WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team dropped a pair of matches Friday afternoon on day one of the 2017 Atlantic Region Crossover in West Liberty, West Virginia.
SRU began the day with a 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-15) loss to Fairmont State before falling to host West Liberty, 3-2 (20-25, 25-21, 26-24, 16-25, 15-10).
Slippery Rock falls to 8-2 on the year overall with the losses. Fairmont State improved to 6-2 with its win over The Rock while West Liberty's narrow victory against SRU pushed its record to 6-5 in 2017.
Brooke Bostwick combined for 21 kills, two aces and six blocks over the two matches.
Courtney Oberlander registered 43 digs over the two matches to increase her career total to 1,442, the ninth most in program history.
MATCH ONE: Fairmont State 3 – Slippery Rock 0
Slippery Rock led the first set by as many as six points at 12-6 early on, but Fairmont State controlled the second half of the set by scoring 19 of the game's final 26 points as it rallied back for a 25-19 victory.
With the second set tied at 20-20, Slippery Rock and the Falcons traded 3-0 runs to move the set to a 23-23 tie. From there SRU and FSU continued to trade points, but with the score knotted at 25-25 Fairmont State took advantage of a serving error and a setting miscue to claim the 27-25 victory.
The third set began as another close contest until the Falcons rattled off five consecutive points to take a commanding 18-10 lead en route to the 25-15 set-clinching victory.
Bostwick finished the match with a season-high 12 kills to go with team-highs of three blocks and two aces.
Shayla Ray matched Bostwick with three blocks of her own to go with five kills.
The trio of
Kaley Fucci,
Erinn Kahoe and
Lamija Alisic rounded out The Rock's attack. Fucci had six kills and two blocks while Kahoe and Alisic added five and four kills apiece.
Zoe Rivet recorded a team-high 17 assists, barely upping teammate
Haley Defibaugh who had 16 assists. Oberlander posted 16 digs with Fucci and
Jalyn Willard in support defensively as well at 11 digs each.
Mackenzie Harrison, the nation's leader in kills, totaled 12 kills, but eight attack errors against The Rock.
MATCH TWO: West Liberty 3 – Slippery Rock 2
After taking the first set 25-20, Slippery Rock played crossover host West Liberty to a 17-17 tie to start the second set. Coming out of a WLU timeout, Slippery Rock surrendered six of next 10 points and was forced to call a timeout of its own now trailing the Hilltoppers 23-21. The timeout did little to stop the WLU momentum as West Liberty came out of the break and scored consecutive points to take the set 25-21.
The Rock played West Liberty close through the early stages of the third set, but the Hilltoppers took advantage of 4-1 run to take a 14-10 lead that forced The Rock to use a timeout. SRU responded out of the timeout by clawing its way back into the match and eventually taking a 22-21 lead. However, West Liberty finished the set strong as it overtook The Rock late to grab a 26-24 win.
Slippery Rock played some of its best volleyball of the day with its back firmly against the wall. Potentially down to its final set of the day, SRU jumped out to a 12-7 lead early in the fourth. Slippery Rock never trailed in the fourth set as WLU was able to trim its margin down to as little as two points, but The Rock would always have an answer as they rolled to a 25-16 to force a fifth and deciding set. SRU recorded a team attack percentage of .220 in its fourth-set victory.
Slippery Rock's comeback bid came up just short as West Liberty jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead in the fifth set before stretching its lead out to five points at 8-3 and finishing with a 15-10 match-clinching win. The five-set match was The Rock's first such of the year.
Kahoe finished the match with a season-high 14 kills with Fucci close behind with a career-high matching 13 kills. Fucci also netted 18 digs for her second double-double of the season. In the middle, Fucci, Ray and Bostwick all had three blocks. Bostwick and Ray also had nine kills each in support of The Rock's attack.
In addition to passing out 24 assists, Defibaugh also served three aces and made nine digs. Rivet led all setters with 28 assists and 15 digs. The defensive specialist duo of Oberlander and and Willard combined for 44 digs with Oberlander producing 27 and Willard coming away with 17.
Raimey Benson had 15 kills to pace West Liberty.
Slippery Rock returns to action Saturday with matches against Wheeling Jesuit (11 a.m.) and the University of Charleston (4 p.m.) in Wheeling, West Virginia.
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