Volleybal - Penguins ready to volley at home

By Pete Mollica

They will play host to UIC on Friday.

1The Penguins, riding a three-game win streak, are 7-3 to open the campaign and all 10 matches have been on the road. Friday night they will play their home opener, which will also be their first contest in the Horizon League, when they play host to Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. on the resurfaced court in Beeghly Center.

Joe Bonner is in his fourth season at the helm of the Penguins and has been rebuilding the program the past three seasons looking to this campaign.

Since the Penguins became members of the Horizon League in 2001 the most league wins they had ever accumulated in a season was one, until last season when they improved to 5-11 and 12-18 overall.

“The key to this team is their closeness and the way they play together as a group,” said Bonner. “They’ve worked very hard and their efforts are beginning to pay off.”

After spending the first three weeks of the season on the road the Penguins are excited to be at home.

“We finally get to sleep in our own bed and get to play on our court,” said senior setter Karla Everhart.

Everhart is one of just two seniors on the YSU team and last week she was named the Horizon League’s offensive player of the week, when she averaged 10 assists over the matches, had 15 kills and a .342 hitting percentage along with five aces and 36 digs.

“The recognition was nice, but what really counts is that the team is winning and that’s what’s most important,” Everhart said. “We’ve come a long way and the program has really improved.”

Sophomore Haley Kapferer, a middle hitter from Jefferson, has been another leader in the Penguins’ attack this season.

“We’ve worked hard on a lot of things this season,” Kapferer said. “We are a lot more organized and we are playing with a lot of confidence.

“Being from the Ashtabula area I’ve followed this program for a long time and it was a place where I wanted to come to play,” she added.

Friday night the Penguins will entertain the Flames (3-6) and then Saturday will play host to Loyola of Chicago in another Horizon League contest at 2 p.m. Both matches will be on the resurfaced Dom Rosselli Court at Beeghly.

“The new floor is really beautiful,” added Bonner. “The girls were sort of concerned at first thinking that it might be a little sticky, but that wasn’t the case and they really love it.”

The Penguins have competed in three tournaments. They were 1-1 at the Ohio State Sports Imports Classic, beating Toledo, and then won the Comfort Suites 49ers Tournament at Charlotte, beating the host team in the finals. They were 2-1 at the Robert Morris Invitational.

They topped off their road trip with a four-set win over West Virginia Sunday.

Everhart was the second member of the YSU team to earn Horizon League player of the week honors in the past two weeks. Junior Ruth Boscaljon, a 6-foot-3 middle hitter from Elgin, Ill., took the honor the previous week.

Following Saturday’s match with Loyola, the Penguins will be back on the road for four straight matches and won’t return home until Oct. 11 when they play host to UW-Milwaukee at 4 p.m.

mollica@vindy.com