WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The West Chester University volleyball team capped off its conference-opening weekend by besting Edinboro University 3-2 (25-11, 25-9, 23-25, 17-25, 15-13) on Saturday in a five-set thriller inside the Hollinger Field House.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Golden Rams (12-0, 2-0 PSAC) looked like they were well on their way to recording their eighth shutout of the season early on, as the home team easily won the first two sets by a combined score of 50-20.
- Despite holding the edge in hitting percentage in the third frame, the Golden Rams were unable to put the Fighting Scots away, as the visitors took the frame 25-23 to keep the match rolling.
- After Edinboro secured the fourth set 25-17, the Fighting Scots managed to build a slim 10-7 lead to start the fifth and deciding set. The home team was able to score three unanswered to knot the frame at 10-10 and both teams then exchanged points until the scoreboard was stuck at 13-13 late in stanza. A kill by junior Rachel Robb (BLACKWOOD, N.J./PAUL VI) pushed the Golden Rams in front by one, before Edinboro sealed its own fate with an attack error to hand West Chester the hard-fought 15-13 victory in the deciding set.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Senior Allie Duffy (CARLISLE, PA./CARLISLE) paced the Golden Rams' offense with a career-high 19 kills in the win, giving the middle blocker the most kills in a single match by anyone on West Chester's roster this year.
- Fellow senior Jillian Grammer (CENTER VALLEY, PA./SOUTHERN LEHIGH) accounted for 52 of the Golden Rams' 57 total assists against the Fighting Scots to mark the first time this season that the designated setter had handed out over 50 helpers in a contest. Grammer's 52 dimes are the fourth highest amount by a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) representative this season and the total stands as the most for the senior since she handed out 56 helpers against East Stroudsburg last November.
- Grammer also notched her team-leading fifth double-double of the season on Saturday, which extends her consecutive double-double streak to three matches.
- The Golden Rams recorded a season-high 13 services aces in Saturday's victory, led by graduate student Nicki Yates' (COOPERSBURG, PA./SOUTHERN LEHIGH) and senior Alex Gleason's (LANDENBERG, PA./KENNETT) three scores a piece. Yates also paced the WCU defense with 19 digs in the win, to give the libero 210 total scoops on the season.
- Saturday marked the first time during the 2018 season that West Chester was pushed to five sets. Entering Saturday's match, the Golden Rams had only lost four total sets across their 11 matches.
UP NEXT
- WCU takes a step outside of conference play on Tuesday, as the team travels to take on Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) representative Felician University at 7:00 p.m.
