Shippensburg University’s women’s volleyball split its home-opening games 1-1 this past weekend at Heiges Field House. 

The team lost its home opener against Shepherd on Friday but bounced back to win its next game on Saturday against Chestnut Hill.

The Raiders’ season record moves to 4-9 overall. 

Friday’s matchup against the Shepherd Rams had an electric start. The energy for the team’s home opener propelled the Raiders to take the first two sets by close margins.

The Rams led early in the first set with a strong 4-0 run. The Raiders slowed down their advances with a quick answer back kill from sophomore Hailey Cappleman.

Both teams exchanged points back and forth for most of the match. 

The Raiders made quick efforts at 22-24 with kills from Cappleman and junior Isabelle Bombas and back-to-back aces by sophomore Shay Kolivoski. The late 4-0 run led the Raiders to win the first set 26-24. 

Set 2 was played in a similar fashion, with the Rams gaining the early lead before the Raiders recovered. 

SU topped the Rams again with back-to-back Ram errors, a freshman Clara Wildermuth kill and a senior Erica Lampus ace. The final score was 25-23. 

The Raiders looked to finish the job in Set 3, but their early lead did not hold on until Shepherd gained momentum and pushed ahead. 

The teams exchanged leads until the Rams strung together a 3-0 run to win the set 27-25 and advance to set four. 

Shippensburg suffered hard-fought losses in sets four and five to finish the day with a 3-2 loss. 

Junior setter Kearstin Davis recorded a career-high 60 assists, which is the most by a Raider in a single match since 2019. She also added two kills, two aces and a season-high 18 digs. 

Looking to bounce back on Saturday, the Raiders geared up to take on Chestnut Hill back at Heiges Field House. 

The Raiders came out strong in Set 1 with an early 11-0 lead over the Griffins. SU struggled with a couple of errors but were able to shut down any efforts by the Griffins to win the set 25-15. 

Chestnut Hill bounced back in Set 2 to challenge the Raiders. They strung together three 5-0 runs to solidify a strong lead over SU and win the set 25-18. 

The Raiders gained back their fierce momentum in Sets 3 and 4 to notch a win for the weekend, 3-1. 

Senior Emily Gardner delivered a strong performance recording nine kills, two aces, one assist and 14 digs. Bombas led the Raiders in kills, recording 11, and Junior Berkley Simmons added a season-high 15 digs to help the Raiders defensively. 

The Raiders will be on the road next week for two conference matchups against Kutztown on Friday and East Stroudsburg on Saturday. 

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