, the Aggies started hot and scored the first point of the set with a beautiful kill by Lia Mosher. However, the Cougars quickly fired back their own kill courtesy of Berenice Almeyda which tied up the set at 1-1.
New Mexico State and Chicago State pressed on, matching each other point-for-point in the early stages of the set.
It wasn't until a 5-5 tie that the Cougars suddenly erupted for an 11-3 scoring run that included several ferocious kills by Nailah Jones, Yanlis Feliz, Jaclyn Inclan and Almeyda.
This brought the score to a huge lead for Chicago State at 16-8, easily dominating after athevery close start between the teams. Nonetheless, with the score at a 21-13 lead for the Cougars, the Aggies unleashed a four-score streak which forced the Cougars to call timeout.
Chicago State came out of the break refreshed and ultimately closed out the set win off of a service error by the Aggies, which had the Cougars up 1-0 in sets overall.
To start off the second set, two continuous attack errors plagued the Aggies and powered the Cougars to an early 2-0 lead.
The Aggies, despite these errors, quickly regained their focus and with two consecutive kills by Shaney Lipscomb tied the set at 2-2.
This same style of play, very much like in the first set, continued up until an 8-8 tie in which the Aggies unexpectedly went on a rampage scoring eleven points while the Cougars could only manage five, giving New Mexico State a 19-13 lead.
Chicago State persevered on yearning for a comeback but in the end fell short, giving the Aggies a tie in sets overall at 1-1.
In the third set of the match, both teams began with a tie at 1-1 as they each committed their own attacking errors.
The Aggies and Cougars once again very tightly contested throughout the sets early stages which led up to a 5-5 score.
A kill by Ezgi Dokuzlar gave the Cougars a one-point lead at 6-5 and completely turned the tide for them as they stormed to a 20-9 scoring run as they completely dominated New Mexico with a final score of 25-14.
The Cougars led 2-1 and headed into the fourth set with the chance to close it out.
However, the Aggies never let up and took the Cougars by storm as they dominated CSU through the entirety of the set with a final score of 25-12, keyed by Mosher and Lipscomb.
This led to a fifth and final set in which only fifteen points were needed for the win.
The set began in very much the same form with neither New Mexico State or Chicago able to gain a comfortable lead. Then, the aggies began to carve a lead with a kill by Lindsay Blakey followed by an attack error by the Cougars at 8-6.
Nevertheless, the Cougars clawed their way back with a stellar kill by Almeyda and a powerful service ace by Ece Erol which tied the game at 8-8.
However, this wasn't enough for Chicago State and the Aggies closed out the set with an attacking error by the Cougars which hurt them all throughout, finishing the game with 38 attack errors to New Mexico State's 20.
The set ended with a 15-11 score and the Aggies taking home the series win at 3-2.
Feliz led all hitters with 23 kills on 69 total attacks, her second-highest attack total of the season.
The Cougars next take on Grand Canyon on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Jones Convocation Center.
About Chicago State
Chicago State University Athletics is comprised of 15 intercollegiate teams involving over 150 student-athletes that compete in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and volleyball. CSU held memberships in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and NCAA Division II before transitioning to NCAA Division I in 1994. Melvin Bland was the first CSU student-athlete to gain NAIA All-American status in 1974 as a wrestler. Fred Evans became the first black swimmer ever to win a national championship in 1975. CSU's women's basketball team earned a spot in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational and CSU's men's basketball team won the 2013 Great West Conference Tournament title and made an appearance in the CollegeInside.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Men's Outdoor Track & Field 4x100-Meter Relay team were 2019 Honorable Mention All-Americans and WAC Champions. Their feat marked the first time the Chicago State's men's track & field program was represented at the national meet.
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