The Shippensburg University volleyball team traveled to Greensburg, Pa., and California, Pa., to partake in the first PSAC crossover of the 2013 season.
Friday
On the first day of the PSAC crossover, the SU volleyball team won its opening match against Indiana University of Pennsylvania in three sets by scores 25–21, 25–22 and 25–23.
The match against the Crimson Hawks opened a stretch of nine matches against PSAC teams, including the Raiders’ first home game of the year on Oct. 5.
In the match against IUP, all three sets were closely contested, but SU ultimately pulled through to win in three sets.
Senior Jill Edwards led the way with 17 kills, while adding one ace and two blocks in the match. Freshman Maura Nolan led the Raiders in assists with 37 in the match.
The Raiders looked to sweep their opponents on Friday, SU faced Seton Hill University in the second match, but found no way to get past the tough defense of the Griffins.
SU lost the match in straight sets, 15–25, 20–25 and 21–25.
As a team, the Raiders hit only .061 and struggled to find their offensive rhythm, collecting only six kills in the first set, 10 in the second and 12 in the third. Even though Jill Edwards led both teams in kills with 12, SU could not get past SHU.
On Saturday, the Raiders faced Clarion University and California University of Pennsylvania. Clarion has yet to lose a match this year, winning its first 12 matches. SU and California have similar records on the season, and met in the second match of the day on Saturday.
Saturday
In the first match against undefeated PSAC opponent Clarion, the Raiders put up a fair fight, but could not give Clarion its first loss of the season.
CU took the match in four sets with scores of 19–25, 21–25, 25–22 and 14–25.
With the exception of the last set, SU battled in the match. There were 19 tied scores in the match and 10 lead changes between SU and CU.
Jill Edwards again led the team in kills with 24 in the match, which brought her season total to 216 kills.
Nolan contributed 36 assists in the match against CU. Nolan has tallied 454 assists on the season. Freshman Maria Peluso led the team with 21 digs in the match, but ultimately, the contributions could not overcome the attack of the Golden Eagles.
The loss against CU dropped the Raiders’ record to 8–5 and 1–2 in the PSAC. The second match on Saturday was against CU.
The final match of the weekend series did not end well for SU. Hitting only .093 as a team in the final match, SU fell to California in four sets, 25–20, 13–25, 20–25 and 15–25.
The 21 kills from Jill Edwards could not overcome the 27 errors in the match by the Raiders.
Over the four-game weekend series, SU went 1–3, losing three straight to end the PSAC crossover.
After the struggling weekend, SU is now 8–6 overall and 1–3 in PSAC play.
The Raiders’ first home match of the year is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday
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