West Chester Edges Ship Volleyball 3-2 on Senior Night
Nov. 1, 2005
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Senior Michelle Doughty (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), appearing in her final home match as a member of the Shippensburg University volleyball team, totaled 14 kills and seven digs, but it was not enough as the Lady Raiders were edged by West Chester University in a thrilling five-game match 3-2 at Heiges Field House Tuesday night.
The loss snapped a nine-match winning streak for Shippensburg (21-17, 5-4 PSAC East) who entered the match in a four-way tie for first-place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. Game scores were 30-28, 30-25, 17-30, 27-30, 14-16.
The loss, combined with wins by Kutztown University and Millersville University, drops the Lady Raiders into a tie for third-place with the Golden Rams and East Stroudsburg University, all of whom have identical 5-4 conference records. With one PSAC East match remaining for each school, all five schools must battle it out for three available PSAC tournament spots.
In addition to Doughty, freshman Ashleigh Helfrick (Greencastle, Pa./James Buchanan) totaled a team-high 14 kills while adding 16 digs. Freshman Kelsi Hoffman (York, Pa./West York) had a team-high 17 digs, but Shippensburg could not overcome timely offense from West Chester or 21 service errors.
The Golden Rams (19-13, 5-4 PSAC East) hit .297 for the match and came back from a 2-0 deficit to win their fourth match out of the last five. Megan Musselman had 22 kills to lead the West Chester offense while middles Nicole Vetock and Tracy Williams combined for 33 of the team's 73 kills with 19 and 14, respectively.
Over the last three games, all Golden Ram victories, West Chester hit over .300 in each, including .348 in the fifth and final game.
Game one was close throughout, featuring 13 ties with the final tie coming at 28-28. From there, back-to-back kills from Helfrick gave Shippensburg the 30-28 victory.
In game two, Shippensburg jumped out to a 10-4 lead behind the serve of Doughty and freshman Maureen DuVall (Poolesville, Md./Poolesville), before later increasing that lead to as many as eight points, 18-10. However, a Golden Ram rally brought the Lady Raider to three, 24-21, but the team scored six of the final 10 points with the last coming again on a kill from Helfrick to put Shippensburg up by two games.
Game three was completely dominated by West Chester who led by as many as 10 points, 19-9, before coasting to a 13-point win, 30-17. In the game, the Lady Raiders committed six service aces and had a hitting percentage of only .065 with six errors.
West Chester held the lead for all of game four, stretching it to as many as 11 points, 25-16, before Shippensburg rallied to cut the lead to three at 27-24. The lead would be cut to just two, 29-27, but a kill from Vetock for the Golden Rams sealed the win and forced a fifth game.
In the final game, the teams battled back and forth before the Lady Raiders were able to edge out a 10-9 lead on a kill from freshman Kelly Dirks (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley). The two continued to exchange points before a service ace from DuVall tied the game at 14-14. However, a service error by DuVall and an attack error by Doughty ended the match with West Chester stealing the victory and pulling itself right back into the playoff picture.
DuVall finished with seven kills, 47 assists, five service aces and five digs for the Lady Raiders while sophomore Katie Laux (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler Area) totaled 10 kills, but more importantly, came up with some big defensive plays to keep her team alive, totaling four blocks, including three solo.
Junior Missy Pierce (Valparaiso, Ind./West Aurora (Ill.)) had six kills and 10 digs for Shippensburg.
The Lady Raiders finish the regular-season on Saturday by traveling to East Stroudsburg. The team will need a win, coupled with a Kutztown loss to keep its hopes of a third-straight PSAC tournament appearance alive. Match time is at 2:00 p.m., at East Stroudsburg while the Golden Bears play at first-place Millersville at 1:00 p.m.
- Lady Raider Volleyball -
