INDIANA, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team lost a three-set (25-19, 25-17, 25-17) Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division road match Friday at Indiana University (Pa.).
 
The setback moves The Rock's record to 9-10 overall and 2-4 inside the PSAC West while IUP improves to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in league competition.
 
Slippery Rock could never quite find its collective stride Friday as the Crimson Hawks ended the night holding team advantages over SRU in kills (42-23), attack percentage (.190-.042), aces (6-3), digs (54-47) and total blocks (8-2).
 
SRU had five athletes with at least three kills in the loss. Callie Chevalier and Emry Rumbaugh led the way with five apiece while Lauren VonderHaar added four with the duo of Victoria Nalbach and Kaitlyn Danszczak chipping in three each. VonderHaar also held team-high honors in blocks with two.
 
Paityn Krause distributed 10 assists and served a Rock-best two aces. Arielle Walter accounted for SRU's remaining ace and Jaeden Yost finished one assist shy of Krause with nine.
 
Kara Pasquale (10) and Marley Annis (9) accounted for 19 of The Rock's 47 digs.
 
IUP jumped out to a quick 10-5 lead in the opening set, forcing an early Rock timeout. The break in action did little to slow the Crimson Hawks' momentum. Indiana went on to stretch its lead out to as many as 11 points en route to an eventual 25-19 win.
 
Another slow start once again put The Rock in a sizable hole. IUP claimed 15 of the opening 18 points of the second set only for Slippery Rock to re-group and rattle off a 12-4 run of its own, pulling to within four points (19-15) of the hosts and forcing a Crimson Hawks timeout.
 
Indiana scored six of the final eight points in the set to stave off Slippery Rock's comeback and earn a 25-17 victory.
 
A reverse seep was not in the cards for The Rock Friday night as IUP closed out the home victory via another 25-17 victory in the third set.
 
Jessica Neiman registered a match-high 12 kills and Brooke Kessler served four aces to lead Indiana's efforts.
 
Slippery Rock returns to competition with another PSAC West road match 2 p.m. Saturday at Pitt-Johnstown.
 

 

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