Throughout the early portion of her first volleyball campaign, Devan Scarberry has had Shawnee State playing gritty volleyball, as evidenced in five five-set matches over the first six contests of the Bears' volleyball slate.
Saturday's effort, however, was arguably the best effort that Shawnee State has put together so far.`
Facing a strong 6-2 Campbellsville unit whom Shawnee State lost to in a five-set nonconference bout in Bowling Green, the Bears got the better end of the Tigers in a thrilling five-setter on their own homefloor, with Macie Rhoads, Alexis Palazzo, Emilee Cochran, Alexa Ball and Bella Gill all setting career-highs in a 3-2 (21-25, 25-13, 25-23, 22-25, 15-9) victory at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.
Shawnee State, who moved to 2-4 on the season and evened its Mid-South Conference record at 1-1 in the victory, hit well throughout most of the match, posting a scorching .359 in the second set to go along with marks of .224 and .238 in the third and fifth sets en route to the win. Shawnee State also held Campbellsville to a .083 attack percentage and got 13 total blocks from its frontline to aid the backline efforts of Rhoads, Cochran and Ball in the victory.
Rhoads puts together career effort
Putting together one of the best individual volleyball performances in recent memory, Macie Rhoads posted career-highs with 27 kills and 33 digs to lead the Bears in both categories in the five-set triumph.
Over the first three games alone, Rhoads posted 23 of her 27 kills, including 10 in the second frame alone, to help the Bears claim a 2-1 advantage in the match early on. Rhoads ultimately posted 12 consecutive kills without an attack error in between and notched seven kills over the final 16 volleys in the second set, along with five kills in the first 20 volleys of the third set, to aid SSU greatly in the victory.
Rhoads' 27 kills came on an astounding 74 attack attempts, with Rhoads hitting .230 for the contest to help carry the Bears offensively. The junior's 27 spikes were a game-high while her 33 digs were second among all game participants in addition to serving as team-bests and career-highs for the Circleville, Ohio native, who now has six double-doubles to begin the season.
Palazzo posts career effort alongside Rhoads
Helping Shawnee State tremendously with her own career-high effort, Alexis Palazzo kept Campbellsville from keying in on Rhoads as the junior from Marietta, Ohio added in 12 kills to put together a tremendous performance of her own.
Palazzo, who also posted her first double-digit kill effort of her career in the five-set win, posted four of her 12 kills in the fourth set to keep Shawnee State hanging around, then helped the Bears close the door on the Tigers for good in the fifth set with two kills over the game's final 11 volleys to round out a strong performance.
Her dozen kills came on a team-best .267 attack percentage in 30 total attempts, while Palazzo's activity on the frontline defensively also led to a solo block for the junior.
Ball, Cochran, Gill lead big defensive effort
Needing every bit of their 55 combined digs, sophomore libero Emilee Cochran and sophomore defensive specialist Alexa Ball were big in every fact. Cochran's 30 digs and Ball's 25 dives represent new career-highs for both players, with Cochran only committing one service error in the victory. The pair also combined for just four reception errors en route to being dependable from start to finish.
Along with the duo, Bella Gill set a new career-high in solo blocks, nabbing four denials on the day, while Nash Shelby added in three herself. Bethany Colling added in a pair of solo blocks while Rhoads and Maria Kolinoff tabbed one each in the win.
Speaking of Kolinoff, the senior, along with Maddie Payne, were also critical. Kolinoff's 25 assists and 16 digs resulted in the former's fifth double-double in six matches to start the year while Payne added 23 assists and 13 digs for a double-double of her own.
NEXT UP
The volleyball program at Shawnee State will take on Martin Methodist next Thursday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT in another Mid-South Conference matchup that will be held in Pulaski, Tenn.
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