The Shawnee State Volleyball Team outlasted the Patriots of the University of the Cumberlands to win in five sets on Thursday evening. The Bears improve to 6-12 on the season and 3-3 in the Mid-South Conference. The University of the Cumberlands fall to 11-5 on the season and 3-3 in the MSC.
After trailing early, Shawnee State rallied back to tie the first set 14-14. The Patriots answered back and led 22-20, before the two teams exchanged points, giving the Patriots the 23-22 advantage. A kill error by the Patriots would knot the game, but UC's Mariah Gray put down a kill to put the Patriots at set point. Back-to-back kills by freshman Paige Zelich and junior Holly Tobias put the Bears at set point, but a service error by Shawnee kept the Patriots alive. Shawnee pulled out the victory as sophomore Hannah Gephart caught the Patriots off guard sending the ball over on the second hit for a point and a net violation by Cumberlands gave the Bears the 27-25 victory.
Shawnee State was plagued by errors in the second set, tallying nine errors in the set to fall 25-21 to the Patriots. The Bears never lead and trailed by as many as seven in the set.
The Bears rebounded in the third set and maintained the lead most of the set. Shawnee State led 24-22, but two consecutive errors by the Bears kept the Patriots in the game at 24-24. Shawnee State finished the set with kills by freshman Kelsey Bielanow and junior Alex Pohl to take the 26-24 win and 2-1 advantage.
Trailing most of the set, the Bears rallied back in the fourth set to tie the game at 17-17, but the Patriots scored four unanswered points en route to a 25-21 win to force a final set five set. Errors again hurt the Bears, committing nine errors in the loss.
The Bears came out with intensity in the final set and was able to build a 5-0 lead. The two teams exchanged points, but the Patriots couldn't get any closer than four points as the Bears went on to win 15-7 to earn their third conference victory.
Pohl led the Bears with a career-high 18 kills. Bielanow and Zelich each had 11 kills in the match, while senior Shaye Berry added 10. Gephart dished out 48 assists to go along with 19 digs in the match. Sophomore Kirsti Yates tallied a career-high 39 digs. Sophomore Carly Mazza had 14 digs and junior Jessica Winkelman added 12 digs for the Bears.
Shawnee State travels to the Malone Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Bears open play against Ursuline College on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
