SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – After losing the first two sets of the night, the Slippery Rock University volleyball team fought back to force a fifth set, but couldn't quite complete its comeback in a 3-2 loss to Edinboro University Tuesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Northwest Division competition at Morrow Field House.
 
Edinboro edged The Rock 25-21, 25-21 to open the night before SRU stormed back to win the next two sets 26-24, 25-20, but Edinboro took the match with a 15-10 win the fifth set.
 
Slippery Rock (11-17, 3-13 PSAC) tallied 12 total blocks on the night, its second highest single-match output of the year.
 
Brooke Bostwick paced The Rock with a season-high 13 kills and a match-best six blocks. Bostwick's six blocks matched her career-high. She recorded her 13 kills on just 28 attempts with only four errors for a team-high .321 attack percentage.
 
In addition to serving two aces and coming away with four blocks, Erinn Kahoe ended the match with 11 kills, her highest total over SRU's last six contests.
 
Kaley Fucci added 10 kills to increase her team-best season total to 217. Stephanie Jacobsen only had three kills, but made up for it defensively with a season-best five blocks. Lamija Alisic and Shayla Ray came off the bench to record six and four kills, respectively. Ray also totaled four blocks.
 
Zoe Rivet guided The Rock attack with 21 assists as well as serving three aces. Rivet has now had at least two aces in a match six times in 2017. 11 of her 27 aces this season have come in The Rock's last five matches. Haley Defibaugh nearly matched Rivet with 20 assists of her own.
 
Courtney Oberlander made a match-best 31 digs and is now only 18 digs away from breaking the Slippery Rock single-season digs record, a mark she set a year ago. Jalyn Willard started her third consecutive match of the season and finished the night with 16 digs.
 
Slippery Rock displayed great resiliency after dropping the opening two sets to Edinboro (20-8, 9-7 PSAC).
 
The third set was a back-and-forth bout as neither team could grab a lead larger than two points until the Fighting Scots went on a 4-0 run to push its lead out to 17-13. Slippery Rock battled back, eventually tying the contest at 23-23 only to see EU sneak back in front, 24-23, on a kill by Jill Glover. However, SRU rallied to score three straight via a pair of kills by Alisic and a game-winner from Kahoe for the 26-24 triumph.
 
SRU jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the fourth set and never trailed en route to a 25-20 win to force the deciding set. Kahoe had four kills in the fourth set with Fucci close behind at three. Jacobsen led the defense with three blocks in the set while Bostwick and Ray registered two rejections apiece. SRU combined for a .237 attack percentage over the third and fourth sets.
 
Slippery Rock could not recover from an early 3-0 deficit in the fifth set as Edinboro was able to grow its lead to as many as five points on three different occasions before closing the set, and the match, with a 15-10 win.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Fighting Scots in blocks (12-8) and aces (5-4) while Edinboro edged SRU in kills (67-47) and hitting percentage (.152-.148).
 
Cierah Jackson had 17 kills to lead Edinboro and Tessa Sikora added 14 kills and five blocks as well.
 
Slippery Rock closes out the season with a pair of road matches 7 p.m. Friday at Gannon University and 4 p.m. Saturday at Mercyhurst.


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