RIO GRANDE, Ohio -- Despite injuries to its roster that limited its overall depth available, the volleyball program at Shawnee State still was able to salvage a split during its proceedings Friday evening as the Bears were able to straight set the Kentucky Christian Knights' volleyball program (25-23, 25-21, 25-20) before dropping a four-set decision to rival Rio Grande -- and celebrated a major milestone all at once as Shawnee State senior libero Megan Steele was able to eclipse the 1,000 dig mark on the opening day of the Emileigh Jo Cooper Memorial Classic, which was held at the University of Rio Grande.

In its straight set of Kentucky Christian, Shawnee State scored each of the first five points in the opening set. When KCU rallied to take a 13-12 advantage, Shawnee State responded by going on a 11-3 run to take a 23-16 lead, then finished off the opening set by garnering the final two points of the opening set.

The second verse moved similar to the first for the Bears, as Shawnee State took a 6-2 lead before Kentucky Christian rallied to take a 9-6 advantage, then retook the lead, 13-9, with a 7-0 run before the Knights ultimately reclaimed a 19-18 advantage. However, the Bears closed out the second set with a 7-2 spurt to ultimately claim matters in the second frame, as well. Shawnee State never trailed in the third frame, taking an 11-4 lead to begin the final frame and leading 18-10 at one point en route to sealing the match.

Whytney Faulkner, who had four kills over the opening 21 volleys for the Bears in the first set and three kills in the second frame, led Shawnee State with 11 kills and two assisted blocks while Katelynn Boerger added in six kills on nine attack attempts for a .556 attack percentage. Nuria Calvo and Camille Hall also posted five spikes each with Calvo notching a .273 attack percentage as well to add to the frontline's efforts.

Passing-wise, Reagan Lewis led the charge with 22 assists while Megan Steele posted 13 digs to lead the defense. Steele also combined with Ava Jenkins, Brooke Bossert and freshman Joey Neal to nab eight service aces between them.

In its second match of the day, Shawnee State, despite not having two regular starters available due to injury, battled Rio Grande to a four-setter. The Bears took the second set by a 25-22 margin, one where Shawnee State got kills from Camille McIntosh (four), Whytney Faulkner (three), Hallie Oyer (two), and Katelynn Boerger and Reagan Lewis (one each) in the set. McIntosh, Faulkner, Boerger and Nuria Calvo also combined for blocks that helped the Bears collect points on four different occasions.

Oyer ultimately posted 10 kills for the match, while Faulkner added in nine spikes. McIntosh and Boerger collected eight and seven kills, respectively and Calvo posted five kills with four total blocks to boot.

Lewis added in another 22-assist effort in the second match and nabbed 12 digs to boot to post a double-double while Steele led the defense once more with 16 digs. Brooke Bossert added in 14 digs while Ava Jenkins posted 11 to round out the efforts on the back row.