Women's Volleyball | 11/18/2015 3:01:00 PM

The Shippensburg University volleyball team heads to Johnstown this weekend for the 2015 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, beginning with a conference semifinal against Edinboro at 5 p.m. Friday from Sports Center.
 
Admission is $7 for adults and $2 for students, with students of PSAC member schools receiving free admission with proper identification.
 
Pitt-Johnstown Sports Information will provide live video and live statistics of all three matches, with coverage links posted above. 
 
Shippensburg (28-8), the No. 2 seed in the PSAC Eastern Division and the No. 5 seed in the Atlantic Region rankings, is appearing in the PSAC Semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. SU is the only team to return from last year's semifinals held in Seton Hill.
 
Edinboro (31-5), the No. 1 seed in the PSAC Western Division and the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Region rankings, is fresh off a 3-0 sweep of California (Pa.), a team that had won eight consecutive Western Division matches entering the quarterfinals.
 
Friday's meeting is the first time that Edinboro and Shippensburg have squared off in the PSAC Semifinals since 2000. The Fighting Scots swept the Raiders that year, 3-0, before falling to Lock Haven in the finals.
 
Edinboro and Shippensburg are among the best teams in the country defensively. Opponents are hitting just .128 against the Fighting Scots (18th in the country), while the opposition is hitting just .131 against the Raiders (21st in the country).
 
Friday's semifinal figures to be riveting based on recent results. The Raiders and Fighting Scots have played five sets in each of the last five meetings, including a September 25 contest earlier this season that Edinboro won 16-14 in the fifth set. Three of the last five matches needed extra points to decide the outcome. Dating back to 2005, the two teams have played five sets in nine of the last 11 meetings.
 
The Raiders lead all of Division II in service aces, averaging 2.04 per set and totaling 259 for the year. SU also ranks third in the country and atop the PSAC in digs, averaging 19.04 per set and totaling 2,418 this season.
 
SU is paced by All-PSAC East First Team setter Maura Nolan, who ranks third in the PSAC for total assists (1,158) and has earned two PSAC Player of the Week awards this season. Senior middle blocker Taylor Gottshall, an All-PSAC East Second Team pick this season, enters the weekend just 12 block assists shy of the all-time PSAC record for the category (470, by Edinboro's Mandie Moyer (1996-99).