The Shippensburg University volleyball team could not solve an efficient East Stroudsburg on Wednesday night in the 2022 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Quarterfinals, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Warriors by set scores of 18-25, 17-25, 21-25 in action from Heiges Field House.
Shippensburg (18-12) could not overcome 27 attack errors, while East Stroudsburg (15-13) served nine aces, totaled 10 blocks and utilized momentum runs to take each set.
The Raiders were led by senior Rachel Verhoef and sophomore Kat Negron with a combined 13 kills. Verhoef added four blocks along her six kills, while Negron had seven kills and 13 digs. Senior Oyinda Agbale added five kills and six block assists, while senior Kaitlyn Townsend had four blocks (one block solo and three block assists).
Freshman Kearstin Davis led the team in assists and digs, with 20 assists and 13 digs, and added four aces.
In the first set, the Warriors took an 8-2 lead and never let the Raiders rally back early in the set. The Raiders fought back from 9-19 to make it 14-19 with a 5-0 run. However, ESU was able to close it out with a Raider error and an ace.
The second set saw the same look as the first set, the Raiders struggled to pass and the Warriors took advantage and went on a 18-2 run to make it 22-8. SU rallied back and found some momentum and made a 9-1 run to keep the second set close, 17-23, but was unable to keep the run going.
Shippensburg started off strong in the third set with a 5-0 run, only for East Stroudsburg to make an 8-2 run to take an 8-7 lead. ESU took a 14-10 lead, but the Raiders were fighting back and only trailed by two points. Back-to-back aces from Davis and a kill from Negron had the Raiders one point away from tying the set. A 4-1 run by ESU gave them match point. SU saved two match points but ultimately dropped the set, 25-21.
Shippensburg concludes its season with an 18-12 overall record and a 10-4 PSAC East record and earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division.
Overall, Verhoef finished her career with 546 kills, a .236 hitting percentage, 19 service aces, 84 digs, and 167 total blocks. She earned All-PSAC honors last season and had three PSAC Eastern Athlete of the Week awards. She ranked 14th in the league this season for both hit percentage (.271) and blocks per set (92).
Agbale finished her career with 475 kills, a .267 hitting percentage, 65 digs and a total of 165 blocks. She earned three PSAC Eastern Defensive Athlete of the Week awards and ranked 7th in the league this season for hit percentage (.293) and 13th in blocks per set (96). Redshirt-Senior Alex Leitner finished her Raider career with 649 digs, 93 assists and 44 aces in two seasons.
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