Box Score

WHEELING, W.Va. – The Shippensburg University volleyball team made history Thursday night with its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, dispatching the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in straight sets at the 2013 NCAA Atlantic Region Championships.

Shippensburg (29-9) defeated UPJ (26-11) by set scores of 25-20, 26-24, 25-19 in a match held at the Alma Grace McDonough Center on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University.

The Raiders defeated the Lady Cats in all three of the 2013 meetings between the teams, as SU was previously victorious in four sets on October 25 and November 16. The victory is a reverse of the 2007 season, a year in which SU made its inaugural NCAA Tournament appearance but fell in five sets to Kutztown after defeating the Golden Bears twice in the regular season.

"Shippensburg is a great place to be and it's just a lot of fun to be a part of a growing program that we've watched evolve," head coach Leanne Piscotty said. "The alumni have helped pave the way for us to take the reins and make them proud."

From the opening point – a long rally that featured nearly 40 total touches between the two teams – defense proved to be one of the keys to the match. SU managed a .172 hitting efficiency but limited the Lady Cats to a .097 percentage, as the two squads also combined for 13 blocks. 

"I thought both teams did an exceptional job of playing good defense and keeping the ball alive," Piscotty said. "There were some exciting, long rallies that were a good time to watch and a good time to coach and let the girls battle it out on the floor."

Shippensburg took an early 10-4 lead in the opening set before UPJ rallied after a timeout with eight of the next nine points to lead 12-11. After SU eventually got to a 20-19 lead, SU closed the opening frame with five of the final six points to gain the early advantage.

The decisive frame, however, was the second set. UPJ had claimed the second set in each of the previous two meetings with the Raiders in 2013 and seemed poise to repeat the feat, staking out leads of 13-10, 19-13 and 23-19 in the frame.

"UPJ is a tough serving team and they were putting some heat behind the ball," senior Jill Edwards said. Pitt-Johnstown finished the match with nine aces – five coming in the second half. "We had to start getting some better touches in order to run a better offense."

The Raiders got their break on the serve of freshman Gabbie Holt, as SU made a late run to tie the score at 23-23. After an exchange of points, a pivotal block at the net by sophomore Faith Athey and freshman Maura Nolan put the Raiders up by one before an attack error gave them the second set.

"This is a resilient group," Piscotty said. "We have a lot of hard workers who I affectionately call 'blue collar.' They go all out all the time and are just tough. The resiliency they've built up throughout the season is certainly evident when you can come back from a deficit – in rally scoring it's so difficult to overcome a deficit like that."

In the third set, SU did not have any of its attacks blocked by UPJ after having six points lost in the first two sets to blocks. A kill by Edwards, her 14th of the match, clinched SU's victory.

"We knew UPJ was a good blocking team and that we had to be smart attackers and find the holes in their defense," Edwards admitted. "We needed to start swinging aggressively – we got a couple of hard-driven attacks and that got the ball rolling and built up the confidence."

Nolan, SU's freshman setter, handed out 32 assists in the match and was mostly strong with her sneak attacks – finishing with three kills.

"I always know I can count on Jill to help me with the momentum," Nolan said. "But every single person on this team exudes it, and we can feed off everyone."

Shippensburg entered as the PSAC's strongest blocking team and added seven to that total in Thursday's match. Athey finished with seven kills from the middle, hitting .333, and four block assists to become SU's single-season record holder with 119. Sophomore Taylor Gottshall added two block assists – giving her 118 to tie Libby Woffindin's previous school record set in 2010.

Holt was strong on defense and the serve for the Raiders despite being limited on the attack due to an injury – she finished with 13 digs. Sophomore libero Laura Plank led the Raiders with 15 digs.  

Seven different Raiders finished with kills, including six by freshman Maria Peluso and two in the third set by senior Samantha Edwards. Peluso and freshman Abby Mummert each contributed two of SU's seven aces.

"In my four years here I've gotten to play with some amazing teammates and passionate volleyball players," Jill Edwards said. "It's an experience that I'm not quite ready to finish. We're hard workers, we're confident, fun and competitive individuals. We're ready to compete against some of the top teams in the region."

Shippensburg will face the hosts, No. 1 seed Wheeling Jesuit, at 7:30 p.m. Friday inside the McDonough Center.