Rock volleyball (8-12) faced off against Edinboro University (14-4) Tuesday night at Morrow Field House and lost the match 3-1 in their seventh game of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play.
The Green and White offense was led by senior Leah Jones with 13 kills and junior Lamiji Alisic with nine. Junior Haley Defibaugh led the team in assists, putting up 22, while freshman Zoe Rivet contributed 18. For the defense, junior Courtney Oberlander notched 23 digs, while Jones added 17 as well.
During the first set, The Rock couldn’t get a lot going when they fell into a 5-1 hole. Getting the ball past the net proved to be difficult all night due to Edinboro’s blocks up front. The Rock wouldn’t be able to catch up in the end, and Edinboro took the first set 25-19.
The second set would test both teams willpower with a few lead changes throughout the entire set. SRU went up early in the set 8-5, but Edinboro would fight back to tie the game at 11 and eventually take the lead. Edinboro would climb up to a 22-18 lead late in the set, but The Rock would come back to tie the set at 25 and take the final two points to win the set 27-25.
“We played very good defense tonight,” head coach Laurie Lokash said. “They pursued every ball, we couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
The third set proved to be all Edinboro when they climbed out to a 17-10 lead. The Rock was constantly in catch-up mode the entire set and would go on to lose it 25-18.
“We can’t always wait for the other team to do something wrong. We just make too many errors,” Lokash said. “It’s like a domino effect with us sometimes, and you just gotta snap out of it and do something right.”
For the final set, The Rock showed they wouldn’t go easy, keeping the set close until Edinboro jumped out to a 15-9 lead. The women then got together after a timeout and were able to mount a comeback late and take the lead 22-21. However, The Rock surrendered four of the next five points and lost the set 25-23 and losing the match 3-1.
“Edinboro is a very complete team,” Lokash said. “They’ve got offense, they play good defense and their ball control is good.”
The Rock is now 1-6 in PSAC play and up next they will square off against rival Indiana University (Pa.) (13-5) at Morrow Field House on Friday at 7 p.m.
