The Shippensburg University volleyball team dropped its first match in straight sets to Wheeling Jesuit (6-25, 13-25, 21-25) before winning the final three sets in a five-set match victory over Shepherd (16-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-18, 16-14) in Saturday's PSAC/Mountain East Crossover at Wheeling Jesuit.
 
Shippensburg (9-2) rebounded admirably following five straight set losses (three to Wheeling Jesuit, two to Shepherd) to split the day. The Raiders also took three of four matches this weekend, including head coach Leanne Piscotty's 250th career win last night against Fairmont State.
 
SU never trailed in the decisive fifth set against Shepherd, but the Rams were able to tie the game at 14-14 before the Raiders scored back-to-back points to pocket the comeback victory. It's the second time this season Shippensburg has had a fifth set decided by a 16-14 score as the Raiders fell by that count in a decisive set to Adelphi. While Shepherd finished with more kills than Shippensburg in the two teams' match (51-45), the Raiders made up ground by finishing with 12 aces to the Rams' six. The Raiders saved their best hitting performance for last as they hit .333 in the fifth game – a team-best on the day.
 
Freshman Morgan DeFloria paced the Raiders Saturday with 20 kills, including 12 in the match against Shepherd. Senior Taylor Gottshall followed with 12 kills. DeFloria and Gottshall shared the team lead with 40 kills each in four matches this weekend.
 
More notably for Gottshall, with five blocks Saturday, she became just the 10th player in PSAC history with 500 career blocks. Gottshall now has 502 for her career, with No. 502 coming as the match-clinching point in the win over Shepherd. Senior Faith Athey had 23 kills and nine blocks in the four weekend matches. Athey now has 367 blocks in her career, moving her into third all-time at Shippensburg as she passed Kali Antolik (363, 2006-2009).
 
Junior setter Maura Nolan finished with the third-most kills Saturday with eight – four in each match. Nolan added 54 assists on the day, including 37 in the victory over Shepherd. Nolan is just 40 assists shy of 3,000 for her career
 
Sophomore Maria Peluso led Shippensburg with 28 digs in two matches. Senior Laura Plank paced the Raiders with 87 digs for the weekend.
 
The Raiders struggled through two games with Division II power Wheeling Jesuit, but found momentum in the third game. Shippensburg led by as many as five at 13-8 before Wheeling Jesuit regrouped and edged the Raiders to finish off the straight-set decision.
 
Shippensburg will travel to Erie Friday where Mercyhurst will host a weekend of PSAC crossovers. SU will take on Mercyhurst in its first match of the weekend beginning at 11:30 a.m. Friday.