Shippensburg University volleyball went 1-1 this past week, losing in five sets to East Stroudsburg on Friday before beating Kutztown in four sets on Saturday.
The results move the Raiders to 13-6 on the season with a 4-1 record in conference play, placing them second in the PSAC east.
Friday’s match saw Shippensburg lose 16-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-19 and 12-15 to first-place East Stroudsburg. The Raiders began with a slow start, falling behind 5-19 in the first set, and had to come from behind in set two. They scored the final five points to win the set, with the final two points being aces from junior Kat Negron.
East Stroudsburg had a 7-1 run in the middle of Set 3 to give it a 2-1 lead. Set four was a series of runs, with the Raiders turning a 4-4 tie into a 12-5 lead. East Stroudsburg did not back down, making it 13-13, but Shippensburg then took seven of the next 8 points to pull away. The Raiders led 11-9 in the tiebreaker set, but East Stroudsburg took six of the final 7 points to win the match.
Junior Maddie Clabaugh and freshman Gracen Nutt each had 14 kills in the match to lead the Raiders, with sophomore Isabelle Bombas also in double digits with 10. Sophomore Kearstin Davis had 52 assists with only two errors, while freshman Shay Kolivoski led the team in aces and digs with five and 19 respectively.
Saturday’s match was smooth for the Raiders, winning in four sets over Kutztown by scores of 25-19, 25-22, 14-25, 25-7. The first two sets were back-and-forth, with Kutztown coming back from down eight to tie the second set a 22-22 before the Raiders took the set, finishing it with a kill from Davis.
Set 3 was all Kutztown, jumping out to a 7-2 lead and not looking back. The Raiders did not let that affect them, though, and dominated the fourth set in every asset. They led 24-4 before finishing it off, taking advantage of 10 Bears’ errors in the set.
Junior Emily Gardner led the Raiders in the match with 11 kills, followed by Clabaugh and senior Kaitlyn Townsend with 10 each. Davis had 34 assists with zero errors, and Gardner tied senior Jackie Sterenberg with 12 digs each.
A pair of home matches are on the docket this week for Shippensburg volleyball. The first will be against West Chester at 7 p.m. Friday before a Saturday matchup with Millersville University at 1 p.m. Both games will be at Heiges Field House.
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