SHEPHERDSTOWN, W,Va.- Fresh off a pair of big PSAC East victories last weekend and winners of four in a row in league play, the West Chester women's volleyball team (20-9, 8-5) took to the road on Friday night to take on PSAC East leader Shepherd (19-6, 11-2) to begin the final weekend of the regular season. West Chester battled throughout the night but fell to the Rams by a 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-19) final.
This setback moves the Golden Rams record to 8-5 on the year, which should Shippensburg prevail in its match vs Millersville this evening, would move West Chester into third place in the PSAC East entering the final day of the regular season tomorrow afternoon at Shippensburg. Kutztown, whom West Chester split with this season in a pair of five set matches, earned an all-important victory this evening for its playoff chances, defeating Lock Haven 3-0 to remain in the hunt for the fourth and final playoff spot.
In the first set, Shepherd jumped out to an early 9-3 lead and rode this early advantage to a 25-13 first set victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Shepherd jumped out to an early lead in the second set but West Chester continued to battle, including a 4-0 run, which closed the deficit to 15-12 and prompted a quick Shepherd timeout. Following the timeout, West Chester continued to remain close, eventually trimming the deficit to 19-18 thanks to a
Hailey Lewis (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West) kill. After trading points, Shepherd eventually held on for a 25-21 second set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third was similarly close through the early going as the score remained tied at 11-11 after a
Brynn Dreisbach (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) kill before a 3-0 run by Shepherd gave the Rams their biggest lead of the set at 14-11. With a lead after fighting back from an early deficit, Shepherd began to pull away, eventually taking a 19-12 lead en route to a 25-19 third set win and 3-0 match victory.
Lewis led the way in kills with 10 while Dreisbach finished with nine to help lead the Golden Ram offense.
Jillian Borgerding (Highland Ranch, Co./Highland Ranch) and
Megan St. Jean (Eaton, Co./Eaton) each registered double digit assists with 17 and 14, respectively while
Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton) led the way in digs with 11 while also tying with Lewis for the team lead in aces with three.
As a team, West Chester hit .133 on the match while the host Rams ended the match with a .390 hitting percentage in the three set triumph over the visiting Golden Rams.
Up Next:
West Chester returns to action tomorrow in its all-important regular-season finale vs Shippensburg beginning at 1 p.m.
