Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State volleyball earned a Senior Night victory in their home finale on Thursday night, defeating Cumberlands (Ky.) 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 25-18, 25-20) at Waller Gymnasium.
Cumberlands would take an early lead in the first set, eventually leading 6-3, but Shawnee State would rally back. With the Patriots lead down to 9-8, SSU would go on a 4-0 run take a 12-9 lead, with the run keyed by kills from Carson Roney (JR/Waverly, Ohio) and Tyanna Smith (SR/Bowling Green, Ohio). After the Patriots cut the lead back to one, SSU would win four of the next five points to go up 16-12, with Roney getting two kills. Cumberlands would rally back, eventually tying the game at 19-19 on a Mackenzie Koch kill, and taking back the lead at 21-20 on another Koch kill. However, SSU would again rally back. With the score tied 23-23, Shawnee State would win three of the last four points, with Smith getting the final kill to hand SSU a 26-24 win in the first set.
SSU would fall behind the Patriots early in the second set at 7-4. Cumberlands would then go on a 7-0 run to make the lead 14-6, forcing SSU into two timeouts. Shawnee State would attempt to rally, eventually cutting the lead to 16-14 with six straight points before Koch ended the run with a kill. SSU then cut the lead to one point at 18-17, but Cumberlands would respond with three straight points to go up 21-17. The Patriots would close out the set, with Koch getting the final kill for a 25-20 win in the second set.
Set three would be close throughout the early and middle stages as both teams traded points. Shawnee State would take their final lead on a service error by Rebekah Fischer at 15-14, and the Bars would build up their lead from that point. Leading 16-15, the Bears would get two kills from Nashail Shelby (FR/Mansfield, Ohio) and another from Macie Rhoads (FR/Circleville, Ohio) to go up 19-15. Emily Cooper (FR/Hamersville, Ohio) would get called for a ball handling error to end the run, but Rhoads would get SSU to 20-16 with another kill. Koch and Leah Crist would cut the lead to 20-18, but Shawnee State would score the final five points of the set, with Rhoads sealing the third set in a 25-20 win for SSU.
The early fourth set would again be close, as the two teams played to a 10-10 tie. Shawnee State would then score four straight points, getting four attack errors, two apiece from Koch and Abbie Genders, to lead 14-10. After a timeout, SSU would continue to hold the Patriots at bay. With the score 19-15, SSU would again score four straight points, with Shelby and Smith both getting kills in the run. Cumberland would rally with four straight points, but Shawnee State would seal the set with a kill by Smith to win on Senior Night, 25-20 in the fourth set and 3-1 in the match.
Smith had a match-high 18 kills to lead SSU to the win. Macie Rhoads added 16 kills, and Carson Roney had 10. Emily Cooper and Elaina Davenport (JR/Newark, Ohio) both had 26 assists on the night, and Stacia Martin (JR/Indianapolis, Indiana) had a match-high 21 digs for the Bears.
Ashley Sobocinski had 13 kills to lead Cumberlands. Megan Jackson added 12 kills, and Mackenzie Koch had 10. Tara Routliffe had 11 digs, and Lynsey Short had 43 assists for the Patriots.
The win improves Shawnee State to 13-18 on the season, and to 3-10 in the Mid-South Conference. Cumberlands fall to 22-12, and to 7-7 in the league.
Shawnee State volleyball wrap up the regular season on Saturday, November 3 when they head to Marietta, Georgia to take on Life. First serve is set for 12:00pm.
