WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's volleyball team (14-5, 4-3) was back in action on Saturday afternoon in Hollinger Field House against Shepherd (15-5, 5-3). West Chester nearly forced a decisive fifth set, but a late run by Shepherd was enough to lift the visiting Rams to a 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 17-25, 26-24) victory over the Golden Rams on Saturday afternoon.
In the first set, West Chester and Shepherd traded points early before the Rams used a mid-set run to take a 21-17 lead and force a Golden Ram timeout. West Chester went on a small run out of the timeout, led by a kill from
CeCe Isenberg (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) and an
Abiah Lane (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) ace, which cut the deficit to 22-21, but Shepherd took a timeout and answered well for a 25-21 first-set victory.
West Chester continued to battle in the second set, tying things up at 8-8 before surging ahead to an 11-8 lead after a pair of
Elianna Freeman (Jersey Village, Texas/Jersey Village) aces along with kills from
Lacie Brown (Cochranville, Pa./Avon Grove) and
Brooke Forester (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan). Shepherd answered with a 7-0 run to take a 15-11 lead over the Golden Rams. Shepherd used this mid-set lead to hold on for a 25-22 victory as the Rams took a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, West Chester raced out to a 20-9 lead, led by five kills from
Zoe Haines (York, Pa./York Suburban) and a pair of aces from Lane. Shepherd attempted to battle back, but the Golden Rams' early advantage was enough to close the set out with a 25-17 victory, thanks in part to another late kill by Lane to force a fourth set.
In the fourth, West Chester got out to an early lead once again, leading 9-5 after a 6-1 run, which included aces by
Megan Wolfe (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) and Freeman before Shepherd answered to tie the set at 13-13. West Chester had an answer yet again, responding with a 4-1 run, including another ace by Wolfe and another kill by Lane to take a 17-14 lead. Shepherd cut the West Chester lead to 22-19 and continued its comeback bid late, making the score 23-21 before a
Maeve Gallagher (Pottstown, Pa./Pope John Paul II) kill got West Chester to set point at 24-21. With the match appearing destined for a decisive fifth set, which would've marked the third weekend in a row in which West Chester has found itself in a five-set match, Shepherd won the following five points in a row to escape with a 26-24 fourth-set victory and a 3-1 match win over the Golden Rams.
Haines led West Chester in kills with 13, while Gallagher added 10 of her own to go along with nine from Lane. Brown led West Chester in aces with seven while Freeman and Lane chipped in four and three, respectively.
Brown also led West Chester in blocks and assists, finishing with three blocks and 28 assists, while Freeman finished with a match-best 11 digs in the loss.
Amya Davis led Shepherd in kills with 15, while Sophia Ryan posted a match-best five blocks along with four more from Rylee Lenz. Macy Buso led Shepherd in aces(three) and assists (40) while Paige Hansen led the visitors in digs with seven.
West Chester hit .263 (49-19-114) in the loss, despite hitting .333 (14-4-30) in the fourth set to nearly force a decisive fifth set. Unfortunately for West Chester, Shepherd overcame a third-set performance, which saw the Rams hit just .118 (11-7-34), with a fourth-set effort of .500 (16-2-28) to hit .322 (57-19-118) on the match and earn a 3-1 win over the Golden Rams.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action next Wednesday night at Millersville, beginning at 6 p.m., before returning to non-league play on Thursday with a visit to Delaware to take on Wilmington. West Chester will have a conference bye next weekend before opening its next conference weekend against Shippensburg and Shepherd on October 31 and November 1.
