The Shippensburg University volleyball team continued its weekend at the VSU Home Opener on Saturday with a pair of big victories, rallying to defeat Elizabeth City States in five sets, after being down 2-0, and defeating host Virginia State in five sets in Petersburg, Va.
 
Shippensburg (4-4) not only rallied from two sets down but also saved multiple match points in the fifth set against Elizabeth City (3-4) to win 21-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-19 and 18-16. The set scores against Virginia State (1-6) were 25-21, 16-25, 25-18, 18-25 and 15-10.
 
Shippensburg will be back in action Tuesday with its home opener, when it hosts Chestnut Hill at 7 p.m. at Heiges Field House.
 
Shippensburg 3, Elizabeth City 2
 
Senior Rachel Verhoef led the team with 18 kills, one shy away from tying her career high, and only made three errors. Fellow senior Oyinda Agbale also had double-digit kills, tying her career high with 15 kills and adding five blocks. Freshman setter Kearstin Davis had a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs, and a career high of three aces. Freshman libero Erica Lampus had a career-high 23 digs.  
 
The Raiders saved three set points late in the first set before the Vikings secured the set off a block. SU led? early in the second set, but ECSU responded with eight straight points to take the lead; a kill from the Vikings gave them a 2-0 lead.
 
Shippensburg was tied 17-17 in the third set and used an 8-1 run to claim the third set, including back-to-back kills from sophomore Kat Negron. The Raiders took control of the fourth set with a 10-4 lead. Agbale and Verhoef each had five kills each to take the match into a fifth set.
 
The fifth set featured eight ties and five lead changes, and the Raiders saved two match points. The set was tied 13-13 and a kill from the Vikings gave them their first match point, only to lose it from a service error. SU had a kill from senior Kaitlyn Townsend and Agbale to give them their first match point of the match, only to have it tie again on a block. Agbale and Verhoef secured the victory with a kill each.
 
Shippensburg 3, Virginia State 2
 
Sophomore Maddie Clabaugh led the team with a career-high 12 kills. Verhoef had nine kills and four blocks, while Agbale had three blocks and seven kills. Townsend led the team with five blocks. Lampus had a career high of four aces and 16 digs, while Davis tied her career high with 33 assists and had 12 digs.  

The Raiders won the first set, winning  seven of the last nine points. The second set was a different story as Virginia State took an early lead and only had three errors for a 25-16 victory.
 
In the third set, the Raiders kept the lead after tying the set 5-5. The Trojans had four errors, and went on an 11-0 run to win the fourth set. In the final set, the Raiders raced out to leads of 8-3 and 13-4 before claiming victory.