ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team earned a four-set Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory on the road Saturday over Mercyhurst University
 
In addition to snapping a six-match losing streak, Saturday's win also improves The Rock's record to 12-13 overall and 4-8 inside the PSAC West. The host Lakers fall to 4-16 overall and 2-10 in conference matches. SRU has now won four straight matches against Mercyhurst.
 
Erica Selfridge was virtually unstoppable against Mercyhurst, finishing with a 17-kill, 15-dig double-double that included a .250 attack percentage and one block. Selfridge's kill total matched SRU's single-match high for the season while the double-double was her 12th of the year.
 
Chelsie Wheeler came off the bench to provide The Rock with 12 kills on an extremely efficient .348 attack percentage all the while adding one block of her own.
 
Callie Chevalier became the third Rock athlete to hit a double-digit kill total via a 10-kill outing that included one ace and eight digs.
 
In addition to combining for 16 kills, Slippery Rock's middle hitter duo of Lauren VonderHaar and Mary Berger also had five total blocks with VonderHaar posting four rejections and Berger chipping in one.
 
Slippery Rock utilized all three of its setters in the win with Jaeden Yost handing out a team-high 19 assists followed by Peytan Gullickson with 16 and Jalynn West adding 14. West also had six digs and Yost served one ace.
 
Libero Kate Lachendro made a match-high 25 digs all the while serving one ace.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock held advantages over Mercyhurst in total kills (59-48), digs (77-71) and blocks (7-5). The Lakers finished with an 8-4 edge in aces. Kate Hennessy led Mercyhurst with 18 kills and 21 digs.
 
Following the narrow, and exhausting 34-32 loss in the opening set, Slippery Rock went to work on mounting its comeback. Trailing 19-16, SRU captured nine of the final 11 points en route to a 25-21 victory in the second set to even the match.
 
The 66 points scored in the first set was the highest point total in a set that Slippery Rock has been involved in since a 32-30 opening-set against Concord in 2014.
 
The Rock and Lakers played to an 8-8 tie in the third set before SRU rattled off eight unanswered points to open a 16-8 lead it would never look back from on the way to a 25-17 go-ahead victory in the third set.
 
Slippery Rock finished off the win in the fourth set with another sizable run, this one of the 9-2 variety, which propelled SRU to a 16-11 lead and allowed The Rock to trade points with Mercyhurst for the remainder of the game for a 25-17 match-deciding win.
 
SRU returns home to host California (Pa.) 7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Morrow Field House.





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