SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.V.- The West Chester University women's volleyball team (8-8, 1-3) returned to the road on Friday night to take on Shepherd in a PSAC East Clash. West Chester dropped the opening two sets but put up an excellent fight, capturing the third set before battling throughout the fourth set in a 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 25-21) setback.
Shepherd jumped out to an early 9-4 lead in the first set, but West Chester answered back and remained tied or within a point of the Rams for much of the remainder of the set, leading to the score being 20-19 in favor of the host Rams late in the opening set. Shepherd closed the set on a 5-1 run, overcoming a
CeCe Isenberg (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) kill, which had cut the deficit to 22-20 to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was a similarly tight, back-and-forth affair. The Golden Rams remained well within striking distance throughout the set, but the host Rams pulled away late to escape with a 25-22 second-set victory and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
West Chester opened the third set with a 5-2 lead and stretched this advantage to 8-3 after a
Zoe Haines (York, Pa./York Suburban) kill and eventually 12-5 entering the middle stages of the third set. Shepherd countered quickly, going on a 13-7 run to cut the Golden Ram lead to 22-18 late in the third. The Rams continued their comeback bid, cutting the deficit to 22-19 but an
Anna Richardson (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) kill gave West Chester a 23-19 lead, which after a pair of Ram errors, including a combo block by Haines and
Julia Kwitchoff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Wheatfield) lifted West Chester to a 25-19 third-set victory to force a fourth set.
Eager to avoid a potential reverse sweep, Shepherd raced out to a 9-5 lead after an Amya Davis kill. The Rams continued their strong fourth-set performance, extending their lead to 20-11 before a 5-0 run by the Golden Rams cut the deficit to 20-16 and prompted a quick Shepherd timeout. Out of the timeout, Isenberg logged her 11
th kill, and Haines picked up her ninth of the night moments later to cut the Ram lead to 20-18, forcing Shepherd to take its second timeout of the fourth set. The second Shepherd timeout helped halt the run for a moment, but Haines followed this with another kill to make the score 21-19, entering the waning moments of the set. West Chester continued its comeback bid as the fourth set progressed, cutting the Shepherd lead to 22-21 before the Rams closed out the match on a 3-0 run to escape with a 25-21 fourth-set victory and a 3-1 match victory.
Richardson and Isenberg tied for the team lead in kills with 13 each, while Rylee Lenz led Shepherd with a match-high 14.
Lacie Brown (Cochranville, Pa./Avon Grove) led West Chester in assists with 40 while finishing second to only
Sydney Heffner (Bath, Pa./Northampton), who finished the match with 14 digs.
Shaena Brooks (Willoughby Hills, OH/Eastlake North) led West Chester and all players in aces with a match-high four aces, while Brown and
Macey Baum (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) chipped in one each in the setback.
Macy Buso led Shepherd in assists with 35, while Harli Zeitz finished the match with the team lead in both aces (two) and digs (21).
Up Next:
West Chester is back in action tomorrow, playing its 13
th road game in the last 14 matches at Shippensburg beginning at 1 p.m.
