FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team capped off its time at the Shark Invitational Saturday by splitting a pair of matches.
The Rock opened the day by defeating Shaw University in four sets (23-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-17) before losing to No. 23 Nova Southeastern University 25-21, 25-18, 25-22.
The split moves The Rock's record to 2-5 overall while Shaw falls to 2-5 and tournament host Nova Southeastern improves to 6-1.
Erica Selfridge and
Abigail Koeller led The Rock Saturday. Over two matches, Selfridge tallied 17 kills, three aces and 18 digs. Koeller had 11 kills, 18 digs and three aces on the day as well.
SLIPPERY ROCK 3 – SHAW 1
Set Scores: 23-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-17
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Selfridge paced The Rock in their win over the Bears with a double-double of 10 kills and 13 digs in addition to two aces.
• The duo of
Stephanie O'Donnell and
Chelsie Wheeler registered identical seven-block matches with O'Donnell also tallying seven kills on a .778 attack percentage. Wheeler chipped in six kills as well.
•
Alayna Chizmar contributed to The Rock's attack with nine kills while
Abigail Nigon and Koeller added five and four kills, respectively, with Nigon also posting two blocks.
• Koeller also had a great match on the serve with a team-best three aces.
Maria Lucas joined Koeller and Selfridge with multiple aces by registering two of her own.
•
Peytan Gullickson had 20 assists while fellow setter
Jaeden Yost had a double-double of 18 assists and 13 digs.
• Libero
Kate Lachendro had a team-high 17 digs.
• For the match, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Bears in attack percentage (.165-.110), aces (8-0) and blocks (9-7).
HOW IT HAPPENED
After narrowly dropping the opening set, 25-23, Slippery Rock stormed back with three straight solid sets to earn a four-set win.
The Rock's comeback began in the second set as they took 13 of the opening 20 points scored to earn a sizable lead. While Shaw briefly cut its deficit to one point Slippery Rock put the set away thanks to an 8-3 run that put The Rock up 21-15 en route to a match-evening 25-17 win.
SRU jumped out to a 10-4 lead and never had its lead seriously threatened in the third set for an eventual 25-18 victory.
Leading 12-10 in the fourth set, Slippery Rock pushed its lead out to a commanding 10-point margin (21-11) following a 9-1 run. The teams traded points down the stretch as Slippery Rock claimed a 25-17 victory for its second win of the year.
NOVA SOUTHEASTERN 3 – SLIPPERY ROCK 0
Set Scores: 25-21, 25-18, 25-22
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• The trio of Selfridge, Koeller and
Callie Chevalier posted seven kills each.
•
Lauren VonderHaar came off the bench to record two blocks (one solo / one assisted).
• Yost guided the offense with 13 assists and one ace.
• Selfridge, Yost, Lachendro and
Paige Weeder served one ace apiece.
• Lachendro made a team-best 11 digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Nova Southeastern jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set before The Rock answered back with an 8-2 run to pull ahead of the Sharks 10-8. However, with the contest knotted at 11-11, NSU took nine consecutive points on the way to a 25-21 win.
SRU also led early in the second set at 4-3, but was unable to overcome another sizable Nova Southeastern run of nine points as the Sharks closed the set with a 25-18 victory.
Despite trailing 24-19 late in the third set, Slippery Rock did not quit as the fought back to pull to within two points before NSU was ultimately able to close out the set, and the match, with a 25-22 win.
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock concludes a string of 11 non-conference matches to start the season when it heads back to West Virginia for four matches. SRU will meet Notre Dame and West Liberty on Friday in West Liberty before heading to Wheeling Saturday for matches against the Cardinals and Fairmont State.
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