FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. The Slippery Rock University volleyball team lost a close match in three sets Friday to American International College on day one of the Shark Invitational in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
 
AIC, which received votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll, edged The Rock 25-23, 25-18, 25-22 to improve to 4-1 on the year. The narrow defeat drops Slippery Rock's record to 1-4 so far in 2022.
 
SRU's efforts Friday were paced by Erica Selfridge, who just missed out on a double-double with nine kills and a season-high 11 digs. Selfridge earned her nine kills on a .280 attack percentage.
 
The trio of Stephanie O'Donnell, Chelsie Wheeler and Abigail Koeller aided in The Rock's attack with three kills apiece. Friday's match marked the first appearance of the season for Koeller.
 
O'Donnell was also one of two Rock athletes, along with Abigail Nigon, to compile four total blocks over the match. Wheeler had a multi-block outing as well with three rejections of her own.
 
Jaeden Yost and Peytan Gullickson guided The Rock's attack with 12 and 10 assists, respectively.
 
Kate Lachendro recorded one ace and 21 digs for her third 20+-dig outing in The Rock's first five matches while Maria Lucas served SRU's other ace to round out Slippery Rock's top contributors.  
 
Friday's match was a back-and-forth contest for the entirety of the competition as neither team led by more than five points in the first and third sets while the second set was either team's to win until AIC was able to go on a 5-1 run to capture the set.
 
Amber Williams totaled nine kills and four blocks to lead American International. For the match, AIC held advantages over SRU in attack percentage (.139-.067), aces (8-2) while Slippery Rock finished with an 8-5 edge in total blocks.
 
Slippery Rock concludes its time at the Shark Invitational with two matches Saturday starting at 10 a.m. against Shaw University followed later in the day by a 4:30 p.m. contest against No. 23 Nova Southeastern University.
 




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