CANTON, Ohio – The Slippery Rock University volleyball team concluded its time at the Hall of Fame City Challenge Saturday.

SRU opened the day with a three-set loss (25-16, 25-17, 25-23) to Illinois-Springfield followed by a close five-set (25-21, 25-17, 19-25, 15-25, 15-12) defeat against Bloomsburg University.

Slippery Rock ends the weekend with an overall record of 3-5. Bloomsburg improved to 5-3 with its win while Illinois-Springfield left the Hall of Fame City Challenge at 6-1.

Following its sweep to start the day, Slippery Rock found itself in a two-set hole to Bloomsburg in the nightcap before mounting a commendable comeback in which SRU staved off the loss by taking the third set, 25-19, and the fourth, 25-15, forcing a winner-take-all fifth set.

Slippery Rock edged its way out to a 7-5 advantage in the fifth set only for the Huskies to grab the following four points for a 9-7 lead. From there, The Rock and Huskies traded points until Bloomsburg seized the match by earning three of the final four points of the night for a match-clinching 15-12 win.

Callie Chevalier (14), Lauren VonderHaar (10) and Emry Rumbaugh (10) all recorded double-digit kill matches against the Huskies with VonderHaar also posting five blocks.

Paityn Krause distributed 32 assists and made 14 digs while serving four aces. Fellow setter Jaeden Yost also had a 15-assist, 10-dig double-double.

SRU, which finished the Bloomsburg match with 11 total blocks saw Victoria Nalbach (5), Kaitlyn Danszczak (4), Addison Jones (3) and Chevalier (2) have multiple blocks in the tight loss. Danszczak also notched nine kills.

Further aiding the defense was Krause Pasquale, who made 24 digs.

Slippery Rock returns to competition 1 p.m. Sept. 19 against Assumption University at the D'Youville Tournament.




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