NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — The Chicago State women's volleyball team lost to Central Conn. St. 3-0 on Saturday (Oct. 17), falling 16-25, 20-25, 12-25. 

Central Conn. St. broke a 4-4 tie with five straight points, getting two kills from Cullen Winter and a service ace to move ahead 9-4. The Cougars answered behind two Jenesis Perrin kills and later pulled even at 10-10 on a Nayella George block. The set stayed within two points until Central Conn. St. moved from a 15-14 edge to an 18-14 lead, though Chicago State got back within 18-16 on a block by Perrin and Graci Littlejohn. Central Conn. St. scored the final seven points, with Anja Milosevic serving three aces during the closing stretch to take the set 25-16.

Central Conn. St. built a 4-0 start on kills by Cullen Winter, Olivia Keckler and Madison Fulgencio, and after a service error put CSU on the board, the home side stretched the set to 9-1 with a Breanna Ginley kill, a block and a service ace. The Cougars got kills from Nina Mitchell, Littlejohn and George as they worked back into rallies, but Central Conn. St. kept answering and moved ahead 17-8 before Rayon Thigpen's block and a George kill helped make it 17-10. Central Conn. St. later led 22-14, and Chicago State scored three straight points to get to 22-17 before a Hanley Schmidt kill and an Anja Milosevic ace pushed the set to 24-17. George, Mitchell and a block by Mitchell and Thigpen helped CSU extend the set to 24-20, but Winter's kill closed Central Conn. St.'s 25-20 set win.

Kristine Bakhad opened the third set with a kill from Hailee Collins, but Central Conn. St. answered with 10 straight points, including two Gabriella Burdier service aces and three blocks involving Breanna Ginley, to move ahead 10-1. George and Camryn McCollum ended that stretch with back-to-back kills, and Rayon Thigpen added another to make it 11-4, but Central Conn. St. pushed the lead to 15-4 behind a Ginley kill, an Olivia Keckler ace and two CSU attack errors. The Cougars picked up late kills from Mitchell, Thigpen, Bakhad and Littlejohn, but Central Conn. St. continued trading points from in front and closed the set 25-12 on a Ginley kill.

Central Conn. St. improves to 4-15 overall and 2-4 in NEC play while The Cougars are now 1-17 overall and 1-5 in NEC play.

Up Next
Chicago State volleyball team hosts Le Moyne College on Friday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. at the Jacoby Dickens Center in Chicago, Illinois.