The Shippensburg University volleyball team will be hosting East Stroudsburg on Wednesday night for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Quarterfinal at 7 p.m. from Heiges Field House.
It will be the third meeting of the year between Shippensburg (18-11) and East Stroudsburg (14-13), a pair of Eastern Division rivals. The two teams finished No. 2 and No. 3 in the regular season, with Shepherd as the No. 1 team and will host No. 4 West Chester.
Both meetings between the teams this season went five sets. At home, Sept. 24, the Raiders trailed but rallied from two sets down to defeat the Warriors 15-13, in the fifth set. At East Stroudsburg, Oct. 22, the Raiders were two sets ahead but had to hold on and won in the fifth set, 15-12.
SU is in the PSAC Tournament for the 15th time in 18 seasons under head coach Leanne Piscotty. The Raiders has made the PSAC Tournament in five of the last seven seasons (2022, 2021, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015), winning the 2015 PSAC Championship. This will be the first time since 2019 that the Raiders will be heading to the PSAC Tournament. The Raiders have appeared in the NCAA Tournament in five of the last seven years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).
East Stroudsburg won the Eastern Division last year and qualified for the 2021 PSAC Championship but lost to Clarion in the Semifinals, 1-3. The Warriors did qualify for the NCAA Atlantic Region but lost to Gannon in the first round, 2-3. East Stroudsburg will be on their fourth year appearing at the PSAC Championship (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018) and second time that have appeared in the NCAA Tournament (2021, 2019).
Shippensburg features senior middle blockers Oyinda Agbale and Rachel Verhoef who have been at their peaks this year. Both Raiders have three PSAC Eastern Division Athlete of the Week awards: Agbale was three-peat Defensive Athlete of the Week, while Verhoef had two Athlete of the Week awards this season and one last season. Verhoef was also named to the 2021 All-PSAC Second Team.
East Stroudsburg features redshirt-junior Kaylee LoPresto and freshman Anna Coulter who have combined for 480 kills. For the battle of setters, it is between freshman Kearstin Davis, who has 973 assists and an 8.32 assists-per-set average, while ESU's freshman Sydney Lewllein has 374 assists with a 4.4 assists-per-set average, and sophomore Taylor Haan has 239 assists with a 3.51 assists-per-set average.
The winner of Wednesday's quarterfinal will face the winner of the matchup between No. 1 Gannon and No. 4 Edinboro on Saturday, with the highest remaining seed serving as the host of the conference semifinals and finals.
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