Albany, N.Y. — The Chicago State volleyball team took down UAlbany Sunday afternoon, winning three sets to one.
Set One: Chicago State: 25, UAlbany 15
- The Cougars and Great Danes battled evenly to start, as it was 5-5 through the first 10 points
- Chicago State then won five of the next seven points to edge ahead, 10-7, on a torrent of kills from Yanlis Feliz
- With the score relatively even, the Cougars unleashed a 9-0 run, featuring a slew of Feliz kills and a few from Whitney Barnes
- A late Albany service error and a Feliz kill capped off the set one win
Set Two: Chicago State: 25, UAlbany 20
- Feliz continued to dominate the second set, opening with another kill to make it 1-1 early
- Barnes then asserted herself again, notching a few kills to push the Cougars ahead
- The two sides battled more evenly than in the first, but with the Cougars ending ahead thanks to Feliz's mastery and from a few UAlbany attack errors
- Barnes and Feliz continued to lead the charge down the wire, and Jaclyn Inclan notched a service ace
- Chicago State took the second set, 25-20, winning the final two points
Set Three: UAlbany 25, Chicago State 16
- The Great Danes won the first five points to set an early tone in the third set
- Chicago State was able to use a 4-0 run, with kills from Mesalina Severino and Feliz, to edge closer, but the Great Danes mostly dominated
- Almeyda then recorded two aces to kickstart a 4-0 Chicago State run, but UAlbany won seven of the final nine points to win the third set
Set Four: Chicago State 25, UAlbany 20
- In the fourth set, Chicago State and Albany were tied 5-5 after the first 10 points
- Then, a 5-0 CSU run, keyed by a Feliz service ace and two kills, pushed them ahead, 10-5
- The tone was set, and Chicago State held off a few Great Dane charges to win the fourth set, 25-20
- Down the stretch, Severino, Barnes and Almeyda all tallied kills
Feliz led all hitters with 22 kills, hitting .421%. Almeyda and Inclan each recorded two aces.
The Cougars next face off with Gonzaga at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 4 in Spokane, Washington.
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. In 1991, the Chicago State women's tennis team became the first all-black college team to amass an unbeaten season at the NCAA level. 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, also making 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. Chicago State volleyball recorded a historic season in 2021, with Yanlis Feliz becoming CSU's first volleyball All-American and head coach Tony Trifonov earning selection as WAC Coach of the Year. During that same season, three different CSU teams earned victories over Big Ten opponents with men's soccer beating Northwestern, women's basketball upending Wisconsin and volleyball, which established a school record 17 wins and hosted a post-season volleyball tournament for the first time in program history, swept Indiana in Bloomington.
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