The NKU women’s volleyball team brought home their second Horizon League sweep of the season Wednesday night, after shutting out Youngstown State in three sets, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-13. With the victory, the Norse move to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in Horizon League play while the Penguins fall to 7-11 overall and 1-4 in conference league play.

Haley Libs led the Norse with her eighth double-double in a row with 13 kills and 11 digs, while Shelby Olsen posted her own double-double with 20 assists and 15 digs.

The Norse fell behind early in the first match before going on a 7-1 run to take the lead 14-12 after a kill from Libs. From there, the Penguins kept pace until the Norse regained momentum and went on a four-point run, before a kill from Libs finished the game 25-22. Libs, Bailey Western and Anna Brinkmann led the Norse offensively with four kills each while Ashton Terrill led the Norse on defense with eight digs.

While the Penguins overcame a pair of four point deficits to take the lead 12-11 mid way through the second set,  the Norse capitalized on four errors by the Penguins and regained the lead, 18-13. The Norse would maintain a comfortable lead over the Penguins for the remainder of the set and ended the game after a 5-1 point run, 25-19. Thanks to the defensive efforts from Libs, Terrill, Olsen and Laura Crawford, this foursome combined for 25 digs and only allowed eight kills from the Penguins.

The Norse took an early 10-2 lead over the Penguins to start the third set and maintained the lead after numerous miscues to go up 22-11. The final points of the set included kills from Natalie Hardig and Kaelin Gentile before a block from Gentile and Western ended the game 25-11.

Both squads showed why they are in the top three (NKU 1st/YSU 3rd) nationally in digs per set when the Norse registered 69 digs to the Penguins’ 62. The Norse also out-hit the Penguins .215 to .079, making it the third time this season that an opponent was held under .100.

The Norse return home for Alumnae Day this weekend for an early matchup against the University of Illinois at Chicago at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7. The match will be broadcast on ESPN +.