Coming off a dominant performance on Tuesday night against Edinboro, the Green and White looked to keep the momentum going this past weekend, taking on rivals Indiana University of Pennsylvania (6-16, 2-7 PSAC) on Friday night and Clarion (15-7, 6-3 PSAC) on Sunday afternoon. Both games had opposite results, as The Rock blanked IUP with a score of 3-0 in Friday night’s contest, before suffering a straight-set loss to Clarion the following day.
On Friday night, SRU volleyball welcomed the Crimson Hawks to the Morrow Field House for a PSAC showdown. From start to finish, Slippery Rock was in the driver’s seat as they only trailed by a combined three points across all three sets.
In the first set, Slippery Rock set the tone early as the Green and White opened up an 11-4 lead. SRU stayed in control for the rest of the set, never relinquishing the lead. Senior Beth Stumpf paced Slippery Rock with five kills in the first set, as The Rock cruised to a 25-16 victory.
After dominating the first set, Slippery Rock and IUP would start the set out by trading points back and forth, finding themselves in an 11-11 stalemate. SRU would then go on an impressive 11-3 run, putting the score at 22-14. The Crimson Hawks would go on a small run of their own as they went on a 6-2 run, cutting The Rock’s lead down to four. The women in Green and White went on to dash IUP’s comeback hopes, however, giving SRU the 2-0 set advantage, with a 25-20 victory.
IUP could not avoid the straight set loss as Slippery Rock jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the third set. The two teams would trade points for a majority of the third set, but it was apparent that the early 5-0 run was the difference in the third set, as The Rock would go on to earn its second straight shutout victory with a 25-20 win in the third and final set.
Senior Beth Stumpf had a great performance as she recorded another double-double, posting 12 kills, 10 digs, and a pair of aces. Sophomore sensation Erinn Kahoe served up 10 kills on the night, to go along with a match-best four aces and a solo block, as sophomore Stephanie Jacobsen recorded 10 kills of her own.
Junior Kaley Fucci almost recorded double digits kills as well to go along with an impressive .368 attack percentage.
Junior Zoe Rivet finished Friday night’s match with 44 assists despite the match only going three sets, which is the most by a Rock player in three sets since 2005. Sophomore defensive specialist Jalyn Willard was essential in The Rock’s victory, as she put up 16 digs.
Despite their recent success at home, the Green and White struggled mightily on Saturday against a PSAC powerhouse in Clarion. Virtually nothing went Slippery Rock’s way on Saturday, as Clarion never trailed for the duration of the match.
Slippery Rock suffered a straight-set loss, losing 25-13, 25-14, and 25-15. Clarion held advantages in multiple categories as well, as they finished the match edging The Rock in attack percentage (.387-.049), aces (13-3), kills (37-23), digs (38-36), and blocks (5-2).
Despite the loss, senior Shayla Ray led SRU with six kills, a .500 attack percentage and two blocks. Beth Stumpf and Erinn Kahoe each recorded five kills with Stumpf recording an ace as well.
Zoe Rivet served up two aces while racking up 16 assists to go along with 11 digs in a double-double performance as Jalyn Willard added 11 digs of her own.
Slippery Rock will have a prime opportunity to bounce back on Friday night, as they travel to Mercyhurst (8-14, 3-6 PSAC) to take on the struggling Lakers.
