SHIPPENSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University volleyball team saw its impressive 17-match win streak and unbeaten stretch in the PSAC East come to an end as the Warriors were defeated in straight sets by Shippensburg on Friday evening inside Heiges Field House. The set scores were 25-23, 25-16, 25-23.
The Warriors suffered their first defeat since September 15 and PSAC East loss as ESU dropped to 21-5 overall and 12-1 in the conference. Shippensburg extended its win streak to five matches with the Raiders improving to 21-8 on the season and 12-1 in the East.
ESU and Shippensburg are now deadlocked at the top of the PSAC East standings headed into the final match of the regular season on Saturday. The Warriors can still earn the No. 1 seed with a Shippensburg loss to Kutztown but if both teams are victorious, the Raiders hold the tie breaker with sets won in head-to-head matches (5-3).
Notables vs. Shippensburg
- Three-time PSAC East Athlete of the Week Anna Coulter finished with a match-high 13 kills (.346 H%) as well as five blocks, three aces and a pair of digs
- Taylor Haan registered her eighth double-double of the season as the junior totaled 25 assists and 11 digs to go along with two kills, three aces and three blocks
- Senior Kaylee LoPresto notched eight kills and digs a piece while fellow classmate Sydney Stone had four kills, three blocks and two digs
- Makayla Baca produced a team-high 16 digs and moved closer to 1,000 for her ESU career with 894 and counting
- Gracen Nutt (11) and Kat Negron (10) paced the Raiders with double digit kills while Berkely Simmons and Emily Gardner each had 17 assists. Kearstin Davis dished out a match-high 36 assists to go along with four kills and five digs.
- In a tightly contested match between the top-two teams in the PSAC East, Shippensburg outhit ESU .206-.179, but the Warriors had the edge in blocks, 9-9. Each team finished with seven aces.
How it Happened vs. Shippensburg
- Shippensburg grabbed three-points leads at 4-1 and 5-2 to start the match until ESU settled in with a 4-0 run to put them ahead 6-5. The Raiders responded by scoring seven of the next nine points to pull back in front 12-8, but ESU answered immediately with a 3-0 run to make the score 12-11. The teams proceeded to trade the next eight points but consecutive kills by Shippensburg forced ESU into a timeout with the Raiders up 18-15. Shippensburg took three of the next five points to go up 21-17, but ESU battled back with a 4-0 to tie it at 21-21. However, the Raiders closed out the set on a 4-2 run (25-23) to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
- With the score tied at 4-4, the Raiders produced an 8-1 run with six kills to grab a 12-5 lead. Shippensburg scored five of the next eight points (17-8), but the Warriors went on a 4-0 spurt to trim the deficit to 17-12. With the Raiders ahead 19-13 out of an ESU timeout, the Warriors went on a 3-0 run to pull within 19-16 but Shippensburg wrapped up the set by scoring the final six points (25-16) for a 2-0 edge.
- Shippensburg carried over momentum into the third set as the Raiders went ahead 5-1 before grabbing a 12-6 advantage. Following an ESU timeout, the Warriors went on a 4-2 run to cut the Raiders' lead to 14-10. A Shippensburg kill stopped the run momentarily as ESU proceeded to rip off the next five points to knot it 15-15. It was back and forth over the next 16 points with neither team able to create separation, but the Raiders used a kill and ESU error to finish off the set (25-23) and the sweep.
Up Next
ESU wraps up the regular season tomorrow afternoon as the Warriors travel to West Virginia to battle Shepherd at 4 p.m. from the Butcher Center
