Shippensburg University volleyball struggled this weekend, losing matches to Wheeling and Fairmont State on Friday before splitting matches with West Liberty and West Virginia State on Saturday. They fall to 6-5 overall this season.

Wheeling hosted both of Friday’s games, starting the day by beating SU in straight sets, as the Raiders fell 22-25, 18-25, and 25-27. Set one saw SU tied as late as 19-19, but Wheeling pulled away from there. The Raiders also led late in set three, up 22-18 at one point, but just could not hold on.

Redshirt sophomore Gracen Nutt led the Raiders with eight kills. Junior Kylie Snyder was close behind at seven kills, also adding in four blocks. Senior Kearstin Davis led the setters with 18 assists, while junior Shay Kolivoski led the defenders with 14 kills.

SU’s second match of the day saw Fairmont State win with a sweep, with set scores of 19-25, 15-25, and 22-25. The Raiders failed to generate any consistent scoring, only putting up four consecutive points just once.

Fairmont State hit .260 in the match compared to just .104 for Shippensburg, which is well below their season average of .172. 

Shippensburg’s fortunes changed on Saturday, as they won a road matchup against West Liberty in four sets. The Raiders pulled through in a closely contested game, featuring set scores of 26-24, 23-25, 25-20, and 25-23.

The offense got off to a hot start, as SU jumped out to a 6-0 lead in set one. It was back and forth until a 3-0 run finished off the set. Fast starts helped SU in the other two sets as well, converting 13-6 and 5-1 leads into victorious sets. SU hit .204 compared to just .139 for West Liberty.

Junior Natalya Montague paced the offense with 12 kills, hitting .480 with no errors. Freshman Elise Bragg put up nine kills along with a career-high 17 digs. Davis continued her strong weekend with 29 assists and 11 digs.

The last match of the weekend was also close throughout, but SU fell 3-1 to West Virginia State with set scores of 22-25, 25-22, 21-25, and 21-25. 

The Yellow Jackets used a 12-2 run midway through the first set to go up 1-0, before SU pulled ahead with a 5-0 run late in set two to even the match. West Virginia State scored the final six points of set three to win it, before converting an 8-3 start to a set four win.

Junior Hailey Cappleman led SU with 13 kills in the match, with Bragg close behind at 12 kills and 15 digs, capping off a stellar Saturday. Kolivoski’s 25 digs were then most of any Raider. Davis led the team with 24 assists, as sophomore Jaiden Anderson also had 18 along with 11 digs.

Shippensburg volleyball’s stretch of 16 straight road games to start the season continues with a pair of matches this week. They will face Clarion on Friday at 6 p.m., a rematch of SU’s season-opener, which they won 3-2. They then travel to Slippery Rock for a Saturday matinee, taking the court at 2 p.m.

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