ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team lost in three sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-23) to Gannon University Friday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Northwest Division competition at the Hammermill Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock (11-18, 3-14 PSAC) was led by Kaley Fucci, who had eight kills and three blocks (one solo / two assisted). Brooke Bostwick and Lamija Alisic chipped in five kills each while Stephanie Jacobsen added four kills to round out The Rock's leading attackers.
 
Zoe Rivet came off the bench to guide The Rock's offense with a team-best 13 assists and one ace. Rivet has now served at least one ace in five of Slippery Rock's last six matches. Haley Defibaugh passed out 10 assists as well in support of SRU's attack.
 
Defensively, Courtney Oberlander and Jalyn Willard combined for 24 of Slippery Rock's 48 digs. Oberlander, who had 13 digs against Gannon, needs just five digs in SRU's final match of the season Saturday at Mercyhurst to break The Rock's single-season digs record. In addition to their impressive dig totals, Oberlander and Willard combined for three aces as well with Oberlander making a pair of perfect serves and Willard adding one of her own.
 
Slippery Rock led 5-2 early in first set, but the Golden Knights rallied back with a 19-11 run to take a 21-16 lead on The Rock. SRU was unable to halt the Gannon momentum through the remainder of the opening set as the Golden Knights went on to take four of the next seven points for a 25-19 first-set victory.
 
The Rock took two of the first three points in the second set, but Gannon responded with a 9-0 spurt to claim a commanding 10-2 advantage. Slippery Rock battled back and cut the Golden Knights' lead to as little as three points at 11-8, but could never quite overcome GU's nine-point run in an eventual 25-17 loss.
 
Slippery Rock played its best game of the night in the third set as it traded points with the PSAC Northwest leading Golden Knights for the majority of the night. With the set tied 13-13 Fucci produced back-to-back kills, giving The Rock a 15-13 lead. However, Gannon clawed its way back into the set to tie the score at 23-23 before receiving kills from Ally Smith and Ashley Kerestes to take the set 25-23 and close out the match.
 
Smith ended the night with a double-double of 16 kills and 11 digs for Gannon. Kelsey Ansec had 13 kills and Rebekah Smith tallied 10 kills in the win as well.  
 
For the match, Gannon held advantages over SRU in hitting percentage (.293-.146), kills (54-26), aces (6-4) and blocks (6-3).
 
Slippery Rock will conclude its 2017 season 4 p.m. Saturday at Mercyhurst University.
 

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