PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- The volleyball program at Shawnee State faced little trouble Saturday afternoon in its regular season finale against the Midway Eagles' volleyball program, as Shawnee State trailed just three times total in the opening pair of sets and hit .267 as a team with 16 total blocks along its frontline players to notch a straight-set sweep (25-9, 25-14, 25-22) in a River States Conference contest at Waller Gymnasium, sending
Makaela Lovely,
Megan Steele,
Reagan Lewis and
Ava Jenkins out appropriately with a win in their final home match in a Shawnee State volleyball uniform.
With the win, Shawnee State ultimately finished 21-11 overall and 10-6 in the River States Conference during the regular season. The Bears hit .464 in the opening set and .267 in the second frame of action while Midway, who hit .010 as a team over the match, was held to -.103 and .088 marks over the first two sets of play.
Down 6-5 in the opening set, Shawnee State ended the first set on a 20-3 spurt -- with six different players nabbing kills and
Joey Neal recording a pair of service aces during the stretch as the Bears had little trouble closing Midway out in a 25-9 opening set win.
In the second set of action, Shawnee State never trailed -- and after getting three kills from
Natalie Reida to take a lead between three to five points over the opening half of the second set, the Bears closed the deal by going on a 9-1 run with
Whytney Faulkner and
Camille McIntosh each posting two kills apiece to take a 25-14 set in the frame.
Midway took an 11-7 lead to begin the third set, but Shawnee State whittled the lead down, and, behind a pair of kills from
Camille McIntosh and
Reagan Lewis midway through the set, were able to battle back to take a 21-20 advantage. The Eagles scored the following pair of points to take a 22-21 lead -- but that would prove to be Midway's last lead of the match, as the Bears rallied with four straight points to secure the set as well as the match, with a kill by
Katelynn Boerger and a solo block from McIntosh serving as the highlights in a 4-0 push.
For the match, McIntosh's nine kills, six blocks and .438 attack percentage, along with Faulkner's 13 digs and nine kills, led Shawnee State while Reida and
Bree Hicks each supplied five kills and Boerger and Lewis four for the Bears. Boerger also supplied five total blocks to boot.
Lovely and
Cally Carpenter posted 13 and 11 assists, respectively while Steele notched 11 digs for Shawnee State, who posted at least 10 wins in conference play in the regular season for the second time in three seasons.
Seniors
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Each of the four seniors honored on Sunday has accomplished a four-digit milestone of some kind.
1 --
Makaela Lovely, Frankfort, Ohio -- Lovely, who now has exactly 1,400 assists for her career, moved into eighth place all-time in program history in career assists. Lovely played in her 88th career match Saturday, and holds a 3.49 GPA as an occupational therapy major.
4 --
Megan Steele, Chillicothe, Ohio -- Steele, who has 1,470 digs for her career, is sixth all-time in program history in that category. A four-year starter who has played in both the front and back rows, Steele played in her 114th career match in an SSU uniform. Steele has a 3.55 GPA in nursing, and is second in program history in service reception percentage (.957).
17 --
Reagan Lewis, McDermott, Ohio -- Lewis, who is up to 1,675 assists for her career, sits sixth all-time in program history in that category. Lewis, who played in her 111th career match on Saturday, holds a perfect 4.0 GPA in biology.
22 --
Ava Jenkins, Lucasville, Ohio -- Jenkins, who is ninth in program history with 1,336 digs, played in her 105th career match at Shawnee State. Jenkins, who holds a 3.94 GPA in AYA integrated science 7-12, is the program's all-time leader in service reception percentage (.962).
ADDITIONAL
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Shawnee State (21-11, 10-6 River States Conference) will play in the River States Conference Quarterfinals Tuesday evening as a No. 7 seed in the RSC Tournament -- and will travel to play No. 2-seeded Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (29-5, 12-4 River States Conference) in a contest that will be held at 7 p.m. at the Jeanne Knoerle Sports and Recreation Center in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.
