CHICAGO – In their second match in 48 hours, the Chicago State women's volleyball team (11-7, 3-3 WAC) took down the Grand Canyon Antelopes in a five-set thriller (24-26, 25-17, 25-15, 19-25, 15-11).
Chicago State's 11th win gave the Cougars the program's most wins since the 2017 season, during which CSU won 12 matches. Yanlis Feliz also took over the Division I lead for kills, with 318.
In the first set, GCU came out hot and fired in a kill courtesy of Anabelle Kubinski, nonetheless, the Cougars clawed right back with a ferocious kill by Berenice Almeyda which brought the score to a 1-1 tie.
This trend of play continued up to a 6-5 lead for Chicago State when suddenly GCU erupted for a six-score streak with four of them being errors by the Cougars, which meant the Antelopes held an impressive 11-6 lead.
The Cougars then answered with a three-score streak featuring kills by Almeyda, Nailah Jones, and Feliz that left them now only trailing by two points at 11-9.
Both teams then continued to each hold several scoring streaks, however the opposing team would bounce back and eventually tie up the game which led us to a nailbiting 24-24 tie.
Then the Antelopes, with the help of yet another error by the Cougars, closed out the set with a stellar kill by Ashley Lifgren and took home the set win, now leading 1-0 in sets overall.
In the opening moments of the second set, both teams once again tallied back-to-back scores, bringing the score to a 1-1 tie, the Antelopes with a kill by Sydney Reed and the Cougars with an outstanding kill by none other than Feliz.
Much like in the first set, Chicago State and Grand Canyon were very close throughout the set's early stages, leading to a 5-5 tie. The Cougars then proceeded to go on an onslaught of points with a five-score streak featuring three errors by GCU and a kill each by Jones and Feliz, which had the score at a command lead for the Cougars at 10-5.
Chicago State rode on this early momentum and cruised their way to a set win capped off by an astonishing kill by Berenice Almeyda with a final score of 25-16.
The match was all tied in set overall at 1-1 heading into the third set.
For the third set, the Cougars came in hot off their previous set win and jumped to an early lead of 3-0 off of a ferocious kill by Feliz, an attacking error by GCU, and a beautiful service ace by Almeyda.
The Cougars once again rode on momentum and continued this onslaught with another scoring run at 4-2 which feature three attack errors by the Antelopes and one kill by Feliz, which brought the score to an outstanding lead for them at 7-2.
Nevertheless, GCU answered back with a 5-1 scoring run which forced the Cougars to take a timeout as they crept close with a score of 8-7.
Chicago State came back from the timeout raring to go, and it showed as the Cougars proceeded to go on yet another scoring run of 6-2, gaining back the lead with a score of 14-9 and forcing GCU to take a timeout of their own.
The Cougars came out of the timeout unfazed and once again cruised their way to another set win capped off by a mesmerizing service ace by Mafer Lopez and an attacking error by GCU at 25-15 in a dominating win for them.
Chicago State then led 2-1 with a chance to seal the win in the fourth set.
The fourth set was owned by the Antelopes late. After the Cougars stormed out to an 11-10 lead keyed by Feliz, GCU used its All-WAC middle blocker Kubinski to right the ship and take a 19-12 lead. CSU did carve into it a bit, pulling to within two, but the Antelopes held firm and won the fourth set, 25-19.
This forced the second five-set match of the week.
After an error-filled set five Thursday, the Cougars committed no errors in today's fifth. Tied at 7-7, the Cougars unleashed a 3-0 run to take a lead at 10-7, Jones playing a starring role. Later, the Cougars' lead had dwindled to one point, when, with Jones at the service line, CSU reeled off three consecutive points to earn its first win over Grand Canyon since 2017.
Feliz's 21 kills led all hitters and gave her the most kills in NCAA Division I, with 318.
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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