CHICAGO — The Chicago State women's volleyball team lost to Mercyhurst 3-0 in Northeast Conference play on Saturday (Nov. 7). The Set scores were 22-25, 20-25 and 26-28. The Cougars honored their three seniors before the match, Kristine Bakhad, Jenesis Perrin, Graci Littlejohn.

Mercyhurst scored the first six points of the opening set, with Alyssa Krause serving through three kills and an ace before Rayon Thigpen put CSU on the board with a kill from Bakhad. The Cougars were still down 15-7 and 17-9, but a Thigpen kill started a six-point run that included a Perrin block, another Thigpen kill and Eliza Covrig's ace to pull within 17-15. Mercyhurst pushed its lead to 20-16, though Littlejohn kills around a Hailee Collins ace and a Nayella George ace brought Chicago State as close as 21-20. CSU stayed within one at 22-21 on Nina Mitchell's kill and 23-22 on Camryn McCollum's kill, but Roslyn Guerra delivered the final two Mercyhurst points to close the set 25-22.

The second set was tied at 4-4 after Perrin put down two early kills and the Cougars got a point on a Mercyhurst bad set, but Mercyhurst moved ahead 8-5 behind kills by Payton Melin and Erin Robbins and two CSU attack errors. George had four kills through the middle of the set, including consecutive Chicago State points that made it 11-10 and two more that brought the Cougars within 14-12, before Mercyhurst scored the next four points to extend the lead to 18-12. After Mercyhurst pushed the set to 22-15 on Robbins' service ace, CSU took four straight points on a service error, two Mercyhurst attack errors and Hailee Collins' kill from Bakhad to get to 22-19. Mercyhurst stopped that run with Julia Shepherd's kill, and after Nina Mitchell's kill made it 23-20, Melin's kill and a Cougars attack error ended the set at 25-20.

Mercyhurst moved ahead 4-1 early in the third set, but Chicago State answered with a block by Littlejohn and George, a George kill and Reece Mazzier's service ace to take a 6-5 lead. CSU stretched the set to 11-7 behind kills from George, Nina Mitchell and Thigpen, and later built a 22-17 advantage after a Mitchell block. Mercyhurst cut the margin with a block and a kill from Erin Robbins, and after the Cougars reached 24-21 on Mitchell's kill, Julia Shepherd put down back-to-back kills to tie the set at 24-24. CSU led 25-24 and 26-25 on a Mercyhurst service error and a George kill, but Mercyhurst answered both times and closed the set with kills from Madison Miner and Ava Carney for a 28-26 finish.

Mercyhurst improves to 10-14 overall and 6-6 in NEC play while Chicago State falls to 1-23 overall and 1-11 in NEC play.

Up Next
CSU volleyball team travels to West Haven, Conn., to face University of New Haven on Friday, Nov. 13, at 12 a.m.