SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University volleyball team took the first two sets on Friday night but had to rally for the victory, claiming a 3-2 win over long-time rival West Chester in another entertaining Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) showdown from Heiges Field House.
 
Set scores were 27-25, 25-20, 20-25, 22-25 and 15-12.
 
Shippensburg (16-3, 5-2 PSAC) hit .176 as a team and got 13 kills each from senior Annie Goerl and sophomore Morgan DeFloria. Senior setter Maura Nolan had 42 assists, three kills, and eight digs.
 
The Raiders swung .342 in the opening set and .208 in the second set but had a percentage under .100 in the third and fourth set. SU held the visitors to a zero percentage in the fifth set for the win.
 
West Chester (15-5, 3-4) got a match-high 16 kills from Karleigh Lutz, 45 assists from Jillian Grammer and hit .148 as a team in the match while totaling 10 blocks. Three different Golden Rams totaled four blocks in the match, while Nicki Yates led all players with 23 digs.
 
In the first set, the Raiders trailed 23-21 and later had to fend off two set points but still managed to take the opening frame. At 24-24, each team's setter snuck in a kill against the other before the Raiders forced an attack error and got a kill from Goerl to win the set.
 
In the decisive fifth frame, SU forced timeouts after staking leads of 8-5 and 10-6, but the Golden Rams rallied to make the score 10-9. The Raiders got a big kill from DeFloria to make it 13-10, and eventually won on another attack from DeFloria for the final score.
 
SU's rookie middles continue to make a huge impact. Freshman Samantha Webber had nine kills, six blocks and hit .217. Webber had a big solo block in the fifth set that ran the score to 12-9. Freshman Kendall Johnson had 11 kills on just three errors, swinging .333, and two solo blocks.
 
Senior Maria Peluso had a team-high 22 digs as the libero and served three of Shippensburg's nine aces. Goerl achieved her fifth double-double of the season, adding 17 digs, while freshman Gabriella Johnson added nine kills and 13 digs.
 
Shippensburg will hold its "Dig Pink" Day on Saturday, hosting Cheyney at 1 p.m. and Ursuline at 5 p.m. from Heiges Field House.