Box Score BECKLEY, W. Va. -- In a tight three-set River States Conference match that was held in Beckley, W. Va. Friday evening, the volleyball program at Shawnee State closed out a crucial straight-set victory, moving closer in its quest to collect 20 wins in 2025 while remaining alive in the River States Conference East Division race as Devan Spriggs' group defeated West Virginia Tech in three highly competitive sets (31-29, 25-21, 25-17) Friday evening.

Shawnee State (18-10, 8-5 River States Conference) overcame a topsy-turvy first frame where SSU, who led 14-7 and 22-17 at two different points in the opening set, saw West Virginia Tech rally to force set point on two separate occasions in the frame.

In that opening set, SSU got kills from four different players -- Camille McIntosh, Katelynn Boerger, Whytney Faulkner and Bree Hicks -- along with a service ace by Joey Neal as Spriggs' group took a 14-7 advantage to begin the match.

WV Tech closed within 17-16 in the opening frame, but SSU proceeded to go on a 5-1 push that initially appeared that it would help the Bears put the match away as Boerger, Faulkner, Reagan Lewis and Makaela Lovely each claimed a kill to take a 22-17 opening set lead.

Despite forcing set point initially, however, SSU wasn't able to close the deal initially, as WV Tech went on an 8-2 run to turn the five-point deficit into a 25-24 lead -- putting SSU on the ropes.

Fighting back, Shawnee State put themselves on set point three separate times (26-25, 27-26 and 28-27) with the Graham High School alums of Camille McIntosh and Whytney Faulkner each nabbing a kill during the stretch, but West Virginia Tech fought back each time to put SSU on the defensive as WV Tech captured a 29-28 lead.

With the opening set hanging in the balance, however, the Bears rallied -- as two kills by Natalie Reida and a service ace by Whytney Faulkner allowed Shawnee State to capture the three consecutive points it needed en route to a 31-29 triumph.

For the remainder of the match, Shawnee State proved to be in control.

Jumping out to a 10-2 advantage to start the second frame, the Bears got kills from McIntosh, Hicks and Boerger offensively with the former absolutely dominating the proceedings at the net from a defensive standpoint, tallying two-and-a-half blocks during the run. Ava Jenkins added in a service ace as well as the Bears established a healthy lead.

West Virginia Tech was able to cut Shawnee State's lead to three on five separate occasions, but the diversity of SSU's offensive attack kept WV Tech from getting any closer in the match as Boerger, Faulkner, Hicks, Lewis, McIntosh and Reida all posted at least one kill over the second half of the second set, helping Shawnee State take a 2-0 match lead with a 25-21 triumph.

Down by a 6-5 count in the third set of action, back-to-back solo blocks by Boerger and Hicks, along with a service ace by Cally Carpenter and kills by Hicks and McIntosh, allowed Shawnee State to grab an 11-6 lead in the frame. From there, the Bears never trailed -- and when West Virginia Tech cut the score to 13-11, Shawnee State responded by getting a trio of kills from Faulkner, two kills each from Hicks and McIntosh, one kill from Lewis and Lovely, a service ace from Carpenter and a solo block from Reida to close the deal and grab a 25-17 third-set triumph.
For the contest, Camille McIntosh and Bree Hicks each posted 10 kills, with the former not only posting a .333 attack percentage but adding in five blocks -- three solo -- to boot for Shawnee State. Whytney Faulkner added in eight kills while Katelynn Boerger and Natalie Reida each claimed six spikes and Reagan Lewis five to lead the Bears' output.

Makaela Lovely and Cally Carpenter led Shawnee State from a passing standpoint with the former notching 20 assists and the latter collecting a double-double with 18 assists and 10 digs, while the defensive backline was led by senior libero Megan Steele's 20 digs while Ava Jenkins added in 14 dives and Faulkner 11.

Shawnee State will look to hit the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2012 as the Bears aim for the sweep of Saturday's affairs in what will be a tri-match against Rio Grande and Cincinnati-Clermont. The two contests are slated to begin at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively at Newt Oliver Arena in Rio Grande.

For more information on the Shawnee State volleyball program, visit https://ssubears.com/sports/womens-volleyball, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057197839907 or https://www.instagram.com/ssuvb/. To watch the match online, visit https://www.youtube.com/@ssubearsathletics.