The Shippensburg University women’s volleyball team had a roller coaster of a week with four games played, resulting in three wins and one loss — its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference loss in a match against Gannon University.
On Tuesday, the Raiders took on Shepherd University. Head coach Leanne Piscotty and assistant coach Abby Leonard expressed their anticipation for the game, knowing both teams were undefeated in the PSAC.
Shippensburg started out strong with an 11-point lead early in the first match and capped it off with a beautiful kill from senior Sam Webber to finish off the first set, 25-23.
Shepherd came back in the second set stronger, playing point-for-point with the Raiders, as both teams made several errors. The Raiders couldn’t push through in the second set, falling short 23-25.
The Raiders started off the third set strong with three instant kills and two aces. Shepherd rallied and played another set point-for-point with the Raiders. SU dropped the third set 20-25.
Shippensburg played a hard fourth set, limiting the errors. There were several impressive attacks by senior Kendall Johnson, senior Gabby Johnson and Webber at the end the fourth set, finishing 25-18.
Emily Hangen put forth a strong performance with 28 assissts, nine digs, three block assists and an ace in the team’s sweep against Edinboro University.
Prior to the start of the fifth set, Heiges was filled with energy and cheers as “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC played. The bleachers rumbled as the field house was electric.
Webber nearly killed the ball through the defender’s legs to start the fifth set. Kendall Johnson had a great fifth set with several blocks and kills. The Raiders on the sidelines attacked the six on the court after the final kill from Gabby Johnson was hit in the back right corner to win the last set 15-7 and the game 3-2.
The Raiders were unable to carry over the energy from Tuesday’s match to the game on Friday against Gannon University, where they lost 3-0 for their first PSAC loss.
Webber led the team with 10 of the 26 kills, competing with Gannon’s top hitter, Ally Smith, who also had 10 kills.
Gannon outworked Shippensburg with 43 kills compared to the Raiders’ 26. Gannon was also strong serving as it racked up seven aces.
The final set scores were 17-25, 13-25 and 18-25. Shippensburg has only won one of eight matches against Gannon since 2014.
The Raiders bounced back on Saturday to sweep Mercyhurst University and keep them under 15 points in each of the three sets. The game was quick, as the Raiders kept the rallies short and put the ball away fast.
The Raiders had a very successful hitting day, only making six errors and achieving 36 kills. SU was strong at the service line with 12 aces. Gabby Johnson and senior Megan Forstburg each had three.
The scores for each set were 25-12, 25-13 and 25-10 as the Raiders won 3-0.
Shippensburg went head-to-head on Sunday with Edinboro University. The first set ended with a kill by junior Gianna Sigado to win 25-20.
At the end of the second set, four timeouts were called after the Raiders were down 20-22. They were able to use the time outs to regroup and step up their level of play to take the second set, 25-23.
They started the third set with an instant kill followed by another kill from Kendall Johnson and an ace from junior Emily Hangen. The Raiders began to go on long runs at the service line and side out right away each time they lost possession of the serve, finishing off the game 25-13.
The Raiders will play again at Heiges Field House on Friday at 7 p.m. against West Chester University.
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