The Shippensburg University women’s volleyball team started off their 2016 season with two victories on Friday, Sept. 2 and one win and one loss on Saturday, Sept. 3 at the Raider Classic held in Heiges Field House.

The Raiders began play at 10 a.m. Friday morning against Southern New Hampshire University. SU swept the match with set scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-17.

As a team, the Raiders racked up a total of 36 kills. Freshman Kendall Johnson led the board with eight kills while sophomore Morgan DeFloria and freshman Gabby Johnson followed with seven and six kills, respectively. Freshman Megan Forstburg, junior Courtney Malott and senior Annie Goerl each aced the opposing team, and senior Maura Nolan, Malott and G. Johnson all led in blocks with two blocks each. Nolan led in assists with a total of 27 for the match while senior Maria Peluso tallied four assists and Malott tallied two. Peluso made a big contribution on defense as well, leading the board with 18 digs. Malott followed behind with 17 digs and Nolan had eight digs.

After a lengthy break, the Raiders returned to the court to conclude the day with a game at 8 p.m. against Concord University. SU once again had a clean sweep, winning the match in three sets with final scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-19. However, tragedy struck SU at the end of the first set when Malott suffered a major leg injury. The game had a brief delay as the ambulance removed Malott from the court, and then play resumed. SU came back into the game firing on all cylinders to easily take the first set.

The Raiders totaled 47 kills in the match, with Goerl leading the scoreboard with 13 kills. DeFloria and K. Johnson once again had a strong presence on offense with 10 kills and 9 kills, respectively. Peluso led in aces with three, while freshman Grace Ramacciotti made her collegiate debut with two aces and Nolan served one ace. Freshman Sam Webber aided the defense with four blocks, and DeFloria and K. Johnson each had a block. Nolan tallied 10 more assists than the previous match with 37 assists. Peluso and Forstburg aided the offense as well with five assists and two assists, respectively. Peluso once again led in digs with a total of 23. DeFloria and G. Johnson each contributed seven digs.

SU kicked off its second day of play at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Dominican College. The Raiders dominated the Chargers in a three set match with final scores of 25-9, 25-12 and 25-22.

K. Johnson, Webber and sophomore Katie Lemheney combined for 19 of the team’s 53 total kills. Freshman Corynne Smith aced the Chargers four times and Peluso and Nolan had two and one ace, respectively. K. Johnson racked up a total of three blocks while Lemheney had two and DeFloria had one. Nolan led the offense with 23 assists, along with Smith who had eight and Forstburg who had three. Peluso led the defense with 15 digs, Forstburg contributed seven digs and senior Brittany Whitacre contributed six digs.

The Raiders wrapped up their opening weekend with a match against Seton Hill University at 7 p.m. The match went five sets with the Griffins ultimately emerging as the victors. Set final scores were 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 26-28 and 8-15.

Goerl and G. Johnson had great offensive games; each player tallied 15 kills each. DeFloria racked up 11 kills from the outside. Goerl, G. Johnson and DeFloria also had the most aces with Goerl serving four and G. Johnson and DeFloria both serving one. Webber, K. Johnson and G. Johnson made big contributions on defense with blocks with six, three and two, respectively. Nolan had her highest number of assists for the weekend with a total of 57. DeFloria and Forstburg each had one assist. Peluso had her highest number of digs for the weekend with a total of 38. Along with their assists, DeFloria and Forstburg also helped out on defense with DeFloria digging up 15 attacks and Forstburg digging up 20.

SU will host again this weekend, Friday Sept. 9 and Saturday Sept. 10, where they will face off against Philadelphia University, University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Virginia State University and Shepherd University at the Raider Classic II.  

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