Shippensburg University’s women’s volleyball split away matches at Clarion and Slippery Rock this past week. The team’s record moves to 7-6 overall.
On Friday, the Raiders faced off against Clarion for the second time this season. In their first matchup, SU brought away a close win, 3-2, but Clarion came back for revenge.
The Golden Eagles started hot with a six-point lead in the first set. The Raiders attempted to challenge, but they could not get close enough to make a big threat and fell 25-15.
Shippensburg made a comeback in the second set and earned a hard-fought set win with a kill from junior Gracen Nutt and an ace from junior Hailey Cappleman.
The last two sets were competitive, with the Raiders falling by only a couple of points, scoring 23-25 and 22-25.
Freshman Elise Bragg had a team-high 13 kills, and senior Kearstin Davis led the team in assists with 37.
Moving to Saturday, the Raiders looked to bounce back at Slippery Rock, and they achieved that goal with a five-set victory. The set scores were 25-22, 9-25, 25-13, 18-25, and 18-16.
The first set was very closely matched, with neither team leading by more than two until a 5-0 run from the Raiders put the team ahead by three points. After exchanging back and forth runs, junior Natalya Montague recorded a kill, and Bragg slammed an ace for the win.
In set two, the Rock took a big lead to start in the second set that the Raiders could not work themselves back from. Moving to set three, however, the Raiders pushed themselves into a comfortable lead to take a win for their side.
Sets four and five were very back and forth. Both teams gave valiant efforts, but sophomore Clara Wildermuth closed the final set with a big block, giving the SU win overall.
Standouts for the Raiders included senior Isabelle Bombas, who led the Raider offense with 13 kills and committed only one error on 25 swings, and junior Shay Kolivoski, who led the defense with 25 digs.
Kolivoski recorded her 1000th career dig during the match.
Wildermuth and Bragg added ten kills each. Bragg also earned a career-high 18 digs.
The Raiders will continue on the road next week with matches against Shepherd, Lock Haven and Bloomsburg.
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