Lady Raider Volleyball Rallies Again Versus First-Place Kutztown

Oct. 18, 2005

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - For the second time this season against Kutztown University, the Shippensburg University volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 3-2 victory over the Golden Bears, this time, on Tuesday night at Heiges Field House. The Lady Raiders won with scores of 30-25, 19-30, 19-30, 30-23, 15-8.

The Golden Bears (16-10, 4-3 PSAC East) entered the match in a three-way tie for first-place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division with West Chester University and Millersville University.

With its win, Shippensburg is now in a four-way tie for second-place in the Eastern Division while Millersville is in first at 5-2. The Lady Raiders are tied with Kutztown, West Chester and East Stroudsburg.

Shippensburg (14-16, 4-3 PSAC East) won the season series with Kutztown, but lost its two meetings with Millersville and lost its only meeting at West Chester on September 27. The Lady Raiders and Golden Rams are scheduled to meet again on Tuesday, November 1 in Hieges Field House.

The last time Shippensburg and the Golden Bears met, the Lady Raiders edged out a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory on the road, 3-2 on September 17. Much like tonight's match, the Lady Raiders trailed two games to one before winning the final two games to take the match.

Freshman Kelsi Hoffman (York, Pa./West York) broke the school record for digs in a match for the third time this evening, totaling 51. She already holds the single-season record for digs, breaking the mark set by junior teammate Missy Pierce (Valparaiso, Ind./West Aurora (IL)) with 512 a year ago. Hoffman now has 634 digs this season.

Other leaders tonight for Shippensburg included freshman Ashleigh Helfrick (Greencastle, Pa./James Buchanan) who led the way with a team-high 15 kills, the third-straight match she has led the team in kills. She also added 31 digs as she was one of five players who had at least 27digs.

Pierce had 14 kills and 39 digs while senior Michelle Doughty (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) added 12 kills and 27 digs. Pierce also contributed four blocks, including three solo. Freshman Maureen DuVall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville) totaled seven kills, 30 digs and 49 assists.

With the match tied at 2-2, the Lady Raiders raced out to a 10-5 lead in game five. A block solo from Pierce, kill by Doughty and kill by Pierce, gave Shippensburg a 13-6 lead before freshman Kelly Dirks (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had two consecutive kills for the Lady Raiders for the 15-8 victory. Dirks finished the match with eight kills.

The Lady Raiders pulled out the five-point victory in game one, scoring 10 of the game's final 15 points. With the game tied at 20-20, Shippensburg reached game point, 29-24, on a kill by Pierce. A kill by Kutztown's Dani Witherite extended the game, but Helfrick ended it with a kill of her own following a long rally for the 30-25 win.

The Golden Bears used strong offense while capitalizing on errors by the Lady Raiders to take the victory in game two. Kutztown led by as many 11 points, 22-11, before Shippensburg trimmed the lead to six, 23-17. However, that was as close as the team would get as the Golden Bears stretched their lead back to 11, 28-17 before a hitting error by the Lady Raiders and two kills from Krystalee George sealed the win for Kutztown.

Game three was close, but Kutztown led throughout before Shippensburg pulled to within four points, 18-14. From there, the Golden Bears reeled off five consecutive points to build a 23-15 lead. Behind the service of Witherite and the offense of Sarah Brandon, Kutztown scored seven of the final 11 points, including the last five for the 30-19 victory.

The Lady Raiders led for most of game four and stretched a two-point lead, 14-12, into an eight-point lead, 24-16 behind strong offense, led by kills from Pierce and Helfrick. The Golden Bears would pull to within four at 27-23 on a service error, but Shippensburg scored the final three points on a kill from Helfrick and two errors, one hitting and one blocking, by Kutztown for the win, 30-23.

Sarah Brandon had 20 kills and four blocks to lead the Golden Bears while Witherite had 17 kills, 32 digs and four blocks.

The Lady Raiders will host the six-team SU Regional Crossover this weekend, beginning with one match on Friday between California University (Pa.) and North Carolina Central University. Other teams competing this weekend include Barton College, Clarion University and Pfeiffer University. The Lady Raiders play two matches on Saturday and one on Sunday.

- Lady Raider Volleyball -