The Shippensburg University volleyball team has been on a hot streak since the first week of the season and has now won 11 matches in a row after its last two victories against Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and Clarion University.
The Raiders opened Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play on Friday with another dominating performance against IUP. The win was one of the most impressive showings by the team in recent seasons, as the Raiders won the match with set scores of 25–9, 25–13 and 25–18 on their way to a straight sweep.
The attack percentage for SU — .356 — was its highest mark of the year so far and the best mark against a PSAC opponent in almost a year. On the other hand, IUP was limited to a minus .066 percentage, which was another milestone as it was the lowest number posted by a Raider opponent in two years.
The attack and finishing efforts were efficient and executed well all match, as junior Samantha Webber led the team with nine kills, throwing in two blocks and a .438 hitting percentage. Fellow junior Kendall Johnson also had a big match, contributing eight kills, six blocks as well as a .467 hitting percentage. Sophomore Emily Hangen had a team-high 32 assists along with three blocks and seven digs.
In the following match, the Raiders — who were on the road — defeated Clarion by set scores of 25–19, 25–20 and 25–15. Morgan DeFloria — one of the standout seniors for this team — had another great performance. DeFloria had a team-high 15 kills, to go along with a .224 hitting percentage; she also had 49 attempts and added eight digs.
Johnson had an effective game to say the least. She had a hitting percentage of .353 to go along with eight kills and four block assists, which was a team-high on the day. Hangen had a rock-solid day on the court with 33 assists and 12 digs on the day.
Webber and fellow junior Faith Loehle came up with solid performances on the day as well, as Webber recorded eight kills on the day and Loehle had two service aces and two digs.
Another junior, Gabriella Johnson, had 19 digs during the match, and was one of only three people to record double digits in digs, the other two being Hangen (12) and Megan Forstburg (11).
The Raiders are now 12–2 overall and 2–0 in PSAC play and will look to extend their winning streak to 12 matches for the first time since 2013 when they get set to play the Seton Hill Griffins on Friday at 7 p.m.
SU has now logged a win streak of at least 10 games for the second consecutive season.
The match will be the home opener for the Raiders at Heiges Field House and they will look to continue the momentum in PSAC play on a weekend in which the California University of Pennsylvania will also make the trip to SU for a match on Saturday.
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