The Shippensburg University volleyball team put forth another excellent road performance in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division play on Saturday night, notching a 3-1 victory at Kutztown by set scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-18 in action at Brandywine Heights High School.
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Shippensburg (16-8, 6-4) hit an impressive .256 from the floor – its third-highest output of the season – to dispatch a Kutztown (20-7, 8-3) squad that was coming off a four-set victory last night over first-place Lock Haven. SU equaled its season high with 13 blocks and had only four service errors – its fewest in a conference match this season.
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The Raiders improved to 3-1 on the road in conference matches this season while the Golden Bears suffered their first loss at home.
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It was the second time in the last 11 days the two teams clashed; KU won in four sets at Heiges Field House on Oct. 13 against a further-depleted Raider squad that hit just .055 from the floor.
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Two sophomores were integral to SU's offensive success.
Mya Davis had the night of her life, delivering a career-high 15 kills on just two errors, hitting a whopping .520 on 25 swings. Davis also had a career-high four blocks, including one solo. Just 12 points into the second set, Davis had already produced a stat line of seven kills without an error on nine swings.
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Elise Bragg made her return from a two-week absence due to injury and crushed a season-high 17 kills, leading the Raiders on the night, while also delivering one of the most efficient performances of her career. Despite a team-high 43 attempts (her second-most this season), Bragg only had five errors – resulting in a .279 hitting percentage that ranks as her third-best output of the season. She also had eight digs, a service ace and a block assist.
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Senior libero
Shay Kolivoski was fantastic, racking up a team-high 22 digs and serving three of SU's six aces. Her back-row passing resulted in three assists.
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Sophia Barrera, one night removed from working primarily as an outside hitter, returned to her back-row role and delivered a career-high 16 digs – five more than her previous single-match best. Fellow junior
Shea Stevens had eight digs and four assists.
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Junior
Jaiden Anderson delivered a signature performance, totaling a career-high 49 assists, dumping three kills without an error, serving two aces, contributing to two block assists, and recording nine digs. Anderson was the primary distributor of an offense that had five players record six or more kills on the night, including three who finished in double digits.
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Junior
Clara Wildermuth was that third Raider – slamming 10 kills and hitting .231 from the floor. She was also credited with a solo block at the end of the first set, making a play at the net that secured the frame for the Raiders.
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Senior
Natalya Montague finished with six kills and a team-high six block assists. Sophomore
Augusta DeVos (York, Pa./Central York) had six kills, three blocks and hit .222. Redshirt-sophomore
Riley Blank snuck in four kills without an error, hitting .250, and had two block assists.
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SU led by as many as six points in the first set and held a 23-17 advantage when Kutztown reeled off a 6-0 run to even the frame at 23-23. Head Coach
Leanne Piscotty brought sophomore
Addison Haley off the bench, who delivered a clean service reception that set up a kill for DeVos. The aforementioned block by by Wildermuth followed, giving the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
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Wildermuth delivered seven of her 10 kills in the first set, hitting .333 from the floor in the opening frame.
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Shippensburg used a 5-0 run in the second set to lead 20-15. KU proceeded to make it back-to-back sets with a 6-0 run, however, taking a 21-20 lead. A pair of kills by Bragg, including one that held up despite a coach's challenge, were sandwiched around a KU kill to make the score 22-22. The Golden Bears countered with three straight kills to end the set, squaring the match at 1-1.
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A decisive point of the contest came at the 9-8 mark of the third set. After Anderson and Montague teamed up for a block, Kolivoski delivered an eight-point service run that was capped by an ace, making it 18-8 in Shippensburg's favor. The Golden Bears then one-upped themselves, unleashing a 7-0 run to immediately get back into it. KU got as close as 19-17, but SU ended the set with a 6-2 spurt to take a 2-1 lead.
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Through three sets, Davis was swinging at a .591 clip (14 kills, one error, 22 swings). In the third set alone, Davis had seven kills on just nine swings. Four of those kills were delivered during the last six points – including each of the final two of the third set.
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Shippensburg never trailed in the final set. Kutztown rallied from an early five-point hole to tie the score at 10-10, but the Raiders closed with a 7-2 run to claim victory.
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Piscotty utilized 14 players on the night for the Raiders, several of whom made key contributions at various intervals despite their stays not being overly long. Perhaps the finest example of this came at 21-17 of the fourth set, when
Kylie Snyder made her first appearance of the night – replacing Anderson in the front row – and immediately teaming up with Montague for a block on the next point.
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Over the last two sets, Bragg ripped nine kills and hit .381 from the floor, producing just one error on 21 attempts.
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KU had nine blocks, nine aces, only two service errors, and hit .173. Madilyn Bogovic had a match-high 19 kills but also had 56 attempts; she finished with a lofty double-double as that output was accompanied by 20 digs. Saige Thibodeaux led all players with 30 digs and handled 32 of her 33 reception attempts.
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Shippensburg is now one conference victory away from clinching the final Eastern Division playoff spot. Its next match is a non-conference clash against high-flying Jefferson at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Heiges Field House.
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