The Shippensburg University volleyball team rallied back from two sets down to take a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Easter Division victory over Kutztown on Friday night at Keystone Arena. Set scores were 25-22, 22-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12.
Shippensburg (13-11, 5-4 PSAC East) was led by seniors
Rachel Verhoef and
Kaitlyn Townsend, who combined for 16 block assists. Verhoef had her seventh double-digit kills this season with 15 kills and only had three errors. Townsend had a career-high eight block assists and added seven kills.
Reigning PSAC Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Week, senior
Oyinda Agbale added a career-high seven block assists. Sophomore
Emily Gardner was one short of getting her first double-double this season, with nine kills and 13 digs. She added three assists, two aces and a career-high four block assists. Senior
Jackie Sterenberg added nine kills with only two errors.
Freshman
Kearstin Davis led the team in assists and digs, with 23 assists and 15 digs. Freshman
Berkley Simmons tied her career high of 12 digs, matching her total against the Golden Bears earlier this season, and had a team-high three aces. Freshman
Nat Mazzone was one short from tying her career high with 16 assists.
The Raiders 15 block assists ties the season high set earlier against Fayetteville State.
In the first set, the Raiders had a better hitting efficiency over Kutztown (11-9, 5-4) as they had a 15-11 kill advantage. Verhoef led the team with four kills and no errors.
The second and third set took a turn for the Golden Bears. Despite a combined 12 tie scores and nine lead changes in the two sets, KU took the lead it wanted going into the fourth set. The Raiders only had 13 combined kills, compared to 26 kills by the Golden Bears.
In the fourth set, the Raiders dug deep and went on an 8-3 run to take a 21-14 lead. An outside hit kill from Gardner set up a fifth set. SU was trailing 8-3 but went on a 7-2 run to tie the match, 10-10. Back-to-back kills from Verhoef gave the Raiders match point, and Gardner finished it off with a kill.
Shippensburg will travel to East Stroudsburg for a 4 p.m. match up tomorrow.
