The Slippery Rock University volleyball team (11-6) was defeated by California University of Pennsylvania (14-5) Friday night in four sets in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play.
SRU balanced the offensive attack with four players registering eight or more kills.
Senior outside hitter Kristy Lake registered a team-high of nine kills, with sophomore outside hitter Leah Jones and freshmen outside hitter Bethany Pike and opposite Emily Sokolwski registering eight kills apiece.
Jones also added 13 digs and a team-high of three service aces. Pike also added a pair of blocks while obtaining a .300 attack percentage.
Senior setter Janna Reilly and sophomore setter Nicole Fortuna kept the Rock’s offense paced with 16 and 17 assists.
Sophomore defensive specialist Anna Mease also teamed up with freshman defensive specialist Kristen Smith to achieve team-highs of 14 digs apiece.
The Green and White took a 9-2 lead in the opening set, but the Cal U Vikings answered to even out the set at 19-19.
Lake then capped a 6-1 run while collecting three consecutive kills to give SRU the win of 25-20 in the opener.
With the early lead, the Rock led the second set before the Vikings took advantage of a 10-1 run in order to take the set with a score of 25-16. This win evened out the match at 1-1. The victory gave Cal U the edge and momentum to win the third and fourth sets, and to secure the 3-1 match win.
“It’s getting tougher,” SRU head coach Laurie Lokash said. “I think the girls know they can win and have an expectation to do that.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Green and White lost to Seton Hill University (16-2) in straight sets.
As soon as the match began, the Griffins jumped on the Rock and cruised to a 25-9 set victory.
In the second game, Seton Hill picked up where they left off in the first game with yet another win at 25-15. This gave Seton Hill a 2-0 lead over SRU.
The Rock opened the third frame with five straight points to earn a 5-1 lead, but Seton Hill refused to lose and surged ahead in order to take the lead late in the third. SRU then scored four straight points in order to tie the set at 23-23. Seton Hill secured the next two points, and they won the set 25-23 and took the match 3-0.
Reilly knocked out seven assists and tallied seven digs for team-highs. Mease and freshman outside hitter Lamija Alisic added two service aces apiece in the loss.
“Expectations to become realizations, we will have to continue to improve and be able to make adjustments in our base system with regard to the teams we are playing,” Lokash said.
With this loss, SRU has an 11-6 record overall and a 5-4 record in PSAC-West play.
The Green and White return to action next weekend to host a PSAC-West crossover.
SRU will faceoff against the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown (11:30 a.m.) and Lock Haven University (7:30 p.m.) on Friday, before hosting Shippensburg University (10 a.m.) and Millersville University (6 p.m.) on Saturday.
