FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team continued its hot start to the 2024 season with a 3-0 (25-12, 26-24, 25-17) victory against UNC Pembroke Thursday on day one of the Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic.
 
Thursday's win improves The Rock's record to 4-1 overall while the Braves drop to 1-3. SRU's mark is its best five-match start to a season since going 5-0 in 2017.
 
Erica Selfridge once again paced SRU by registering her third consecutive double-digit kill performance following a 14-kill, eight-dig, two-ace effort.
 
Aslyn Pry and Callie Chevalier complemented Selfridge on the attack. Pry posted six kills while Chevalier chipped in five. Through the opening five matches of the season Pry is yet to record fewer than six kills in a contest.
 
The trio of Selfridge, Pry and Chevalier finished with a joint .396 attack percentage.
 
Setters Jaeden Yost (13) and Paityn Krause (10) combined to guide the offense and distribute 23 of SRU's 33 assists. Yost, Selfridge and Kate Lachendro-Biery all served two aces as well.
 
Lauren VonderHaar, the reigning Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Defensive Athlete of the Week, tallied two blocks with Chevalier and Victoria Nalbach chipping in one rejection each. Freshman Kara Pasquale tied for match-high honors in digs with nine.
 
While UNC Pembroke captured the opening two points of the match, Slippery Rock quickly answered back by earning the next five to establish the tone for the first set as by in large the game was controlled by SRU.
 
The Rock stretched their lead out to six points at 10-4 to force a Braves timeout, but the stop in play did little to halt Slippery Rock's momentum as SRU rattled off five more points out of the break to push its advantage out to a commanding 11 points before another Pembroke timeout.
 
The two sides proceeded to trade points after the Braves final timeout on the way to a 25-12 victory for SRU in the first set.
 
Selfridge registered five kills and one ace in the opener while SRU's defense forced six attack errors and limited Pembroke to a -.040 attack percentage.
 
In stark contrast to the opening set, the second set between The Rock and Braves was much tighter as the teams played a back-and-forth contest for the duration of game with neither team leading by more than four points.
 
However, with the score knotted at 24-24 – the 14th tie of the set – Slippery Rock brought home the final two points by way of a Braves attack error followed by Pry's fourth kill of the night to seal the 26-24 triumph.
 
The third set largely resembled the opener with Slippery Rock jumping out to a quick 7-2 lead and while UNC Pembroke did battle back to bring the contest to a 10-10 tie, SRU again put the match out of reach by way of a decisive 6-0 run which provided all the cushion The Rock needed en route to the 25-17 sweep-clinching win.
 
SRU closed the victory holding advantages over the Braves in kills (35-22), attack percentage (.267 - -.021), blocks (3-2) and digs (41-35) while UNC Pembroke held a slight edge in aces (9-8). Rock opponents have now finished with a negative attack percentage twice this season.
 
Mckenna Hayes led UNC Pembroke with seven kills and three aces.
 
Slippery Rock continues its time at the Denali State Bank Ice Block Classic with two more matches Friday against the University of Alaska Anchorage at 3 p.m. followed by an 11 p.m. showdown with host University of Alaska Fairbanks.





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