INSTITUTE, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday to close out the 2019 PSAC-MEC crossover in Institute, West Virginia.
 
Slippery Rock opened the day with a 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-16) victory over West Virginia Wesleyan College before losing a five-set thriller to West Virginia State University (21-25), 25-18, 25-13, 18-25, 15-13).
 
With the split, Slippery Rock's record moves to 4-3 overall on the season. West Virginia Wesleyan drops to 0-4 with the loss while West Virginia State improves to 2-6.
 
Stephanie Jacobsen paced The Rock with a pair of strong performances Saturday. In two matches, she totaled 27 kills, two aces, 25 digs and one block. Gabby Huck added 28 kills, 26 digs and four blocks of her own while Jalyn Willard tallied a pair of matches with over 20 digs.
 
Match 1: Slippery Rock 3 – West Virginia Wesleyan 1
After dropping the opening set to the Bobcats, 25-21, The Rock rallied to record consecutive 26-24, 25-23, 25-16 set wins to claim the match victory.
 
Slippery Rock's attack was paced by the duo of Jacobsen and Huck. Jacobsen was dominant with 17 kills, a .333 attack percentage, one ace and one block. Huck was right behind Jacobsen with 16 kills, 10 digs, two blocks and one ace.
 
Abigail Nigon produced eight kills on an impressive .500 attack percentage all the while tallying a match-best four blocks.
 
Zoe Rivet and Danielle Bywalski were lethal on the serve as the pair each produced five aces with Rivet also distributing 37 assists and making 11 digs in the double-double effort. Rivet and Bywalski are now tied for the fourth most aces in a four-set match in Rock history dating back to 2002.
 
Willard tallied 22 digs and six assists while Logan Whitaker and Lauren Crytzer rounded out The Rock's top performers with five and three kills, respectively.
 
For the match, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Bobcats in kills (53-47), aces (13-4) and blocks (5-4). West Virginia Wesleyan registered a .221 to .196 advantage in hitting percentage.
 
Match 2: West Virginia State 3 – Slippery Rock 2
Slippery Rock played its first five-set match of the season in its final match of the crossover, but came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 (21-25), 25-18, 25-13, 18-25, 15-13) decision.
 
Huck and Jacobsen once again finished with double-digit kill totals as Huck led the team with a 12-kill outing while Jacobsen added 10 of her own. Both players tallied double-doubles after respective 16 and 15 dig matches.
 
Varndell joined the duo with 10 kills, the most of her young career. Crytzer (nine kills), Nigon (seven) and Whitaker (six) rounded out The Rock's top attackers.
 
Rivet compiled her third match of the season with at least 30 assists following a 35-assist showing against the Yellow Jackets. Willard had a match-best 28 digs. Through seven matches Willard is averaging 6.20 digs per set.
 
The Yellow Jackets held advantages over Slippery Rock in kills (59-56), attack percentage (.220-.176), aces (4-3), digs (87-81) and blocks (9-4). Jenna Dufresne led WVSU with 16 kills.
 
Slippery Rock will next play four more matches over two days Sept. 20-21 against West Liberty University, Notre Dame College, No. 14 Wheeling University and Fairmont State University at the Atlantic Region crossover in Wheeling, West Virginia.


To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).