SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.- The Slippery Rock University volleyball suffered a 3-1 loss to Indiana (Pa.) Friday evening in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action from Morrow Field House.
IUP held a 2-0 lead on set wins of 25-16 and 25-23 before Slippery Rock rallied in the third set to win 25-20. The Crimson Hawks sealed the win with a 25-15 win in the fourth frame.
With the loss, Slippery Rock falls to 8-13 overall and 1-7 in the PSAC. IUP goes to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in conference action.
Leah Jones led The Rock with a 13-kill, 22-dig double-double, while
Brooke Bostwick and
Kaley Fucci split an even 24 kills.
Zoe Rivet led the passing game with 24 assists, while
Haley Defibaugh registered 21. Additionally, Defibaugh served up two aces to spark The Rock's third-set rally.
Defensively,
Courtney Oberlander recorded 19 digs. Bostwick also had a team-high four blocks in the loss, while Fucci and
Mattie Taggart had three blocks apiece.
Natalie Cignetti led the Crimson Hawks with 21 kills, while Lily McWilliams had 15 and Alexis Anderson added 11. Lindsay Moeller had a match-high 46 assists, while Gabby Egler put up nine blocks.
SRU held a 4-2 lead in the first set, but IUP stormed back with an eight-point run to lead 10-4. The Rock scored on back-to-back points, but IUP answered with another small run of four points to stretch its lead to 14-6. The Crimson Hawks maintained that lead for the remainder of the set as they went on to win 25-16.
The first half of the second set went back and forth until IUP scored five unanswered points to all but put it away at 23-17. SRU answered that run with a five-point run of its own two points later to cut it to 24-23. Anderson shut down The Rock's comeback attempt with a set-ending kill to win it for her team, 25-23.
In the third set, Slippery Rock trailed IUP 17-13 before going on a five-point run behind two kills apiece from Bostwick and Fucci to steal the lead from the visitors. SRU and IUP went back and forth until The Rock broke a 19-19 tie with four straight points led by Defibaugh's back-to-back aces. IUP got one point back, but The Rock closed out the set with a kill by from Jones and an IUP error to win it 25-20 and cut the match to 2-1.
After winning the third set, SRU struggled to get things going again in the fourth frame as the Crimson Hawks got out to a commanding 14-4 lead. The Rock would get no closer than eight points as the visitors maintained a steady lead and won the final set, 25-15.
Slippery Rock will continue its homestand when it hosts Clarion Saturday at 2 p.m.
