The Shippensburg University volleyball team put forth a late rally on Saturday afternoon at Pitt-Johnstown in a battle for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Central Division title, but the Raiders came up short in a four-set loss to the Lady Cats by scores of 20-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 15-25.
 
Shippensburg (26-6, 13-5 PSAC) was knocked back to the No. 5 seed in the PSAC Tournament as a result of the loss. The Raiders ended up even with California (Pa.) with the same division record. However, for the purpose of PSAC seeding, head-to-head matchups are not considered as a tiebreaker; that is only used to determine a division champion (SU defeated California this season).
 
The No. 2 tiebreaker for seeding the conference tournament is a new method called the FIVB points system, in which different point values are assigned to teams for five-set wins (2 points), five-set losses (1 point), and wins in three or four sets (3 points). California finished with 40 points, while Shippensburg finished with 38 points, giving the Vulcans the No. 4 seed, and the Raiders the No. 5 seed.
 
Pitt-Johnstown (22-8, 15-3) won the PSAC Central Division title with Saturday's victory, as the Lady Cats and Shippensburg were within one game entering the day and the Raiders claimed this season's previous meeting. UPJ, which honored its seniors before the game, hit .184 and totaled 10 blocks in the victory.
 
Senior Annie Goerl capped off a sensational week with her third double-double in three matches, ripping a season-high 20 kills and hitting .179 to go along with 11 digs. Sophomore Morgan DeFloria added 11 kills and hit .172.
 
Senior Maura Nolan had 30 assists, four kills and 17 digs. Fellow senior Maria Peluso was credited with 11 assists, and tallied an impressive 34 digs.
 
Shippensburg will travel to California for the PSAC Quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday.