SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Despite a school record 35 kills on Tuesday night from sophomore outside hitter Jill Edwards, the Shippensburg University volleyball team came up just short for the second consecutive match, dropping a five-set heartbreaker to the Griffins of Seton Hill by set scores of 23-25, 25-17, 15-25, 27-25 and 13-15.

Shippensburg (3-6) was strong on the attack in the first two sets, hitting .225 and .263 as a team during those frames. SU committed just five hitting errors in the second set and was consistently paced by the efficiency of Edwards, who hit .312, and junior Erin Flick – whose nine kills resulted in a .412 hitting percentage.

Seton Hill (5-5), a squad who already this season has a victory over reigning PSAC champion Clarion, reversed the momentum with a convincing run to take the third set. Three different Griffins posted double-digit kills in the match, with Ashley Steinbach posting a double-double with a team-high 16 kills in addition to 13 digs.

An inspired rally by the Raiders helped the match go the distance. Trailing 12-4 in the fourth set, SU picked up six of the next nine points to bring the score to 14-10. After a Steinbach kill, SU won five straight points to tie the set at 15-15. However, SU fell behind by four points on two more occasions, 21-17 and 23-19.

SU faced two match points in the fourth set at 24-23 and 25-24 but Edwards bailed the team out on both occasions with thunderous kills. After a kill by sophomore Samantha Edwards put the Raiders up the first time in the entire set at 26-25, a Griffin attack error clinched the fourth set in SU's favor.

Another Raider rally in the fifth set came up just short. Trailing 13-9, Jill Edwards ripped her 35th and final kill to precede consecutive attack errors by the Griffins. A Seton Hill kill made the score 14-12 before Flick achieved her ninth and final kill to get the Raiders back within one. However, an SU attack was blocked on the final point to prevent the Raiders from completing their comeback.

Junior libero Lauren Murphy was consistently in the right place on defense, racking up a career-high 35 digs. Fellow junior Andrea Heimsoth was consistently setting up her teammates once again by recording assists on 54 of Shippensburg's 65 successful attacks.

Senior Libby Woffindin contributed 11 kills and four block assists. Flick and junior Jenny Pry also had four block assists.

Shippensburg returns to action this weekend by competing in its first PSAC crossover of the season. SU will face Mercyhurst at 7:30 p.m. on Friday before traveling Saturday to Edinboro for matches with Gannon and the host Fighting Scots.

Notes: The previous school record for kills in one match was 33, set by Brittany Roche on Nov. 15, 2007 in Shippensburg's only NCAA tournament game in school history, a five-set loss to Kutztown held in California (Pa.)…Edwards, named the PSAC Eastern Division Player of the Week on Tuesday, had 11 kills and hit .714 in the first set alone…she added five kills in the second set, two more in the third, 10 in the fourth set and seven in the fifth set…in addition to her school-record for kills, Edwards also totaled 19 digs for her first double-double this season…through 44 career matches, Edwards has already totaled 629 kills.