SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.- The Slippery Rock University volleyball team dropped the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Northwestern Division opener to Edinboro University 3-1 Tuesday evening at Morrow Field House.
 
Edinboro took a one-set lead in an overall close match with a 25-19 win before Slippery Rock rallied in the second set with a 27-25 victory to tie up the match 1-1. Edinboro responded with a 25-18 victory in the third set and held off another Slippery Rock rally in the fourth frame to come away with a 25-23 win.
 
With the loss, Slippery Rock drops to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in the PSAC. Edinboro improves to 14-4 on the year and posts a 7-0 mark in the conference.
 
Leah Jones led SRU in the loss with a 13-kill, 17-dig double-double. Lamija Alisic had an additional nine kills.
 
Haley Defibaugh led the passing game with 22 assists, while Zoe Rivet tallied 18.
 
Defensively, Courtney Oberlander registered 23 digs and Shayla Ray recorded four blocks to round out The Rock's top performers.
 
Latoya Hutchinson (16), Challen Litwiler (14) and Victoria Severo (13) were Edinboro's kill leaders. Sydney Trathen recorded a match-high 50 assists for The Fighting Scots.  
 
Edinboro posted a .194 attack percentage, while Slippery Rock finished the match with a .114 attack percentage. The Fighting Scots led Slippery Rock in errors, 29-25.
 
In the first set, Edinboro charged out to a 12-5 lead. SRU then scored three straight points on kills from Jones, Ray and Mattie Taggart to cut it to 12-8. The Fighting Scots stretched the lead back to seven points with a three-point run of their own. Slippery Rock cut it to four points again at 18-14, but Edinboro closed out the set with a 7-5 scoring advantage to win the first frame 25-19.
 
Slippery Rock had an early lead in the second set as it got up 8-5, but Edinboro went on a 6-1 run to take an 11-9 lead. The teams tied it up six more times until The Fighting Scots had it all but put away at 24-19 thanks to a 7-2 run, but SRU fought back from that deficit with five straight points to tie it up at 24-24. Edinboro got one point back on an SRU error before the hosts closed out the set with three-unanswered points, including a huge kill from Alisic, to win 27-25 and tie up the match 1-1.
 
In the third set, Edinboro got out to a 2-0 lead with back-to-back kills, but SRU went on a 6-3 run to take its last lead of the set at 6-5. Edinboro then went on to outscore Slippery Rock 12-4 to take its largest lead of the set at 17-10. SRU would get no closer than six points for the remainder of the frame as Edinboro went up 2-1 with a 25-18 victory.
 
The Fighting Scots got out to another early lead in the fourth set, 4-1, but Slippery Rock scored three straight points thanks to Edinboro errors to tie it up at 4-4. The visitors began to pull away and led by as much as six points at 15-9, but SRU did not go away quietly. The Rock began to chip away at the Fighting Scots' lead and cut it to three points, 21-18, before scoring four straight points to steal the lead at 22-21. Edinboro spoiled SRU's comeback attempt by closing out the set with a 4-1 run with three big kills by Hutchinson to win 25-23.
 
Slippery Rock will be back in action Friday when Indiana (Pa.) comes to Morrow Field House for a 7 p.m. matchup.