EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team earned a five-set victory against East Stroudsburg University Friday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover competition at Koehler Fieldhouse.
 
Slippery Rock (11-15, 3-11 PSAC) took the opening set against East Stroudsburg (14-11, 5-9 PSAC), 25-16, before the Warriors countered with matching 25-20 victories in the second and third sets. However, The Rock answered back with a 25-21 victory in the fourth to force a fifth set where they would finish off ESU, 15-11, for the match-clinching victory.
 
The combination of Shayla Ray and Lamija Alisic spearheaded The Rock's attack against the Warriors. Both Ray and Alisic recorded 13 kills. Ray totaled a team-best .276 hitting percentage on the way to a career-high total in kills while Alisic added nine digs and two blocks to what was her best performance of 2017.
 
Brooke Bostwick and Stephanie Jacobsen aided SRU's attack by securing nine kills apiece with Erinn Kahoe and Kaley Fucci both chipping in eight kills each as well. Kahoe also ended the contest with a team-best three blocks (one solo / two assisted) while Fucci made a career-high 22 digs.
 
Zoe Rivet netted team-bests of 28 assists and three aces. The sophomore setter has now served eight aces over The Rock's last three matches. Fellow setter Haley Defibaugh registered 27 assists and two aces of her own.
 
In addition to coming up with two aces, Courtney Oberlander just missed out on a career-high with a match-best 41 digs, which was the third highest dig total recorded in a match by a PSAC athlete this season. She has now tallied at least 40 digs in a match four times over her Rock career.
 
Oberlander's strong performance against ESU moved her past Bev Rea (1991-94) for second place in the Slippery Rock record book for digs in a career with 1,813. She needs 137 digs over SRU's final four matches (34.3 digs per match) in 2017 to tie Sally Scott's (1997-00) school record 1,950 digs in a career.
 
Slippery Rock erased an early 3-0 deficit in the opening set with a commanding 18-7 run that featured four kills by Fucci. ESU took the set's next three points, but SRU quickly put any thoughts of a Warrior rally to rest by taking six of the next nine points to earn the 25-16 victory.
 
East Stroudsburg proceeded to fight back from the opening-set loss to take the second and third sets from Slippery Rock 25-20, 25-20 heading into the fourth set.
 
Slippery Rock darted out to a 19-11 lead in the fourth, but the Warriors refused to go away and eventually tied the contest at 20-20 via a 9-1 run. Despite playing on the road with the momentum firmly with East Stroudsburg, SRU was able to recover from ESU's barrage with a clutch 4-0 run of its own. Ray was dominant over the spurt with three kills. Following an ESU kill by Desiree Claxton, Slippery Rock closed out the set thanks to a kill by Alisic to give The Rock a 25-21 triumph and force a deciding fifth set.
 
The Rock parlayed four ESU miscues with kills from Bostwick and Fucci to take an early 6-1 lead in the fifth. SRU went on to stretch its lead out to as many as seven points (14-7) en route to the 15-11 match-clinching victory.
 
Friday's match was The Rock's first five-set factory of the season.
 
Sarah Smith had 18 kills, 19 digs and five blocks in the loss for East Stroudsburg.
 
Slippery Rock will look to continue its winning ways 1 p.m. Saturday at Kutztown University.
 
 
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