PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- Over the first 31 volleys of a River States Conference match against the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears' volleyball match, the Shawnee State Bears' volleyball program struggled to find a rhythm.
However, over the final 17 volleys of the second set -- as well as the remainder of the match in the second, third and fourth sets of competition -- it was clear who the better team was.
In a competitive four-set match between SSU and West Virginia Tech, it was the Bears in blue who emerged victorious as Shawnee State posted 102 digs as a team compared to West Virginia Tech's 85, hit .137 to WV Tech's .032 and posted 18 total blocks to eight for the visitors in white en route to a 3-1 triumph (23-25, 25-17, 28-26, 25-15) Tuesday evening in Waller Gymnasium.
The volleyball program at Shawnee State got collective efforts in all three phases of the game -- defense, passing and attacking -- as Haidyn Wamsley's 15 kills and eight blocks, along with 24 kills and five blocks combined from Whytney Faulkner and Kylee Gifford, led the frontline, while Reagan Lewis and Makaela Lovely combined for 50 assists to head up the offensive output.
On the backline, four different players posted double-digit digs, including Ava Jenkins, who led the way with her second-highest dig output of the season by nabbing 28 in Tuesday's four-set win. Megan Steele nabbed a season-best 23 digs while Lewis and Brooke Bossert each added 15 dives in the victory.
Set Highlights
Trailing by as much as a 20-11 margin to begin the match, Shawnee State rallied late in the first set -- going on a 12-3 push to tie the first set at 23 up behind three kills from Whytney Faulkner and two kills from Haidyn Wamsley. During that same stretch, Maelynn Howell added in two consecutive solo blocks while Faulkner and Wamsley combined for another, helping Shawnee State to rally back into the fight.
While the Bears fell by a 25-23 margin in the opening set, the late first set push by the Bears carried over into the remainder of the match in a big way.
Wamsley and Faulkner combined for three kills while Lewis added in a service ace as Shawnee State ultimately scored seven straight points to give the Bears a 7-1 second set lead.
The Bears then not only kept that cushion, but extended upon it behind excellent frontline activity as five different players -- Faulkner, Gifford, Howell, Wamsley and Camille McIntosh -- combined for eight kills as Shawnee State took a 24-14 advantage and cruised home the rest of the way en route to a 25-17 second set win -- tying the match at a set apiece in the process.
Shawnee State then got strong efforts in various facets to begin the third set -- as Gifford, Howell, McIntosh and Wamsley dialed up six kills, Howell and Wamsley added in a block and Lovely added a service ace to give the Bears a 10-7 lead.
West Virginia Tech rallied to take a 16-14 advantage, but Shawnee State answered back with a fury as Wamsley reared back for three kills while Faulkner and Howell peppered in three spikes of their own, allowing the Bears to take a 21-18 lead on a 7-2 spurt by the Bears.
The Golden Bears rallied once more with a 4-0 push to tie the score at 22 all, but the senior duo of Gifford and Wamsley proved to be too strong. Playing perhaps her best stretch of volleyball of the night, Gifford ripped off three kills in five volleys to give Shawnee State a 25-24 lead.
Then, when West Virginia Tech rallied again to take a 26-25 advantage, a service error opened a door that Wamsley and Faulkner emphatically shut as the pair's back-to-back kills allowed the Bears to finish off a crucial third set win with a 3-0 run that gave Shawnee State a 28-26 triumph.
Shawnee State then proceeded to take the wind out of West Virginia Tech's sails for good in the fourth and final stanza -- as the Bears, who initially trailed by a 10-8 margin in the fourth set, went on a massive 9-0 run that was led by an exceptional defensive effort by Wamsley who essentially held her own version of a block party with four solo blocks over those nine consecutive tallies.
By the time the fourth set reached its 35th volley, Shawnee State held a commanding 23-12 lead off of a 15-2 SSU spurt that saw Wamsley add in a kill along with her four blocks while Faulkner and Steele each added in a block of their own. Lewis' service ace and two kills by Howell added into the mix finished off a dominating fourth set showing that was one of the Bears' best performances of the season in any set to this point.
Additional
With her match-best 28 digs, Ava Jenkins moved to 870 digs for her Shawnee State career, while Haidyn Wamsley now sits at 814 kills after her match-leading 15 kills. Reagan Lewis, who also posted a match-high with 27 assists, added in a season-high with that mark and now has 1,264 assists for her own Shawnee State career after previously eclipsing the 1,000-assist plateau in the Bears' season-opening match against Point (Ga.).
Shawnee State (10-7, 3-2 River States Conference) collected its fourth consecutive victory as a result. The Bears, who have taken 12 out of the last 13 sets that they have played in over their four-game tear, will face Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (20-3, 2-3 River States Conference) in an important RSC matchup that will likely loom large in terms of postseason positioning when the River States Conference Tournament field is officially announced. Match time is set for 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT at the Jeanne Knoerle Sports and Recreation Center in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.
