Gallery: (10-24-2025) 2025 Volleyball vs. Shepherd
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University volleyball team completed its seventh five-set victory of the season Friday night by defeating Shepherd in a thrilling Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division matchup to stay undefeated in conference play. Set scores were 25-21, 25-14, 24-26, 16-25 and 15-13.
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Shippensburg (16-6, 8-0 PSAC East) ended the match with 65 kills and a .212 hitting percentage. Shepherd (16-6, 5-3) recorded 56 kills with a .196 hitting percentage. The Raiders delivered 12 aces to the Rams' six. Shepherd out-blocked Ship 13-9.
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The Shippensburg offense was balanced as three Raiders recorded 10 or more kills.
Elise Bragg led the team with a match-high 15 kills and added 18 digs.
Gracen Nutt and
Hailey Cappleman added 13 kills each. Nutt added an ace, five digs and a block assist. Cappleman tallied an ace and two block assists.
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Kearstin Davis dished out a match high and season-high 53 assists. Davis surpassed 4,000 assists in the match, becoming just the fourth Raider in history to total 4,000 in a career. She tacked on 13 digs to complete a double-double and added two aces.
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Shay Kolivoski led the Raider defense with 20 digs and served a match-high three aces.
Berkley Simmons tied Kolivoski with three aces and recorded 18 digs.
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Shippensburg started the match with an early 4-0 run off a pair of kills from Nutt and an ace from Davis.
Isabelle Bombas added a kill and a block assist to complete a 3-0 Raider run, 7-2. The Rams came within three at 10-7 after a 3-0 run. Cappleman delivered a kill and an ace to keep the Raiders in front, 14-8. Shepherd answered with a late 5-1 scoring stretch to cut the deficit to three, 23-20. Nutt ended the set with a pair of kills, 25-21.
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The Raiders found momentum in the second set after a kill from Wildermuth and an ace from Kolivoski, 13-11. With Simmons on the service line, the Raiders went on a 7-0 run that included an ace and a trio of kills from Cappleman. Shippensburg closed the second set on a 5-1 scoring stretch that ended with a Nutt kill, 25-14. The Raiders saw their best hitting percentages at the start as they hit .405 in both the first and second set, only committing five errors on a total of 79 total swings.
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Shepherd opened the third set with a 3-0 run off two Raider errors and a block. A 6-1 scoring stretch put the Raiders in front, 8-6. The teams continued to trade points until the Rams completed a 5-0 run, 18-15. Ship answered with a 3-0 run of its own, 18-18. Shepherd was the first team to get to set point, but the Raiders responded to push the set to extra points, 24-24. The Rams capitalized off a block and a Raider error to claim set three, 26-24.
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The Rams started the fourth set with an 8-3 scoring stretch. The Raiders cut the deficit to one after a 5-1 scoring stretch, 9-8. Shepherd kept the momentum and answered with a 7-1 scoring stretch, 16-9. Shippensburg completed a 4-1 scoring stretch late in the set, 22-16. The Rams completed a 3-0 run to force a fifth set, 25-16.
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Natalya Montague and
Clara Wildermuth opened the fifth set with back-to-back kills, 2-0. Shepherd recorded a 6-1 scoring stretch to take a four-point lead, 8-4. Bragg delivered an ace that helped complete a 3-0 run to cut the Raider deficit to one, 9-8. The Rams answered with a 3-0 run, 12-8. Two Ram attack errors put the Raiders back within two, 12-10. Wildermuth delivered a kill that was followed by a block from Montague and Nutt to tie the set at 13. Montague recorded a kill to put the Raiders at set point, 14-13. A block from Montague and Wildermuth ended the match in favor of the Raiders.
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Shepherd was led by Ada McCoy who recorded 14 kills with a .281 hitting percentage. McCoy tacked on six digs and two aces. Macy Buso handed out 42 assists and tallied six digs and an ace. The Ram defense was led by Gracie Zartman who recorded a match-high 21 digs.
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Shippensburg is back in action next Friday at 6 p.m. when it hosts West Chester at Heiges Field House.
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