SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University volleyball team came up short in its home opener Friday night, dropping a 3-1 decision to Bentley in a non-conference match at Heiges Field House. Set scores were 21-25, 17-25, 29-27 and 20-25.
 
Shippensburg (3-6) and Bentley (3-5) were close through much of the first two sets, but the visiting Falcons used some late runs to pull away in each frame. SU trailed 21-20 in the first set and was within 15-13 of BU in the second set. The raucous third set featured eight lead changes and 13 tie scores.
 
Bentley hit .205 as a team, equaling the highest opponent percentage against the Raiders this season. The Falcons also did not yield an ace to the Raiders while serving four of their own.
 
Offensively, freshman Hope Leavy-Gaskins led the Raiders with a career-high 12 kills – her first double-digit kill output of her young career. Leavy-Gaskins swung .171 and had a hand in two of SU's three blocks.
 
Junior Rachel Verhoef and freshman Emily Gardner each totaled 10 kills – with Verhoef hitting .273 from the floor. Gardner added 12 digs for her third double-double of the season.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Alex Leitner and freshman Kelsie Baus rotated at libero, with the duo combining for 28 digs. Freshman setter Lily Letchworth had 30 assists and 10 digs.
 
Bentley got 12 kills from Rachel Vitko and 10 kills from Shannon Ngo. Both teams had 14 service errors.

Tomorrow, Shippensburg will host Queens (N.Y.) at 1:30 p.m. and Jefferson at 4 p.m. at Heiges Field House.