The Slippery Rock University women’s volleyball team split their eastern road trip this past weekend after defeating East Stroudsburg University (15-12) in a close 3-2 win Friday night while falling to Kutztown University (8-19) on Saturday afternoon 3-1.
Following the loss to Kutztown, the Green and White’s record lands at 11-16 on the season, with a 3-12 record in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play. The Rock currently sits in last place in the PSAC Northwest.
On Friday, The Rock was able to take the first set of the evening against East Stroudsburg 25-16 after jumping out to an early 18-7 lead. The Warriors then responded in the second and third set as East Stroudsburg was able to take two 25-20 set wins from SRU.
In the fourth set, The Rock built an early 19-11 lead, but the Warriors took 9 of the next 10 points to tie the set at 20 each. SRU was then able to respond with four straight points of their own to ultimately take the set 25-21 to force a fifth and final set.
Off of some errors by the Warriors, senior Brooke Bostwick, and sophomore Haley Fucci both landed kills to get The Rock off and running to a 6-1 lead early in the fifth set. The Rock never looked back to eventually take the set 15-11 and take the match 3-2.
Senior Courtney Oberlander got her fourth career 40 plus dig match as she recorded 41 digs which tied her match career high. Junior Shayla Ray and senior Lamija Alisic both lead the team in kills with 13 a piece in the match win.
A different story came for The Rock on Saturday when they took on Kutztown as the Golden Bears took the first set in a tight 25-22 loss. In the second set the Green and White jumped out to a five to nothing lead, and would then coast on to a 25-21 set win to even the match.
The third set saw an aggressive Kutztown attack as they jumped out to a 16-8 lead to then win the set comfortably 25-15. A tragic fourth set followed for The Rock as they gave up a late 18-14 lead and would eventually fall 26-24 in the final set to lose the match 3-1.
Alisic followed her 13 kill performance the night before to lead the team in kills for the day with 12, while freshman Erinn Koahoe finished second in kills with 9 and tying Bostwick for the match high in blocks with four.
With just three matches remaining in the regular season for The Rock, they enter the final stretch of their season with their final home match on Tuesday against Edinboro University (19-8) at 7:00 p.m. After which the Green and White will travel Erie, Pa to take on Gannon University (23-5) on Friday at 7:00 p.m. followed by Mercyhurst University (10-16) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
