Rock volleyball dropped their first two Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) games of the year this weekend when the team traveled to Lock Haven University (8-6) on Friday and University of Pitt-Johnstown (12-3) on Saturday.
The Green and White first squared off against Lock Haven Friday evening and lost the set 2-3. After dropping the first two sets 31-29 and 25-15, The Rock climbed their way back to win the next two sets 25-22 and 25-19.
To force the fifth set, SRU had to overcome an 8-0 deficit early in the fourth set but was able to slowly make their way back into the set and eventually tie it at 16 all. The Rock took the next three points to make it 19-16, and never looked back taking the set 25-19.
In the fifth and final set, the Green and White found themselves in an 11-8 lead, but Lock Haven wasn’t done and overcame the three-point deficit and kept pushing to take the set 18-16 and win the match 3-2. Senior Lamija Alisic finished the match with a season-high 10 kills, as sophomore Kaley Fucci had 10 kills as well. As usual senior Courtney Oberlander anchored the defense with 36 digs, while freshman Jalyn Willard added 18 digs as well.
On Saturday, The Rock then traveled to Pitt-Johnstown. In the first set, SRU kept pace till the end when Pitt-Johnstown went on a 5-1 point run to get out ahead 23-18 and held on to take the first set 25-21. The Rock showed life early in the second set as they got out to a 17-12 lead. However, late in the set, the Mountain Cats went on a five-point run, but SRU kept them at bay and won the set 25-23 and to even the match at one.
The final two sets saw dominance from Pitt-Johnstown as they won the third set 25-14 and won the fourth set 25-12 to win the match 3-1. Oberlander was able to contribute 22 digs as she moved to eighth in SRU history for career digs with 1,929 total digs.
With the two losses over the weekend, Rock volleyball’s record drops to 8-6 on the season, extending their losing streak to six games after winning their first eight of the season. Their next match-up will come this Friday when The Rock plays host to both Millersville University (8-2) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Shippensburg University (9-5) on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Morrow Field House.
