SPORTS digest

YSU wins after marathon final set

AKRON

Lori Vanbeek had a career-best 21 kills to lead the Youngstown State volleyball team to a four-set victory over Eastern Kentucky on Friday in the first match of the Akron Invitational.

The set scores were 25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 36-34.Vanbeek’s 21 kills came on just 30 attempts, and the senior from Paw Paw, Ill., had just three errors for a .600 attack percentage. She added nine blocks as the Penguins topped the Colonels for the first time in program history.

Sarah Varcolla finished with a season-best 13 kills, and Val Jeffery had 16 digs to go along with her 47 assists.

Celina Sanks had a match-best 24 kills for EKU.

Vanbeek had six kills in the opening set as the Penguins hit .294 and never trailed in their 25-19 victory. EKU hit .325 in the second set, up from .111 in the first, to win the second set 25-20.

In the third set, YSU did not have an attack error in 25 swings, finishing with 15 kills and a .600 attack percentage. Vanbeek had five kills in the set, and the Penguins trailed just once at 3-2.

While there were nine ties and three lead changes in the first three sets combined, there were 21 ties and nine lead changes in the fourth set. At 36-34, it is the longest set YSU has played in since sets were shortened to 25 points in 2008.

YSU will play twice today at the Akron Invitational. The Penguins will face Canisius at 10 a.m., and they’ll play the host Zips at 7 p.m.

YSU women’s soccer team loses on road

St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

The Youngstown State women’s soccer team dropped a 6-0 decision to St. Bonaventure on Friday night at the Marra Complex.

The Bonnies (2-2-1) scored a pair of goal in the game’s first five minutes, a third in the 18th minute and a fourth at the 31:22 mark to take a 4-0 lead into halftime.

Two more St. Bonaventure goals in the 64th and 86th minutes closed out the scoring for the Bonnies and sealed the 6-0 victory.

YSU (2-3-1) took just six total shots and had one shot on goal. SBU took 18 shots with 10 attempts on goal.

The Penguins host Xavier at 1 p.m. Sunday at Farmers National Bank Field.

Kyle Busch dominates Xfinity race at RIR

RICHMOND, Va.

Kyle Busch took the lead on pit road after just over 50 laps and showed why he’s the NASCAR Xfinity Series career victory leader with a dominant run at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night.

The defending Sprint Cup Series champion led 197 of 250 laps en route to his 84th victory in the series. He also won for the eighth time in 14 starts this season, but for the first time since July 23 at Indianapolis.

The race was slowed by caution flags just twice, and that allowed Busch to build leads as high as 7 seconds, or more, and to put virtually the entire field a lap down. At one point, there were only five cars on the lead lap.

His margin of victory was a whopping 6.453 seconds. Only 11 cars finished on the lead lap.

Erik Jones, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski and points leader Elliott Sadler.

Hamlin finally captures Sprint Cup pole at RIR

RICHMOND, Va.

Denny Hamlin has won the pole for Friday for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, racing about 20 miles from where he grew up in Chesterfield, turned a fast last at 122.344 mph in the third round of qualifying to claim his first pole position of the year. It’s the 24th pole position of his career and third in 21 tries on the 0.75-mile oval.

It also marks the 24th consecutive race Hamlin will start from in the top 10.

Kyla Larson will start on the outside of the front row, with Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray in the second row, followed by Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr. in the third row.

Staff and wire reports