The Slippery Rock University women’s volleyball team used a late fourth set rally on Tuesday night to secure a win against Alderson Broaddus College in their first home game of the season and get off to a 5-3 start.
The Rock controlled play against Alderson Broaddus in the first set and they won 25-20.
The second set was a much more difficult battle for the Green and White. They tied the game at 17, but Alderson Broaddus went on a three point run to make it 20-17. Slippery Rock battled back to earn the first set point opportunity, but Alderson Broaddus came back to tie it up at 24. The Rock got on set point once again at 29-28. An Alderson Broaddus miscue gave SRU the win in set two. There were 11 lead changes in the second set.
Alderson Broaddus came out strong in the third set, jumping out to a 9-4 lead before Slippery Rock’s first timeout. After the timeout Alderson Broaddus stretched their lead to 17-9 causing SRU to call their second timeout. The Rock lost the third set 25-20.
The fourth and final set saw a lot of back and forth action with Alderson Broaddus maintaining the lead for most of the time. They held an 18-14 lead over The Rock when SRU called their only timeout of the set.
Coming out of the timeout, a Slippery Rock volley soared high and hit a suspended basketball hoop, then dropped in bounds on the Alderson Broaddus side of the court. The strange ricochet seemed to give SRU some life, as they went on a 7-3 run to take the final set 25-21.
Head coach Laurie Lokash was pleased with the team’s comeback effort but acknowledges that her team still has some work to do.
“Our one big problem so far this season is we haven’t been able to finish,” Lokash said, “we are taking baby steps to get where we want to go.”
Senior Caroline Houston led the Green and White in kills with 14 for the match. She also had three aces, which also led the team. Junior Janna Reilly paved the way for her team in assists with 26.
Along with Reilly and Houston, Lokash believed that some of her other standout players were seniors Sarah Beals and Kayla Woo, along with sophomore Kristy Lake.
On September 13 and 14, The Rock played in the Shepherd Tournament in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. They competed against West Virginia Wesleyan, Fairmont State and Shepherd. The Rock finished 1-2 at the tournament.
SRU took on West Virginia Wesleyan first and won the match 3-2. The sets were a 25-21 win, two consecutive 26-24 losses, a 25-13 win and a 15-6 win. The next match against Fairmont State, three sets finished with a 25-23 score. The Rock won one of those sets. They lost the final set 25-20, losing the set 3-1.
The next day, they took on Shepherd at their home tournament. Shepherd’s home field advantage was prominent as they swept Slippery Rock in the match 3-0.
To start off their season, SRU played in the Glenville State tournament, where they finished with a 3-1 record. Slippery Rock went up against West Virginia State, University of Charleston, Glenville State and Bluefield College from Virginia.
All of the matches had a 3-1 final score, which saw the rock win three and lose one. SRU posted wins over West Virginia State, Glenville State and Bluefield College. The lone loss came against University of Charleston.
Lokash knows her team has been playing well, but believes she knows what her team’s problem is.
“We have people stepping up at different times during the match,” Lokash said, “now if we can get them all to step up at the same time, we will really see improvement.”
Slippery Rock will head back on the road for the Wheeling Jesuit Tournament this weekend.
