CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday on day two of the PSAC-MEC crossover in Charleston, West Virginia.
 
Slippery Rock began the day with a 3-0 loss (25-14, 25-16, 25-22) to Urbana University before ending the day on a high note with an impressive 3-2 comeback victory over the University of Charleston (18-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-23, 15-10).
 
SRU exits its opening weekend with a 2-2 overall record. Urbana improved to 4-4 on the season with its win while Charleston falls to 1-7.
 
Senior Shayla Ray continued her impressive start to the season with another great pair of performances Saturday. She finished the day with 23 kills, six blocks and a .556 hitting percentage (23-3-36). Ray had career-high 16 kills in SRU's weekend finale victory against Charleston.
 
Freshman Gabby Huck totaled 18 kills, including a 15-kill effort in The Rock's win against Charleston. Senior Beth Stumpf served up five aces, finishing the weekend with a near team-high nine aces.
 
Senior Zoe Rivet guided the offense with 54 total assists on the day.
 
Slippery Rock will take part in the Atlantic Region crossover next weekend beginning Sept. 7 with contests against Fairmont State (1 p.m.) and Wheeling Jesuit (7 p.m.) in Wheeling, West Virginia.
 
PSAC-MEC Crossover Match 3
Urbana 3 – Slippery Rock 0
25-14, 25-16, 25-22
Charleston, W. Va. | Wehrle Innovation Center
 
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Ray and Stumpf tied for the team lead with seven kills apiece.
• Ray continued her impressive start to the season with a stellar .462 (7-1-13) attack percentage.
• Rivet dealt out a match-high 25 assists.
• Sophomore Jalyn Willard made 14 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1 – Urbana jumped out to a 15-5 run only for The Rock to respond with three straight points via kills by Ray and Stumpf as well as an ace by Willard. However, SRU's hole proved too deep to climb out of as Urbana was content to trade points with The Rock for the reminder of the set en route to a 25-14 win. 
 
Set 2 – With the second set tied at 11-11, the Blue Knights rattled off a 10-2 run to take a 21-13 lead on the way to the eventual 25-16 triumph. Urbana registered an impressive .333 attack percentage in the second set.
 
Set 3 – SRU played its best volleyball of the match in the third set, but with the score knotted at 19-19 Urbana was able to steal six of the final nine points to finish off its shutout victory. Huck came on to record three kills in the final set. After Urbana tallied back-to-back sets with an attack percentage of at least .312, The Rock forced the Blue Knights to hit just .061 in the third.
 
PSAC-MEC Crossover Match 4
Slippery Rock 3 – Charleston 2
18-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-23, 15-10
Charleston, W. Va. | Wehrle Innovation Center
 
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Ray had arguably the best performance of her career with a 16-kill, five-block outing that included a .609 attack percentage.
• Huck's 15 kills was tied for the 12th most kills by a freshman at SRU over the last 12 seasons.
• In addition to a match-high four aces, Stumpf also recorded eight kills.
• Sophomore Danielle Bywalski came through with three big aces in the win.
• Rivet led The Rock with 29 assists while freshman Lauryn Rocassin chipped in 24 assists as well, the most of her young career.
• Willard matched a season-high with 19 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1 – Charleston took advantage of eight Slippery Rock attack errors to go with a .286 attack percentage of its own and finishing the opener on a 6-3 run to strike first against The Rock with a 25-18 win.
 
Set 2 – Slippery Rock fell behind two sets to none as UC narrowly out-lasted SRU in a back-and-forth second set that featured six ties. The Rock jumped out to a seemingly sizeable 11-5 lead, but the Golden Eagles slowly worked their way back into the game, eventually evening the score at 21-21 before scoring four of the sets final six points to register a 25-23 victory.
 
Set 3 – SRU avoided the straight-set decision with a great third set in which The Rock served up three aces and compiled a team attack percentage of .385 for a convincing 25-13 win. Slippery Rock darted out to a 13-3 lead and was never threatened by Charleston as SRU cruised to the 25-13 win.
 
Set 4 – The Rock's rally continued in the fourth set with a tight 25-23 win. SRU trailed by as many as six points at 16-10, but rallied back with a 15-8 run to pull even at two sets apiece and force a fifth set.
 
Set 5 – The final set of the weekend belonged to The Rock as SRU never trailed, jumping out to a quick 5-1 advantage and finishing the match on a 5-2 spurt for a 15-10 win. Kahoe supplied two aces in the match-clinching set.
 


 
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