The Shippensburg University volleyball team rallied Friday to claim a split of its matches at the Mountain East Conference (MEC)/Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Crossover, defeating Notre Dame (Ohio) 3-2 after falling to West Liberty, 3-1.
Shippensburg (6-5) received strong efforts from a host of players, with sophomore Maddie Clabaugh (Gettysburg, Pa./Delone Catholic) pacing the club with 32 kills and a .211 hitting percentage over the course of the two matches. Clabaugh slammed a career-high 21 kills in the five-set win over Notre Dame (Ohio).
Senior Oyinda Agbale (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler Area) had 20 kills and hit an efficient .333 while compiling four block assists. Fellow senior Rachel Verhoef (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had 19 kills and hit .267 while also providing four block assists.
Freshman Kearstin Davis (San Antonio, Tex./Reagan) had one of her best performances to date with a career-high 56 assists against Notre Dame (Ohio) – the most assists in a match by an SU setter since the 2019 season. Davis finished the day with 87 assists and 28 digs.
Sophomore Kat Negron (Longwood, Fla./Lyman) had 18 kills and 28 digs, including a double-double in the nightcap. Freshman Erica Lampus (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) totaled a team-high 46 digs, and freshman Berkley Simmons (Keedysville, Md./Williamsport) paced the Raiders with six aces on the day.
Shippensburg makes the short trip to Wheeling on Saturday to face a pair of excellent opponents in Fairmont State and the host Cardinals. SU starts the day with a 2 p.m. match against the Fighting Falcons before facing the hosts at 6 p.m.
West Liberty 3, Shippensburg 1 (19-25, 18-25, 25-20, 23-25)
West Liberty used big runs to take the first two sets, opening the first set on a 7-1 run and using a 12-3 run midway through the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
SU was most efficient in the third set, hitting .289 as a team with 15 kills. The Raiders swung at a .166 clip for the match but West Liberty hit .212 as a team. Neither team led by more than three points in the set until SU closed on a 4-0 run to win by five points. Trailing 17-14 in the set, SU used a 7-1 run to gain momentum.
In the fourth set, the Raiders used a 6-0 run to once again flip a three-point deficit into a three-point lead, 20-17. SU held a lead of 23-21, but the Hilltoppers countered by scoring the final four points to claim the match.
Verhoef, Agbale, and Clabaugh all tied for the team high with 11 kills, and each player hit .259 or better from the floor. Senior Kaitlyn Townsend (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) had a team-high five block assists. Lampus contributed 17 digs and Davis had 31 assists.
Shippensburg 3, Notre Dame 2 (25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 15-6)
Every set was nip and tuck, beginning with the first frame. The teams played to a 14-14 score and neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of the set, with a kill by Verhoef and an Eagle attack error giving the first set to Shippensburg.
Notre Dame led for most of the second set, building an advantage of as many as five points before ultimately claiming the frame.
SU led 21-17 in the third set before Notre Dame countered with five of the next six points to even the score at 22-22. The Raiders had to stave off a set point at 24-23, doing so with a kill by Verhoef, and then scored two more points to take a 2-1 lead after kills by Negron and Verhoef.
Shippensburg led 22-19 in the fourth set, but the Eagles were undaunted and scored three straight points to once again even the score. Notre Dame then fired off three of the final four points to take the fourth set, 25-23.
The Raiders raced out to an 11-1 lead in the fifth set, including the first seven points of the frame, and staved off a short 4-0 burst by Notre Dame to win.
Clabaugh’s 21 kills are nine more than any other Raider had in a match this season. Negron had 12 kills and 17 digs to achieve her double-double. Agbale had nine kills and just one error, hitting .444 from the floor. Verhoef had eight kills; Townsend and senior Jordan Bowen (Omaha, Neb./Omaha Westside (Limestone)) each had six kills.
Lampus had 29 digs; Davis 20, and redshirt-junior Alex Leitner (Castle Pines, Col./Rock Canyon (Niagara) had 14 digs.
