Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State volleyball got a win for Homecoming Weekend on Saturday afternoon, downing conference rivals Pikeville 3-2.

Shawnee State would take an early lead in set one and not relinquish, leading the whole way to a 25-18 win in the first. SSU had a balanced offensive attack led by Christina Shelton (SR/Blue Creek, Ohio)'s five first set kills as the Bears took advantage of five Pikeville attack errors and three service errors by the visitors.

The second set would be a reversal of the first as Pikeville would comfortably win 25-18. Shawnee State then repeated their first set dominance by leading the whole way in the third, winning 25-17 as Shelton racked up six more kills.

Pikeville would again rally to tie the match with a fourth set win, dominating the fourth 25-14. The fifth and decisive set would be all Shawnee State, as the Bears would jump out to an early 3-0 lead to force a Pikeville timeout. After trading points, another Shawnee State run would see them up 8-2 at the midway point of the set. Shawnee State would keep Pikeville at arm's length to finish off the fifth set 15-8 and the match 3-2.

Christina Shelton led Shawnee State with 17 kills on the match, with Tyanna Smith (JR/Bowling Green, Ohio) adding 10. Deanna Smith (SR/Riverview, MI) had 41 assists, and Stacia Martin (SR/Indianapolis, Indiana) had a team-high 19 digs. Noelani Simpson led Pikeville with a match-high 19 kills.

The win moves Shawnee State to 6-8 on the season, and improves the Bears to 1-1 in the Mid-South Conference. The win is SSU's first conference victory since 2015. Pikeville falls to 4-10 on the season and 0-2 in the league.

Shawnee State will return to action next Friday, September 22 when they host Cumberland (Tenn.) in a Mid-South Conference showdown. First serve is set for 5:00pm.