TodayRaiders exact revenge on Warriors
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Bill Smith/Shippensburg University
Shippensburg’s Maureen DuVall (14) and Kali Antolik (8) go up to block East Stroudsburg’s Alyson Stark.
The last time the Shippensburg University volleyball team played East Stroudsburg, it was a mess. The Lady Raiders, as coach Leanne Piscotty put it, played terribly.
“The first time we played, it was like we were in quicksand,” said Piscotty, whose team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Warriors on Sept. 23. “The harder we tried, the quicker we sunk. We wanted to make a statement tonight and show them that we’re not the team that they beat before.”
And what a statement Ship made during Tuesday’s senior night match. The Lady Raiders rode several large waves of momentum to a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-19) victory over the Warriors in Tuesday’s PSAC Eastern Division match.
It was a very significant win for Ship, as the Lady Raiders will likely be the No. 3 seed heading into next weekend’s PSAC Tournament. A loss against East Stroudsburg (15-19, 5-6 PSAC East) could’ve pushed Ship (20-15, 7-4 PSAC East) to the No. 4 seed.
“This is a big deal, we wanted to be as highly ranked as possible,” said Kali Antolik, who recorded nine kills for the Lady Raiders. “Hopefully we can take the championship if we push ourselves hard enough.”
When push came to shove in the first set, Ship threw a haymaker.
The teams exchanged mini-runs to begin the set and East Stroudsburg eventually took a 13-10 lead. From there, however, it was all Ship. The Lady Raiders ended the first set by winning 14 straight points and 15 of the last 16. Ship did it with a dominating, and sometimes deceptive attack. Explosive kills from Caitlin Marshall and Antolik started the run, and after a fake set/dump-kill from setter Maureen DuVall, Ship’s sixth straight point, East Stroudsburg called a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“We were embarassed over last time,” said Marshall, who earned 13 consecutive service points during the run. “We had to go out there and kick some butt.”
Following the timeout, Ship continued its tear, beating the Warriors in almost every way possible. Antolik rang up a kill for the Lady Raiders’ 17th point; Marshall nailed an ace, hitting the ball into the top of the net and watching it fall to the ground for the 18th point. Colleen Toomey (13 kills) painted the back line with a soft-touch kill for the 19th point and another ace from Marshall pushed Ship’s lead to 20-13.
“Once you’ve got momentum going, you don’t even realize how well you’re doing sometimes,” Marshall said. “I was just trying to put the ball in specific zones to exploit their weaknesses.”
After four more points, East Stroudsburg finally snapped the streak with a kill from Alyson Stark. But Toomey quickly responded with a kill of her own to end the set.
“We did a nice job with our serving touch. We kept them out of their system and got a lot of free balls, allowing us to set a fast tempo,” Piscotty said. “After the first game, we wanted to be relentless, stay sharp and keep the pressure on them.”
It was close again in the second set, with Ship clinging to a 15-14 lead, but a kill from Antolik sparked a 4-0 run, which was capped with the Lady Raiders winning a very long point.
A failed service point got the Warriors back on the board (19-15) before Ship again went on a scoring spurt, posting three straight points en route to a 25-18 victory.
“Momentum like we had tonight usually flows for most of the match,” Antolik said. “We expected we could win again in the second and third sets.”
The third set went a lot like the first two. East Stroudsburg jumped ahead to an 11-10 lead, only to watch the Lady Raiders win 15 of the next 23 points to complete the match sweep with a 25-19 victory.
“We were energized tonight, we had a nice crowd and new uniforms,” said Piscotty, a Shippensburg native. “We wanted to strut our stuff, play well and control our errors.”
Members of Ship were asked if their team had reached its peak.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year, probably more than normal,” Antolik said. “At this point, we’re ready to give it our all — we’ve got nothing to lose.”
The Lady Raiders travel to West Chester on Saturday before the PSAC Tournament next weekend. Ship, the No. 3 seed out of the East, will take on Edinboro, the No. 2 team out of the West, in the first round.
NOTES: DuVall, Kelsi Hoffman and Karey Toms, all seniors, were honored before the match. DuVall is the school record holder for assists (4,319), Hoffman is the school leader in digs (2,100) and Toms has been solid this season in the serving department, racking up 34 service aces.
