INDIANA, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University volleyball team lost on the road to Indiana University (Pa.) in four sets Saturday (25-8, 25-21, 20-25, 25-15).
The Rock's Pennsylvania State Athletic Western Division loss moves their record to 6-16 overall and 0-10 in league matches. The host Crimson Hawks improve to 18-4 overall and 9-1 in the PSAC West.
Leading the way for Slippery Rock Saturday was
Victoria Nalbach, who recorded seven kills on a .222 attack percentage along with a career-high four aces and one block.
The rest of SRU's attack was a balanced effort from
Ali Haynes (6 kills),
Ava Haynes (5),
Alayna Esselink (5),
Hayden Deming (4) and
Ellie Friedrichs (4).
Paityn Krause (17) and
Emily Loeffler (13) combined for 30 of SRU's 36 assists.
Friedrichs and
Leah Schreckengost both finished with double-digit dig totals at 10 and 11, respectively.
After dropping the opening two sets (25-8, 25-21), Slippery Rock answered back with a 25-20 victory in the third set.
Undeterred from the two-set deficit, Slippery Rock fought back in the third set thanks to a pair of sizable runs: the first being a 6-0 spurt that gave SRU a 10-7 lead and later a 5-1 run that gave The Rock an 18-13 advantage they parlayed into a 25-20 set victory.
Nalbach had four kills and four aces in The Rock's third-set win.
However, IUP rebounded from its third-set loss with a 25-15 victory in the fourth that sealed the match.
Delaney Concannon led Indiana in the win with a 17-kill, 10-dig, six-ace double-double. IUP ended the match holding advantages over SRU in kills (50-36), attack percentage (.313 / .085), aces (14-5), blocks (10-3) and digs (49-43).
The Rock will next play their final away matches of the season Oct. 30 at Edinboro and Oct. 31 at Gannon University.
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