CLEVELAND – Northern Kentucky volleyball fell to the Horizon League regular-season champion Cleveland State in the semifinals of the Horizon League Championship, 25-23, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19. With the setback, NKU ends its season at 12-15, while the Vikings advance to the championship final sporting a 21-7 mark.
First Set Summary
- The Norse carried their intensity over from the quarterfinal match, leading the Vikings by as many as three points.
- Cleveland State swung the lead off an 8-1 run, holding a 21-16 advantage over the Norse.
- NKU did not surrender, with kills from Laura Crawford, Kaelin Gentile and Haley Libs, along with back-to-back blocks on CSU's top middle to narrowly face set point at 24-23. The Vikings ended the frame with a block to claim the opener, 25-23.
- Three different Norse recorded three kills, with Drew Hendricks hitting .300 with her trio of kills while Libs and Crawford also added three kills. Libs also had a strong back-row showing with six digs.
Second Set Summary
- Cleveland State held control for the entirety of the second frame behind a powerful attack from Trinniti Hall in the middle, who threw down seven kills on 11 swings with no errors for the Vikings.
- Libs paced the Norse offense with four of NKU's nine kills in the set. Conversely, CSU had 19 terminations and hit .400 in the frame.
- Though Cleveland State terminated at a high rate, the set was also a showcase of both team's defenses. McKenzie Eskridge led the Norse with six digs, while Shelby Olsen added five.
Third Set Summary
- As has been the trend for the Norse this season, NKU came out of the intermission with a renewed energy and rattled off the first five points of the set to lead the Vikings early on.
- Cleveland State was able to tie it up at 9-9 and force an NKU timeout after a string of Norse miscues, but the Vikings went on to make their own run of errors in conjunction with an offensive burst from NKU to take a 17-13 lead. The Norse maintained the lead for the 25-19 set win.
- Crawford led NKU with five kills on 10 swings, while Libs added three kills. Crawford also stepped up defensively with six digs and two blocks.
- The Norse held CSU to .000 hitting and recorded five blocks in the frame.
Fourth Set Summary
- The Norse started out strong in the fourth set as well, hitting .545 through the first 15 points to lead 9-6.
- However, the Vikings went on a nine-point run off multiple kills from Sara Skeens to take the lead, 15-9, and staved off a 6-1 run by the Norse to close within two points at 21-19.
- Libs was the leader for NKU with four kills and four digs, while Crawford added two kills and two blocks.
Norse Notes
- Saturday marked the close of four Norse careers: Kaitlyn Bowen, Georgia Childers, McKenzie Eskridge and Drew Hendricks. During their four years at NKU, the Norse went 63-53.
- With 14 kills and 16 digs, Libs recorded her 37th career double-double and her 18th this season.
- Olsen added a double-double as well with 40 assists and 11 digs for her 17th of the year and had a career outing at the service line with three aces.
- Eskridge and Ashton Terrill also added 11 digs in the back row.
- Cleveland State hit .258 for the match, hitting above .300 in each of the sets that it won, and held NKU to a .136 clip. The Vikings also out-dug the Norse, 80-64.
- NKU had the upper hand on net play with 12 blocks, led by Bailey Western with a career-beest eight rejections. Her previous best of seven blocks also came against Cleveland State in the teams' previous meeting.
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