BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Slippery Rock University volleyball team captured two victories on day one of the D'Youville Tournament.
 
Slippery Rock started the tournament by downing Assumption University in four sets (25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21) before persevering for a five-set (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 16-14) win against the host Saints.
 
The Friday sweep pushes The Rock's record to an even 5-5 on the season while Assumption drops to 1-6 and D'Youville moves to 1-7.
 
The highlight of the day came from Lauren VonderHaar, who set a school-record in The Rock's win over Assumption with 14 blocks. Prior to Friday, there had been just six other documented single-match double-digit block performances in Slippery Rock history with the previous best being Michelle Hren's 12-block match vs. West Liberty University in 2013 (Slippery Rock single-match records trace back to 2002).
 
With 25 total blocks over The Rock's two matches Friday, VonderHaar increased her career rejection total to 308, moving her past Keira Peoples (2007-10 / 304), Nikki St. Antoine (1993-96 / 287) and Michelle Hren (2011-14 / 286) and into fifth place on the program's all-time block leaderboard.
 
In addition to her stellar defensive performance, VonderHaar also had 17 kills over the two matches on a .341 attack percentage.
 
The Rock's offensive attack was an all-around effort Friday with five athletes earning at least 13 kills over the two matches. Callie Chevalier led the way with 20 kills followed by VonderHaar (17), Emry Rumbaugh (19), Gwen McCarthy (16) and Victoria Nalbach (13).
 
As part of a pair double-double showings, Chevalier also made a team-high 34 digs, barely edging Kara Pasquale (32) for the team-high total.
 
SRU 3 – AU 1
Set Scores: 25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21
 
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• VonderHaar registered her school-record block total with six solo rejections and eight block assists. Her standout day on the front line also came with seven kills (.300) and two aces.
 
• VonderHaar's record-setting match spearheaded The Rock matching a school record team block total of 16. The only other documented match with 16 team blocks came against Millersville University on Sept. 3, 2011.
 
• Rumbaugh went for 11 kills on a stellar .300 attack percentage all the while adding a season-high six blocks of her own.
 
• Chevalier turned in a 10-kill, 22-dig double-double in what was her sixth double-double of the season.
 
• Ava Haynes rounded out SRU's attack leaders with a seven-kill, three-block outing. Her seven kills were a collegiate high for the Portville, New York native.
 
• Jaeden Yost carved out a 20-assist, 10-dig double-double with Paityn Krause supplementing SRU's setting duties with 17 assists.
 
• Joining Chevalier's dig efforts – which were a career-best – were Pasquale (14), Marley Annis (10) and Yost. Annis also matched VonderHaar for team-high honors in aces with two.
 
• The Rock limited Assumption to a .062 attack percentage. SRU held team advantages over the Greyhounds in aces (5-3), blocks (16-5) and attack percentage (.130-.062) while Assumption edged SRU in kills (46-44) and digs (81-80).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Leading 14-12 in the opening set, Slippery Rock ran off four straight points to pull ahead 18-12 and force an Assumption timeout. The break in action did little to stop SRU as The Rock proceeded to take seven of the set's final nine points for a convincing 25-14 win.
 
VonderHaar tallied six blocks in the first set while Rumbaugh paced an offensive attack in which SRU earned a .297 attack percentage with four kills.
 
Slippery Rock and Assumption played a to 13-13 tie in the second set before another dominating run by SRU resulted in five consecutive points via two VonderHaar aces and three AU attack errors to open an 18-13 advantage it would never relinquish on the way to a 25-19 win.

While Slippery Rock would be denied a sweep following a third-set loss, Slippery Rock bounced back for a 25-21 match-clinching win over AU in the fourth set.  
 
SRU 3 – DYU 2
Set Scores: 22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 16-14
 
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• SRU beat the Saints for its first five-set victory of the year.
 
• The Rock trailed 14-11 in the fifth set before mounting a remarkable comeback with five straight points.
 
• VonderHaar continued her impeccable day by giving The Rock a 10-kill, 11-block double-double. Chevalier (10 kills / 12 digs) and Yost (14 assists / 15 digs) had double-doubles as well.
 
• McCarthy paced the SRU attack with a career-high 14 kills. McCarthy and VonderHaar combined for a .291 attack percentage.
 
• In a true all-around team effort, Nalbach and Rumbaugh chipped in nine and eight kills, respectively.
 
• Krause guided the offense with 31 assists, her third 30+ assist match of the season.
 
• SRU had its second-highest ace output of the year with eight. Yost and Leah Schreckengost each served two while the quartet of Krause, Annis, Chevalier and Walter had one each.
 
• Pasquale made a Rock-best 18 digs.
 
• For the match, SRU held advantages over the Saints in attack percentage (.177-.138), aces (8-6) and total blocks (13-11).
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Slippery Rock darted out to an 8-2 lead against the Saints, but any thoughts of an easy opening set were quickly dashed as the D'Youville chipped away at The Rock's lead throughout the set and eventually took an 18-17 lead, forcing a SRU timeout.
 
While SRU did take the first three points out of the stoppage, the Saints responded with a 6-0 run of their own to edge their way out to a 24-20 advantage en route to the eventual set victory.
 
The Rock and Saints traded points to start the second set before SRU rattled off four consecutive points to provide itself with a bit of breathing room at 10-6. While D'Youville continued to keep the set close, a 6-2 deciding run sealed a 25-20 win for SRU to even the match at a set apiece.
 
The third set followed a similar script to the previous game with Slippery Rock gaining a 12-8 lead that it kept throughout for the go-ahead 25-19 victory.
 
D'Youville answered back by winning the fourth set, 25-23, and played its way to a 14-11 lead in the fifth set. However, Slippery Rock battled its way out of the sizable hole by first taking advantage of a pair of DYU miscues followed by McCarthy's 14th-kill of the night to bring the match into a 14-14 tie.
 
From there, Walter – who made her first appearance of the match as a substantiation to serve the final four points of the night – came up with a clutch ace followed fittingly enough by VonderHaar capping off an amazing two-match performance with a match-deciding kill to.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock continues its time at the D'Youville Tournament with two more matches Saturday against Kutztown University (10 a.m.) and Frostburg State University (2 p.m.).
 
 
 
 

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