EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — Chicago State lost to the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff 3-0 on Saturday at First Community Arena. The Cougars kept each set within four points, falling 23-25, 23-25, 21-25 while hitting .069 for the match.

CSU pushed the opening set to the final points, trimming Ark.-Pine Bluff's 24-21 lead to 24-23 on a service error and a Graci Littlejohn/Kristine Bakhad block before Zuzanna Zietek's kill closed a 25-23 set for the visitors. Earlier, Chicago State answered a 2-0 start with four straight points, including a Nayella George kill and a Bakhad/Littlejohn block, to move ahead 4-2. Tenese Buttry's service turn helped the Cougars build an 11-7 lead with a Littlejohn kill, a Jenesis Perrin/Littlejohn block and Buttry's ace. After Ark.-Pine Bluff tied the set at 16-16, Nina Mitchell put down a kill and followed with an ace, but the visitors later moved in front 22-19 during Kennedy Adams' serve before CSU's late response.

Chicago State nearly erased a late 21-12 deficit in the second set, winning seven straight points behind Bakhad's serve to get within 21-19 before Ark.-Pine Bluff held on. Earlier, the Cougars recovered from a 6-1 start with kills from Littlejohn and Mitchell and a Bakhad ace, then used blocks involving Littlejohn, Perrin and Bakhad to close the gap to 10-9. Ark.-Pine Bluff pushed back with a mid-set stretch that moved the score to 21-12, but CSU responded with a Mitchell kill, two opponent attack errors, two Bakhad aces, a Camryn McCollum kill and a Perrin kill during its late run. After Ark.-Pine Bluff moved ahead 24-20, Perrin added another kill, Buttry served an ace and Littlejohn put down a kill to make it 24-23, but Kaylen Robinson's final kill ended the set 25-23 for Ark.-Pine Bluff.

The Cougars' third set was marked by three scoring responses from sizable deficits, but Ark.-Pine Bluff had the finishing points late. Earlier, Chicago State fell behind 8-1 before an Ark.-Pine Bluff service error and four straight points on Buttry's serve, including kills from Mitchell and Littlejohn, trimmed the gap to 8-6. After Ark.-Pine Bluff reached 16-7, CSU scored six straight, with Reece Mazzier serving three aces, Littlejohn adding a block and Mazzier finishing the push with a kill from Bakhad to make it 16-13. The Cougars made one more move after trailing 21-14, getting a sideout before Bakhad served four straight points and McCollum's kill brought the set to 21-19. Ark.-Pine Bluff answered with kills from Karli Glover, Zuzanna Zietek and Ashanti Butler around two late CSU points to close the set, 25-21.

Up next, the Cougars travel to St. George, Utah, to face UC Riverside on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, at 7 p.m.