The Shippensburg University volleyball team matched season highs Friday night with 18 aces and 12 blocks while hitting .261 from the floor – its highest attack percentage away from home this season – to post a 3-1 victory over West Chester in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division at Hollinger Field House. Set scores were 25-22, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-18.
Shippensburg (14-6, 6-0) was taking on the team directly behind it in the Eastern Division standings for the second consecutive Friday, as West Chester (14-4, 4-2) began the night just one game behind the Raiders. SU never trailed in either of the final two sets, keeping the Golden Rams out of system to post its seventh straight win in the overall series.
Kearstin Davis totaled 39 assists, served four aces, recorded six digs and contributed to a pair of blocks. The Raiders only had seven attack errors through the first three sets.
Gracen Nutt led all players with 13 kills; she hit .278 on a team-high 36 attempts. Nutt added three aces and five digs.
Berkley Simmons led all players with five aces – one less than West Chester had as a team – and had five digs.
Clara Wildermuth and
Isabelle Bombas had a hand in 11 blocks on the night and were efficient on the attack. Wildermuth delivered a fantastic line of 10 kills to just one error, hitting .391, while posting four block assists. Bombas smacked five kills and hit .250 while recording two solo blocks and five block assists.
Hailey Cappleman, the reigning Eastern Division Offensive Athlete of the Week, maintained her solid play with eight kills, a .263 hitting percentage and five blocks.
Elise Bragg also had eight kills while adding 14 digs, two block assists and two aces.
Shay Kolivoski, the reigning Eastern Division Defensive Athlete of the Week, led all players with 15 digs, served three aces and handed out three assists.
The first two sets featured a combined 22 tie scores and seven lead changes. In the first set, SU closed on a 7-4 run to take a 1-0 lead. With the score tied 23-23 in the second set, WCU scored consecutive points to even the match.
The Raiders raced out to a 10-3 lead in the third set, as Bragg opened the frame with a five-point service run. Another 5-0 run early in the fourth set, one that included back-to-back aces by Nutt, gave SU an 11-4 advantage. The Golden Rams got within three points at 21-18 before a service error and two Simmons' aces sandwiched around a Raider block ended the match.
West Chester got 12 kills each from Abiah Lane and Maeve Gallagher while Lacie Brown had a match-high 45 assists. Zoe Haines had 11 kills and hit .269 from the floor. The Golden Rams hit .371 in the first set and .406 in the second set but hit just .075 in the final two sets combined. It was West Chester's first home loss of the season after starting out 9-0 at Hollinger Field House.
Through six conference matches, Shippensburg has served 85 aces – 28 more than any other league school in that span. SU's 3.27 aces per set average against conference opponents is nearly a full ace higher than any other team in the league.
Shippensburg remains on the road tomorrow for a
1 p.m. match at Millersville.
