SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University volleyball team split a pair of matches Saturday at the Shippensburg University Raider Classic.
 
The Rock opened the day with a 3-0 victory against Chestnut Hill College (25-18, 25-16, 25-19) before losing to Walsh University 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-15).
 
Slippery Rock exits the first weekend of the regular season with a 2-1 overall record. Chestnut Hill's loss to The Rock dropped its record to 0-3 while Walsh improved to 2-0 with its victory against SRU.
 
The trio of Abigail Koeller, Gabby Huck and Sophie Varndell led SRU on the day.
 
Koeller recorded 22 kills, 24 digs, three blocks and an ace over The Rock's two matches. Huck added 16 kills, a pair of blocks and ace as well with Varndell producing 13 kills, a .233 attack percentage and two blocks.
 
Slippery Rock continues non-conference competition with four matches at the PSAC-MEC Crossover Sept. 13-14 against Charleston University, Urbana University, West Virginia Wesleyan College and West Virginia State University.
 
Match 1: Slippery Rock 3 – Chestnut Hill 0
For a second consecutive match to start 2019, Slippery Rock was able to take care of its opponent in straight sets with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-19 victory over Chestnut Hill.
 
Koeller, who is just a freshman, had the best match of her young career as she led The Rock's efforts in the opener with 18 kills, 13 digs and a pair of blocks. Koeller posted an impressive attack percentage of .368 in the win.
 
Varndell, a fellow freshman, also came up big for The Rock against Chestnut Hill with eight kills and a pair of blocks. Huck and Kaley Fucci rounded out the top Rock attackers with six and five kills, respectively. Fucci compiled all of her kills in the opening set and Huck totaled two blocks and an ace to go with her kill total.
 
Lauren Crytzer controlled play at the net with a career-high five blocks. Tiara Teague also produced one block in addition to four kills from the inside.
 
For the fourth time in The Rock's last five matches dating back to the end of the 2018 season, Jalyn Willard recorded 20 digs while also serving one ace. Zoe Rivet garnered her 12th career match with at least 40 assists while also tallying eight digs, one block, one ace and a kill.
 
As a team, SRU held advantages over Chestnut Hill in kills (46-30), attack percentage (.250-.134), aces (4-2) and blocks (7-5).
 
How It Happened
Set 1: Chestnut Hill opened the day with a 6-2 run before The Rock was able to answer with a 5-0 spurt to take a narrow lead early on. SRU and the Griffins proceeded to trade points for much of the set before Slippery Rock was able to stretch its lead out to 17-14, forcing a Chestnut Hill timeout. The brief break did little to stop The Rock's momentum as SRU closed the set on an 8-4 run to post a 25-18 triumph in the opener.
 
Set 2: SRU and CHC went back-and-forth to start the second set until The Rock opened up a 9-6 edge, forcing a Griffin timeout. The Rock went on to register another 5-0 run which forced yet another Chestnut Hill timeout. Despite a brief Griffin rally, Slippery Rock was able to pull away for a relatively comfortable 25-16 win.
 
Set 3: Slippery Rock did not let a brief 6-3 deficit get in the way of a sweep as it promptly scored four consecutive points to take a 7-6 lead to start the third set. From there, the two teams traded points with neither team leading by more than three points until yet another 5-0 Rock spurt gave SRU a 23-18 advantage en route to a 25-19 match-clinching victory.
 
Match 2: Walsh 3 – Slippery Rock 0
Slippery Rock's string of victories at The Raider Classic came to an end in its second match of the day when Walsh took three straight sets from SRU 25-13, 25-13, 25-15.
 
SRU recorded its lowest attack percentage of the weekend against Walsh, finishing at just .017 while the Cavaliers hit .317. Walsh also ended the match with seven aces to The Rock's four in addition to a 4-2 edge in blocks.
 
Huck had 10 kills over the three sets. The rookie duo of Varndell and Koeller combined for nine kills with Rivet (two), Crytzer (two), Teague (one) and Abigail Nigon (one) rounding out The Rock's kill leaders. Nigon also had two blocks, the first of her collegiate career.
 
Rivet, who served two more aces to close the weekend with a team-best five, passed out 22 assists. Willard just missed out on her second straight 20-dig showing as she finished with 19 to go with one ace.
 
How It Happened
Set 1: It was anyone's match early on, but with SRU trailing by just one point Walsh scored three straight to push its lead out to 15-11 and force a Rock timeout. Walsh continued to roll out of the timeout by scoring 10 of set's final 12 points on the way to the 25-13 win.
 
Set 2: Slippery Rock darted out to a quick 3-0 lead, but from that point on the set belonged to Walsh as the Cavaliers proceeded to go on a 20-6 run to put any thoughts of a Rock win to rest in what would eventually be a 25-13 Cavalier victory.
 
Set 3: Walsh finished off its sweep of The Rock with a 25-15 victory in the final set thanks in no small part to a 15-6 match ending run.
 
Notes
- Koeller's 18 kills against Chestnut Hill were the seventh most in a match by a freshman at SRU since 2004.
 
- Rivet's 40 assists versus Chestnut Hill marked the fourth highest single-match total by a Rock setter in a three-set contest since 2002. With 66 assists Saturday, Rivet passed Haley Defibaugh (2014-17) for sixth place on The Rock's career assists ledger with 2,097.
 
- The Rock's back-to-back sweeps in the first two matches of the year were the first 3-0, 3-0 wins to begin a season since 2011.
 


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