WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University women's volleyball team (16-5, 5-3) is set to return to action this weekend on the road against Shippensburg (16-6, 8-0) and Shepherd (16-6, 5-3) on Friday and Saturday evenings. West Chester will visit Shippensburg on Friday night at 6 p.m. before hosting Shepherd on Saturday at 4 p.m.
West Chester at Shippensburg
Match Details: Friday, October 31 I 6 P.M.
Location: Heiges Field House (Shippensburg, Pa.)
Series: 28-60
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West Chester at Shepherd
Match Details: Saturday, November 1 I 4 P.M.
Location: Butcher Athletic Center (Shepherdstown, W.V.)
Series: 4-16
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Last Time Out
West Chester improved to 16-5 on the year and 5-3 in league play last week with a league victory over Millersville (3-0) on Wednesday night, followed by a non-league win at Wilmington (3-2) on Thursday. West Chester had a rare weekend off by virtue of playing Millersville on Wednesday evening and a free Saturday already in the schedule.
Against Millersville,
Zoe Haines (York, Pa./York Suburban) and
Julia Kwitchoff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Wheatfield) tied for the team lead in kills with 13 each, while
Abiah Lane (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) and
Megan Wolfe (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) tied for the team lead in aces. Wolfe led the team in digs with 15, while
Lacie Brown (Cochranville, Pa./Avon Grove) registered 39 assists in a speedy 3-0 (25-17, 25-10, 25-10) victory over the Marauders.
On Thursday night in Wilmington, West Chester jumped out to a 2-0 (25-21, 25-17) lead before Wilmington won the third and fourth sets (25-17, 25-22) to force a fifth set. The fifth was close throughout, but West Chester eventually pulled away for a 15-11 victory over the Wildcats. Haines led West Chester in kills with 18, while Lane chipped in 12 of her own. Brown led West Chester in aces (three), assists (54), and digs (14), while
Elianna Freeman (Jersey Village, Texas/Jersey Village) tied for the team lead in aces with three, along with 11 digs and seven assists.
Flock Talk
Haines leads West Chester in kills with 231, while Lane is second with 209. Kwitchoff leads the team in blocks with 60 and is third in kills with 144. Brown is first on the team in assists (724) and aces (37), while ranking second in digs with 173, trailing only the rookie Freeman, who has 199 digs in her first season with the Golden Rams.
We Are Honored
Haines earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors earlier this week after two excellent performances against Millersville and Wilmington a week ago. Haines is the second Golden Ram this season to be honored in this fashion, with Lane being the other in mid-September.
The Playoff Picture
West Chester currently resides in a tie for third in the PSAC East standings with Shepherd (5-3), with a slim lead over Lock Haven (4-4) in fifth, while trailing Shippensburg (8-0) and East Stroudsburg (7-1). Four teams will once again make the PSAC Tournament, but what's different in 2025 is that the Tuesday quarterfinals will be crossover matchups against the Western Division. The fourth seed in the PSAC Tournament from the East would face the top seed from the West, currently Gannon (8-0), while the third seed would face the second seed from the West, currently Indiana (Pa.) (5-3).
Hello November
West Chester is 6-3 in October, heading into the final match of the month on Friday night at Shippensburg. West Chester will have a very important November slate ahead, beginning with its Saturday afternoon clash at Shepherd.
Coming Home
West Chester will wrap up its two-week road trip this weekend and return home next week to play three home matches against Pace, Kutztown, and East Stroudsburg before concluding the regular season at Bloomsburg and Lock Haven on November 14
th and 15
th, respectively. The match against Kutztown on November 7 will be Summer Camper Night and a Food Drive match for West Chester, while Saturday, the 8th, will be Senior Day.
Series History
Shippensburg extended its series lead to 60-28 with a win over West Chester in Hollinger in late October. West Chester remains in search of its first win at Shippensburg since a 3-0 win in Heiges in October 2015.
Against Shepherd, West Chester came within a point of forcing a fifth set in the Rams' last visit to Hollinger, but the Golden Rams still trail the series by a 16-4 margin. Shepherd has won each of the last 16 meetings between the two squads after West Chester started the series with four wins in as many matches.
Scouting Shippensburg
Winners of 10 in a row, Shippensburg enters play at 16-6 on the year and a perfect 8-0 in league play. The Raiders will play just their fifth and sixth home matches of the season this weekend, and the team is a perfect 4-0 at home, including 3-2 wins over Kutztown and Shepherd on October 11 and 24, respectively.
Shippensburg's last match was a five-set thriller against Shepherd, which saw the Raiders win the first two sets (25-21, 25-14) before dropping the next two (26-24, 25-15) to force a dramatic fifth set. The fifth set was tight throughout before the Raiders escaped with a 15-13 victory to remain unbeaten in league play. Elise Bragg led the team in kills in this win with 15, while Gracen Nutt chipped in 13 of her own. Berkley Simmons and Shay Kolivoski led the team in aces with three each, while Kolivoski led the team in digs with 20, along with 18 from Simmons. Kearstin Davis led the team in assists with a match-best 53.
Nutt leads Shippensburg in kills with 228, while Hailey Cappleman has 208 of her own to sit second on the team, while also ranking second in blocks with 56, trailing only Isabelle Bombas and her 83. Davis leads the team in assists (715) and aces (39), while Kolivoski leads the team in digs with 458.
Scouting Shepherd
Shepherd enters the weekend at 16-6 on the year and 5-3 in league play after going 3-1 through its last four matches heading into the weekend. Before West Chester comes to town on Saturday afternoon, Shepherd will host and likely improve to 2-2 at home this season against a hapless Millersville squad on Friday night at 7 to get back in the win column after a 3-2 loss at Shippensburg on October 24. Ada McCoy led the Rams in kills and aces with 14 and two, while Rylee Lenz and Sophia Ryan tied for the team lead in blocks with six each. Macy Buso led the team in assists with 42, while Gracie Zartman led in digs with 21.
McCoy leads Shepherd in kills with 258, while Ryan is second with 207, and also leads the Rams in blocks with 100. Lenz is second on the team in blocks with 80. Buso leads the Rams in assists with 784, while Amya Davis is first on the team in aces with 35. Madigan Faircloth leads the team in digs with 308 and is second in aces (30) and assists (61) heading into the final weeks of the 2025 season.
Up Next
After this weekend, West Chester will return home on November 5 to host Pace in its final non-league match and the first of a three-game homestand on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
