Volleyball Sweeps Eastern Michigan to Secure 5-2 Start

By Sebastian Montoya, Athletic Communications Intern

CHICAGO — To start off their Friday morning, the Chicago State women's volleyball team took down the Eastern Michigan Eagles in a dominant win, a 3-0 clean sweep: 25-19, 25-17, and 25-10.

To begin the first set, the Eagles committed an attacking error to open up the scoring, but Eastern Michigan bounced back and produced a kill courtesy of Krista Blakely.

The Cougars and Eagles then went back-and-forth for several points which brought the set to a 5-5 tie. 

The Cougars then proceeded to rampage through the Eagles and put up a four-score streak, bringing the score to a 9-5 lead for the Cougars and forcing the Eagles to take a timeout.

Following the timeout, the Cougars continued their streak with an attack error by the Eagles and a kill by Maria Lopez, which brought the score to 11-5 in an absolutely dominant streak for the Cougars at six points in a row.

The set ended with the Eagles pushing for a comeback,  yet the Cougars never letting up and capping off the set win with a kill by Mesalina Severino at a score of 25-19.

In the second set, both teams committed errors consecutively, which opened up the scoring at a tie 1-1.

The Cougars and Eagles then went at each other, with neither team being able to pull away in the early stages of the set. 

It wasn't until the score was at 19-16 that the Cougars finally took advantage of their three-point lead and only added to it with yet another four- point streak, bringing the total score to 23-16.

The Cougars ended the set with another win, capped off by a service ace and a total score of 25-17.

In the third and final set of the match, the Cougars started off with an absolute onslaught and gained a very early and impressive lead at 15-5, featuring kills galore, with a slew from Yanlis Feliz, who finished with 13 kills on a .500 hitting percentage.

The Cougars' commanding start echoed throughout the entirety of the set and they capped off the victory with a clean sweep at 3-0, with a final set score of 25-10 in a greatly commanding win for the Cougars.

Chicago State finished with a .356 hitting percentage and six service aces (two from Lopez and Berenice Almeyda). The 5-2 Cougars next face Belmont at 4:00 p.m. as the UIC Invitational rolls on.

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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