Box Score

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – In the last meeting between East Stroudsburg University and Kutztown last November, the Golden Bears held off the Warriors in five sets, winning the final frame by a 15-12 margin.

The roles were reversed on Tuesday evening.

Junior Desiree Claxton had 24 kills and 18 digs, while freshman Sarah Smith (22 kills) and sophomore Tina Predojevic (31 digs) each set new career highs to help ESU rally for a 3-2 road victory. Set scores were 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-17, 15-12.

The score was tied at 10-10 in the deciding set, but the Warriors (10-10, 2-5 PSAC) won five of the final seven points, capped by two kills from Claxton, to seal its first win over the Golden Bears since 2009 and its first win at Kutztown since 2004.

Claxton has three-straight double-doubles, five on the year and 24 in her ESU career. Smith and Predojevic also matched career-bests with 13 digs and 30 assists, respectively, while junior Rosa Veliky supplied 19 digs and junior Erica Cunningham added 12 digs and 18 assists.

Both teams had identical .189 attack percentages, and each recorded 100 digs. The Warriors held a commanding 10-2 edge in aces.

Brittney Moyer (20 kills, 12 digs), Jessica Howe (19 kills) and Madison Brake (27 digs) led the way for the Golden Bears (3-15, 0-7 PSAC).

With the teams tied at 8-8 in the opening set, Kutztown won seven of the next eight points to open up a 15-9 edge. Four kills from Smith and an ace by junior Katie Shumanis reduced the margin to 18-16, but ESU could get no closer. The Golden Bears, who hit over 30 percent in the set, won the final three points in succession on two kills and an ace.

The Warriors won 12 of the first 16 points to open up a big advantage in set number two. The lead was 19-12, ESU, when Kutztown used a 7-2 run to chip the deficit down to two points. The teams traded the next four points before a kill by Predojevic leveled up the match at one set apiece.

The third set was a polar opposite of the second, with the home side jumping out to a commanding 14-2 lead. Claxton had four kills and a block during a 7-2 stretch for the Warriors, and back-to-back kills from Smith got ESU as close as five at 19-14, but the early struggles proved to be too much to overcome.

Set four was tighter in the early stages, with neither side leading by more than four through the first 31 points. The score stood 16-15, ESU, at that moment, when the visitors went on a 6-0 run highlighted by two kills from Smith and two Predojevic aces. Veliky sent the Warriors to their fourth five-set match of the season with an ace of her own shortly afterwards.

ESU won the first three points of the final set on Smith's serve. Kutztown won five of the next six to take its only lead at 5-4, and a block by Moyer and Taylor Brown produced the final tie at 10-10.

The Warriors improve to 2-2 in five-set matches this season. ESU previously topped Merrimack in a come-from-behind victory on Sept. 16.

The Warriors remain on the road for their next two matchups, traveling to Lock Haven at 7 p.m. on Friday and Pitt-Johnstown at 1 p.m. on Saturday.